Blue skies and billowy white clouds made a great backdrop yesterday for a portrait of the W.T. Preston, a waterfront attraction under the umbrella of the Anacortes Museum. The museum Web site reports in part: “The era of federal snagboats in Puget Sound began in 1885 with the construction of the Skagit, which worked until 1914. Next, the Swinomish served the same purpose from 1914-1929. The main engines, sternwheel, and other components of the Swinomish were transferred to a third boat named in honor of the only civilian engineer to work for the Army Corps of Engineers at that time. The wooden hull W.T. Preston pulled snags, performed light dredging, and otherwise worked the waters of Puget Sound for the next nine or ten years, 1929-1939. At this point the Army Corps of Engineers began building a new superstructure atop a welded steel hull and transferred the sternwheel, main engines, smokestack, foredeck equipment, and other items onto the second W.T. Preston. The steel hull W.T. Preston served Puget Sound for more than forty years before the Army Corps retired her. The boat is now permanently dry berthed along the Anacortes waterfront.”