# 3095 - 1996 32c Riverboats: Bailey Gatzert

US #3095
1996 Bailey Gatzert

• From set of five picturing historic riverboats
• First US commemorative to bey issued only in self-adhesive format
• The boats represent all regions of the US
  
  

Stamp Category:  Commemorative
Set:  Riverboats
Value:  32¢, First-Class mail rate
First Day of Issue:  August 22, 1996
First Day City:  Orlando, Florida
Quantity Issued:  32,000,000
Printed by:  Avery Dennison
Printing Method:  Photogravure
Format:  Panes of 20 (4 across, 5 down) from printing cylinders of 200 (10 across, 20 down)
Perforations:  Die-cut simulated

Why the stamp was issued:  The Riverboats stamps were issued to commemorate an important form of transportation along America’s inland waterways. 

About the stamp design:  The artwork for the Riverboat stamps was done by Dean Ellis.  His gouache (opaque watercolor) paintings were larger than those usually made for stamps because he wanted to show the details of each ship.  The backgrounds on the stamps reflect the regions of the US where the boats sailed.  Kevin Foster, a maritime historian with the US National Park Service, was consulted to assure the images were historically accurate.

Special design details:  Though the names of each riverboat appears on the boat, it  is difficult to read them because of their small size and because photogravure printed is relatively course.

About the printing process:  The Riverboat stamps were the first to be printed exclusively as self-adhesive stamps.  Previous issues were produced in both self-adhesive and water-activated gum formats.
The die-cut simulated perforations went through the backing paper as well as the stamp.  This allowed postal clerks to divide up the pane for individual sale.  Collectors could also easily save the stamps with the backing paper attached.

First Day City:  The stamps were dedicated at Stampshow 96, which took place in Orlando, Florida.

About the Riverboats set:  Picturing five riverboats from the turn of the century - Robert. E. Lee, Sylvan Dell, Far West, Rebecca Everingham, and Bailey Gatzert - these stamps represent a bygone era.  Chosen for their historical significance as well as their visual appeal, the boats represent five different regions.  All were in service around the turn of the 20^th century and were efficient means to transport goods and passengers.
This set is patterned after a 1989 issue of five Steamboats (US #2405-09).

History the stamp represents: 
Bailey Gatzert: Climactic conditions in the Pacific Northwest required steamboats with structural features different from boats navigating elsewhere.  Here, single smokestacks, enclosed superstructures, and covered sternwheels were favored. 
When the Bailey Gatzert was launched in Seattle in 1890, the young city was teeming with new settlers and prospectors heading for gold fields in Alaska. John Leary of the Seattle Steam Navigation and Transportation Company had a luxurious steamboat built in Ballard, Washington to provide transportation between Seattle, Tacoma, and Olympia, Washington, naming it the Bailey Gatzert after one of Seattle’s pioneer citizens and former mayors.
Besides running scheduled passenger service in the Puget Sound, the Bailey Gatzert ran the Columbia River, the major transportation artery to the interior.  To do this, she had to cross the Juan De Fuca Strait to the Pacific, then sail south to the river.  She raced all comers with a broom lashed to her mast, symbol of her power to sweep the river clear of competition.  When the Bailey Gatzert finally lost a race in 1918, Leary sold her.  Before being dismantled eight years later, the grand old steamboat ferried automobiles between Seattle and Bremerton, Washington.