Eureka

(California Models CA-6)

Builder: San Francisco and North Pacific Railroad Company, Tiburon, California, 1890

Service: Built as Ukiah for the San Francisco and North Pacific Railway to carry commuters by day and ferry trains by night between Tiburon and San Francisco. She was named for the city of Ukiah, the northern terminus of the SF&NP RR. In 1907 she was taken over by the Northwestern Pacific Railroad and rerouted to the Sausalito-San Francisco route, with a refitted lower deck to carry automobiles and more passenger space above. During WW1 she carried munition-filled rail cars, but overloading strained her hull; afterward she required extensive repairs and was rebuilt over two years at the Southern Pacific yard, including the replacement of essentially all her structure above the waterline. She was renamed Eureka, after the city that was the new termination for the Northwestern Pacific RR, and re-entered service as a passenger and automobile ferry in 1923. She served between Marin County and San Francisco until after the completion of the Golden Gate Bridge in 1941. She continued in other service until 1957. She is now a museum ship at the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park. She is the largest wooden passenger ferry ever built.