The Taconite
Boeing was a member of a yacht club in Vancouver, B.C., and in 1929 bought Vancouver boatbuilders Hoffar-Beeching Co., intending to build flying boats there. When the Great Depression hit later that year, Boeing kept the company alive by paying $421,000 for the construction of the second Taconite -- an extremely luxurious 125-foot Burmese teak yacht -- as a gift for Bertha.
In 1934, the Government enacted antitrust laws and United Aircraft and Transport Corp. was split into different enterprises. Boeing resigned as chairman and sold his stock. On June 20, 1934, he was awarded the Daniel Guggenheim Medal for aeronautical achievement.
At the award ceremony in San Francisco, Boeing remarked: "Now that I am retiring from active service in aircraft manufacturing and air transportation, to be so greatly honored as to be recipient of the Daniel Guggenheim Medal is a real climax of my life. As the past years devoted to aircraft activities have been filled with real romance, the many forward projects now in the making will continue to keep me on the sidelines as a keen and interested observer."
A legacy of perfectionism and high standards
Boeing continued in the timber business until about 1954 and made a variety of investments. Around 1937, he began to breed racehorses and by March 1938 had accumulated a stable of 40 thoroughbred horses in Walnut Creek, California, and had purchased the contract of famous jockey Basil James. That year the Boeing stable was fifth in the United States for purses won.
In the real estate business, Boeing's interests included the development of the Blue Ridge subdivision north of Seattle that in 1936 included a clubhouse, tennis courts, an archery range, and a playfield. Every summer, Boeing and family cruised aboard the Taconite, often as far north as Alaska. Boeing, who always loved new machinery, made sure that the Taconite had the most modern equipment as it became available. She was the first civilian vessel to have two-way radio -- developed by Boeing's brother-in-law, Thorpe Hiscock, for use on Boeing mailplanes. After World War II, she was the first civilian vessel to have radar. The Taconite was still taking notables on cruises in 1999, and wherever she went she symbolized the Boeing legacy of perfectionism, attention to detail, and high standards.
Boeing bought a Douglas-built Dolphin amphibian aircraft and hired a pilot to use the Dolphin to fly him from Taconite landings on the Alaskan coast for fishing trips on remote lakes inland. Boeing took delivery of the Dolphin off the coast of Canada and timed its climb with a stopwatch to make sure it met performance specifications. During the late 1930s, Boeing became an expert on fishing and helped originate the polar-bear fly used for salmon fishing.