On the 30th of January, the crew at Ballard Oil sold the last 9,572 gallons of the company’s diesel to a 100-foot Alaska-bound trawler, switched off the pumps and officially shut down one of Seattle’s oldest family-owned maritime businesses.
Since 1937, Ballard Oil had been a fixture on the Lake Washington Ship Canal just east of the locks, providing fuel, lubricants and a few parts to Seattle’s commercial fishing boats, tugs and other vessels.
