Yukon who is who

Robert Edward Moran (1857 – 1943)

Robert Moran was born in New York City. He arrived in Seattle in 1875 and worked for years on steamboats to have money to bring his family west. By 1882, he and his brothers [Peter and William] had a marine repair business at Yesler’s wharf. The Moran Brothers Company prospered during the Klondike gold rush.¹⁾

The company built twelve river sternwheelers in the spring of 1898 and they went from Seattle to St. Michael under their own steam. They had a rough time and had to be beached many times to get the kinks out of them. They arrived at St. Michael on 2 July 1898 and went into service immediately. Robert Moran made the trip with the fleet. Moran reported that boats all gave splendid service on the river and paid for their cost with the first load of freight taken to Dawson. One of the boats, the Western Star, was lost enroute near Cook's Inlet and was salvaged to build the Katmia Mission. They were convoyed on the trip by ocean tugs. They were all 176.1 feet long, 35.4 feet wide, and 5.9 feet deep, with a 409 net ton burden.²⁾

In 1888, Moran was elected mayor of Seattle for a one-year term of office. The great Seattle fire occurred near the end of his term and his leadership in the recovery earned him another term as mayor. His business flourished, and in 1904 his shipyard launched the USS Nebraska, Washington’s only battleship. Told that he had only a year to live, Moran sold the business and retired to Orcas Island in Puget Sound where he built the Moran Mansion. He donated part of his land to form the Moran State Park in 1921.³⁾