Dan Harris’ boat is being duplicated

<< Back to archives | Tuesday, February 17, 2009

A quiet project is taking shape in the basement of a Fairhaven office building.  A modest 15 foot plywood boat is being built by Ralph Thacker - shown with bowler hat.  It will be as close as possible to the boat that Faihaven founder, Dan Harris, is standing in as shown in a photo from the 1800s.  The photo can be seen in the left column of this page.  It is the graphic link to Ralph’s website with a history of Dan.  Brad Imus has loaned the daylight basement space to Ralph for the few months needed to build the boat.  Ralph hopes it will be finished for launch during the Dirty Dan Days festival on the weekend of April 25 ad 26.  Also shown is Gordy Tweit on the far left, our much loved retired pharmacist and photographer of our local area for many decades.  Yep, Gordy was also taking photos.  The other folks stopped by Monday afternoon during the open house that Ralph held. 

Dan arrived here in 1854 and rowed many times to Victoria, British Columbia, and back with trade goods.  He settled here, named the place Fairhaven and platted it in the 1880s.  We know little about him and Ralph has been steadily researching his life.