onlinesteamboatmuseum

Pacific Northwest Steamboat Photos


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Steamer IDAHO on Coeur d'Alene Lake in Idaho

Reprinted from Leslie's Weekly, August 3, 1916.
Passengers board the sidewheel steamboat IDAHO at Couer d'Alene, Idaho on Couer d'Alene Lake.
The caption under the photo contains more information.


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Columbia River historic items

Photo of Columbia River historic items I took in October, 2006

Megaphone, Spyglass, Captain's cap, Block & Tackle on display in the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center & Museum, 5000 Discovery Drive, The Dalles, OREGON 97058

gorgediscovery.org


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Waybill and Stock certificate Oregon Steam Navigation Co.
Oregon Steam Navigation Co.
1880 waybill and 1874 stock certificate

Edited from the wikipedia article: Wikipedia

The Oregon Steam Navigation Company (O.S.N.) was an American company incorporated in 1860 in the state of Washington.

The company operated steamships between San Francisco and ports along the Columbia River at Astoria, Portland and The Dalles, serving the lumber and salmon fishing industries. A railroad was built to serve the steamship industry.

In 1862, the railroad was sold to the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company for $155,000.

Soon afterwards, the O.S.N. acquired most of the steamboats on the Columbia and Snake Rivers and in 1863 and 1864, the company added the Nez Perce Chief, the Webfoot, the Owyhee and the Yakima, all built at Celilo on the upper Columbia, and the Mississippi-style sidewheeler Oneonta on the middle river. O.S.N. also purchased the side-wheeler New World to work the lower Columbia.

By 1878, OSN had added to its fleet the sternwheelers Harvest Queen, John Gates, Spokane, Annie Faxon, Mountain Queen, R.R. Thompson, and Wide West.

The Oregon Railway and Navigation Company purchased the Oregon Steam Navigation Company in 1879.

On the lower Columbia, the company's boats included Senorita, Fashion (ex-James P. Flint), Julia (Barclay), Belle (of Oregon City), Mountain Buck, and Carrie Ladd. On the middle Columbia, the boats were Mary, Hassaloe, Wasco, and Idaho. On the upper Columbia, the company ran the Tenino and the Colonel Wright.


The Portland, Portland, Oregon

Attached photo I took of the PORTLAND at Portland, Oregon, on the Willamette River in October '06. This was in the morning before she was open for tourists. I stayed in a spiffy old hotel a few blocks away so I could walk down in the morning and luxuriate in seeing the old girl. That lumpy black chef's hat on top of her stock was put there only the week after some drunken local teenager had climbed the ladder on the stack and plummeted down the into the PORTLAND's innards. He was arrested and hospitalized.


contemporary paddlewheel steamboat

Attached photo I took of a rainbow created by water and sunlight off the sternwheel of the excursion boat Columbia Gorge on the Columbia River last October. The C.G. runs out of her spring/summer/fall base at the town of Cascade Locks, Oregon. On the 4 hour trip I was on, she went downriver (west) and was lowered through the locks at Bonneville Dam, continued west for a spell before turning around and heading back upriver where she got raised back up again at Bonneville en route to home. The scenery of that stretch of river (known of course as the Columbia Gorge) is breathtaking and it was a perfectly beautiful day for it.

During the winter the Columbia Gorge is in Portland. This was one of her last trips before the season ended. She's diesel powered but has the authentic look and feel of the old Columbia River steamboats.


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Attached file scanned from a nice sharp 8 x 10 photo just delivered today . . . there was some information written on the back as to date, location etc. to which I added a brief Wiki paragraph on the Snake River.

The Steamer LEWISTON passing through Bonneville dam locks on the Columbia River en route to Portland, Oregon on March 6, 1940. while it was being brought down for the last time, after having served as the final paddlewheeler to operate on the Snake River.

