PORT TOWNSEND — Brinnon resident JoAnn Bussa said Wednesday that she was ecstatic and overwhelmed when she and the great-great grandson of venerable Klallam Chief Chetzemoka appeared before the state Transportation Commission.
They left with a new legacy for the chief: The state’s new ferry now under construction will be christened MV Chetzemoka when it begins its Port Townsend-Keystone service next year.
“Things went beautifully,” said Bussa, a member of the Jefferson County Historical Society who serves on the society’s board.
“The timing couldn’t have been better.”
Chief’s descendant
She and Les Prince, the direct descendent of Chetzemoka who lives in Blyn, appeared before the Transportation Commission meeting in Olympia.
The commission unanimously voted to name the 64-car ferry under construction in Seattle after the chief who befriended early European settlers to the Quimper Peninsula.
And the new Chetzemoka will carry a tribute to the chief, who died in 1888.
Bussa said she and the historical society will develop a display to commemorate Chief Chetzemoka, incorporating photos, history and a life ring from the original Chetzemoka ferry.
Antique life ring
Longtime former society member Steve Levin, a history buff and collector who died last year, bequeathed the life ring and $50,000 to the society.
Before he died, Levin asked that the new ferry be named for the chief, whose grave is at Laurel Grove Cemetery in Port Townsend.
Port Townsend’s Chetzemoka Park overlooking Admiralty Inlet and the ferry route to Whidbey Island, was dedicated in the chief’s name in 1904.
The tribe was settled in 1851 in Port Townsend by Chetzemoka’s older brother, S’Hai-ak, who was granted permission for the settlement after non-Native settlers arrived.
The original Black Ball fleet’s Chetzemoka plied the waters between Port Townsend and Whidbey Island in 1938-47 and was used elsewhere around the ferry system before it was taken out of commission in 1973.
The 64-car replacement ferry is being built at Todd Pacific Shipyards in Seattle and should be launched next summer and operating on the route in August.
A second 64-car ferry, yet unnamed, is expected to be launched about a year later.
The Chetzemoka will be the first new Washington State Ferry to go into service in a decade.
Chetzemoka, who was known as a peaceful man and a wise diplomat, was believed to be about 80 when he died.
________
Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com
