Puget Sound and Alaska Steamship Co. issued to Martha L. Colby and signed by Martha, Gardner and Colgate - 1890 dated Autographed Stock Certificate

Stock issued to and signed by Martha L. Colby. Also signed by Colgate Colby as president and Gardner Colby on back. Important Colby family!

The Puget Sound and Alaska Steamship Co. (PS&ASC), established in 1889 as a subsidiary of the Northern Pacific Railroad, played a pivotal role in the railway’s transcontinental operations. Based in Tacoma, Washington, Captain D. B. Jackson founded the company to provide dependable freight and passenger transport between local Puget Sound ports and the rapidly growing destinations in Alaska. Its early fleet included notable vessels like the City of Seattle, the City of Kingston, and the Eliza Anderson, which helped the company secure a prominent position in the region’s shipping industry during the late 19th century.

The company’s significance reached its zenith during the Klondike Gold Rush of the late 1890s. Its ships were among the first to transport waves of prospectors and essential supplies to the northern territories. However, as the maritime landscape evolved, the company eventually dissolved or was absorbed. By the early 20th century, many of its operations were overtaken by the Alaska Steamship Company and the Puget Sound Navigation Company. The latter, founded by associates like Charles Enoch Peabody, focused on catering to the specialized needs of inland water travel. The PS&ASC remains a significant chapter in Pacific Northwest history, symbolizing the profound financial and logistical connections between 19th-century railroad tycoons like the Rockefeller’s and the maritime expansion into the “Last Frontier”.

Gardner Colby (1810–1879) was a prominent businessman and Christian philanthropist. He is the namesake of Colby College in Maine and the town of Colby, Wisconsin. Colby was born in Bowdoinham, Maine in 1810 and spent part of his childhood in Waterville, Maine. His father, Josiah Colby, died in 1814 after having lost his fortune during the War of 1812, and Josiah Colby had spent time manufacturing gunpowder in Waterville before his death. To aid Colby's mother, Jeremiah Chaplin, a Baptist minister who served as the first President of Waterville College (later Colby College) arranged for the Colby family to operate a store in Charlestown, Massachusetts. Gardner Colby eventually started his own store in Boston and became involved in various other businesses including railroads, shipping and manufacturing. As a lifelong Baptist, Colby was very involved in various Christian causes.

During the Civil War in 1864 the college in Waterville was facing hardships, so Colby made the first of several large donations to the college and it was subsequently renamed "Colby University" in his honor. He served as a trustee from 1864 to his death and many of his descendants became involved with the school. Colby also served as treasurer and made several large donations to what is now Andover Newton Theological School, which was a Reformed seminary located near Colby's home in Newton, Massachusetts.

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