Wikipedia

"At 1,078 miles long, the Snake River is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, which is the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean. Rising in western Wyoming, the Snake flows through the Snake River Plain of southern Idaho, then through the rugged Hells Canyon area via northeastern Oregon and the rolling Palouse Hills, to reach its mouth near the Washington Tri-Cities area, where it enters the Columbia River."


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A neat photograph of the government snag boat MATHLOMA on the Willamette River, OREGON circa 1900.

The original real photo postcard is a faded sepia so it's difficult to bring contrast back to it but by converting the file to grayscale and adjusting the saturation it improved it somewhat. Included detail of the pilot house where the boat's name is easier to read.

Some additional history about the MATHLOMA has been provided by Jim Hale who found it for us in the book "Stern-Wheelers Up Columbia: A Century of Steamboating in the Oregon Country" by Randall V. Mills Pacific Books, 1947:

"THE MATHLOMA WAS BUILT IN PORTLAND, OREGON IN 1896 AND LASTED UNTIL 1927."


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Steamer KENO exhibited at Dawson City, Yukon Territory 1982

PRESS RELEASE PHOTO 1982 - Caption

Dawson City's Museum in Yukon Territory, Canada features the historic sternwheeler KENO, now on dry land next to the Yukon River. Paddlewheel steamboats carried passengers and freight for half a century after the discovery of gold on Alaskan and Canadian rivers.

Most of the original boats are gone except for a few maintained as museums.

Westours photo by Bob & Ira Spring 30 April, 1982


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Str KLONDIKE on the Yukon River 1956

Press release 8 x 10 photo dated 23 April 1956 promoting travel to Alaska via Pan American airlines.

Caption on back:

Sternwheeler steamboats, reminiscent of the days of Mark Twain and the Mississippi, still ply regular routes along the Yukon River. The KLONDIKE, shown above, is available to summer visitors to the territory, according to Pan American World Airways. Alaska offers a wonderful opportunity for hunting and game fishing, besides sightseeing and visits to the relics of the gold rush and the Russian occupation.

PAN AMERICAN WORLD AIRWAYS 135 East 42nd Street New York 17, New York


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dramatic hi contrast 8 x 10 press release photo with the following caption on the back:
PORTLAND, Oregon
September 9, 1941

The sternwheeler UMATILLA, the last of the Columbia river craft which participated in the wheat run from The Dalles and Umatilla to Portland, quietly sank at her Shaver Transportation company moorage Sunday night.

Engines, boilers, etc., had been removed last autumn when she was retired. The UMATILLA was last used for a quarter boat for feeding workmen on conversion of the U. S. S. NEVILL, navy transport, last spring.

She was built at Celilo 33 years ago for government dredging in the upper Columbia river."
footnote from
Report of the Chief of Engineers U.S. Army

By United States Army Corps of Engineers

1909

Washington

Government Printing Office

excerpted from page 2213:

"The steamboat UMATILLA , which was 50 per cent completed at the beginning of the fiscal year, was finished and accepted from the contractors in the latter part of November. She was at first put to work raking shoals at Biggs Rapids, and on December 23 proceeded to Homly Rapids, 117 miles above Celilo, where she was employed during the rest of the season, when the conditions permitted, blasting rocks, raking shoals, and removing boulders. High water finally put a stop to operations, and she proceeded to Lewiston, where she arrived May 9, and was laid up for the freshet season. The UMATILLA traveled 1,600 miles, acting as tender to scows, making inspection trips, etc."


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4 of the pix I took in ought-six of the steamboat PORTLAND moored on the Willamette River next to Tom McCall Waterfront Park in downtown Portland, Oregon. The interior of the pilot house is especially tantalizing . . . could live there easily.

While under steam on the Columbia River PORTLAND experienced misadventures in 2008 and on Friday the 13th of July, 2012. Both of those events were documented below on The Old Salt Blog where videos of the 2012 accident can be viewed.

oldsaltblog.com

"Privateer Royaliste, the Sternwheeler Portland and the Very Bad Friday the 13th"
July 18, 2012
by Rick Spilman

Correction: Based on local news reports, we originally posted that water pressure from the steamer Portland's paddle-wheel damaged the Royaliste. We were incorrect. The Portland (as seen in the posted videos) clearly backed into the ketch, which was tied up alongside the dock.

