They used to say in Alaska towns that the Northwestern hit every rock in the Inland Passage - but they couldn't keep a good ship down. - Cuttlefish Five, Editor Ray Hudson

... passengers danced, played cards, had a drink and dined.... A great many families resulted from these voyages when boy met girl on the Northwestern.... - Northwestern general passenger agent Robert C Rose

Aboard the Northwestern, first-class passengers sail in spacious accommodation with in-room piped hot water, a dining salon, and saloon. On the hurricane deck they may watch the Alaska scenery pass in a glass-enclosed observation room or read (with the aid of electric lamps) the SS Northwestern Radio News - a typewritten shipboard daily containing news and sports gathered from the airwaves.

For 34 years, the SS Northwestern runs the Alaska Route as passenger and transport ship. She lays telegraph cable from Unalaska to St Michael and Nome. In her hold, she carries copper ore from Kennecott, livestock, and railway track. The steamer ferries gold from Nome; transports mail, coal, and salmon pack. Bound to a schedule, the Northwestern sails, summer and winter, through bad weather and dirty seas. There are few buoys in the Alaskan waters of the early 1900s, few navigation lights. Often the vessel is lost in fog, relying upon ship's whistle and depth soundings to find its way. In its career, the Northwestern runs aground 14 times. She strikes other vessels 10 times-rams docks; drops propellers, a rudder, and an anchor. Time and again, newspapers incorrectly announce the ship's loss and salvage for scrap, but it is not until October 1940, when the Northwestern is far gone in years, that she is brought to shore for what is believed is the final time. - NPS