Friday, June 13th, should have been a great day at the first St. Helens Maritime Heritage Festival for both the 55' privateer ketch Royaliste and the 186' historic stern-wheel steamer Portland. Both ships were making debuts of a sort. The Royaliste has been undergoing extensive restoration for several years and her first public re-appearance was last Friday. Likewise, the sternwheeler Portland, built in 1949 and owned by the Oregon Maritime Museum, was carrying its first passengers down the Columbia River since a mechanical failure nearly sent it plummeting over the Bonneville Dam in 2008.

Unfortunately, things did not go well when the vessels crossed paths. The Royaliste was at the dock when the Portland came backing down. The sternwheeler's rail struck the ketch's starboard side, opening several seams in the ketch's planking. (See the video). The Royaliste immediately began taking on water and was saved from sinking by portable pumps provided by U.S. Coast Guard and the Columbia County Sheriff's Office marine unit. According to its Facebook page, the Royaliste has made it back to its home port in Schooner Creek and is being kept afloat by pumps pending the arrival of the insurance surveyors.

The steamer Portland has had a troubled past. The Oregon Maritime Museum bought the Portland for $1 in 1991. The steamer was originally intended to be a stationary exhibit for the museum, but after restoration, the Portland was put into service giving occasional tours of local waters to museum members and guest. This came to an abrupt halt when the Coast Guard learned that the vessel was carrying passengers and yet had never been inspected.

For the next seven years the Portland remained stationary while upgrades were made to meet Coast Guard safety requirements. In 2008 the vessel was put back in service. In June of that year she participated in the first stern-wheeled steam boat race on the Columbia River in 56 years.

The race did not go well. Outside Cascade Locks, the Portland's steering locked up and it plowed into the bank, damaging the paddle wheel. Without power or steering, the boat drifted helplessly towards the Bonneville Dam. Until a tugboat arrived to pull it to safety, there were fears that the stern-wheeler and her passengers would go over the dam.

Thanks to Robert Kennedy, Alaric Bond and Melanie Sherman for passing along the news.


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Dave Thomson on the barge in front of the PORTLAND sternwheel.

steamboats.org

The Str. PORTLAND was built at Portland, Oregon, in 1947 by Northwest Marine Iron Works for the Port of Portland as a sternwheel towboat to replace the previous Steamer Portland which was built in 1919.

The hull was steel constructed and it supported wood upper decks; cabin deck, texas deck and wheelhouse.

She was decommissioned in 1981. Operated by two independent river tug boat companies, Western Transportation and Shaver Transportation, she served her entire working life as a Portland Harbor tug.

In 1989 she was adopted by the Oregon Maritime Museum as it's premier exhibit and still serves the Portland waterfront in that capacity. She is fully operational and periodically steams-up.

Length: 186.1'; beam: 42.1'; depth of hold: 9'; draft: 5.5; gross tonnage: 928; net: 733. Engines: 26" dia - 9' stroke; boiler pressure: 250 pounds.

Oregon Maritime Center & Museum
113 S.W. Front Ave.
Portland, OR 97204
Phone (503) 224-7724
Open 11 am - 4 pm, Fridays & Saturdays


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Sternwheeler CLAIRE of Portland, Oregon in 1952
Columbia River steamer CLAIRE was built in 1918 563 tons 157 feed long
8 x 10 press photo
Rubber stamp dated June 30, 1952

Caption that was published in newspapers with this photo:

"Big paddle wheel which propels CLAIRE turn slowly, moving steamboat a slow speed through first lock stage as Oregon City. Steamboat proceeded though locks in 40 minutes."


steamboat photo

steamboat photo

steamboat photo

Postmarked April Fool's Day 1903 and addressed to Pearl Briggs, Coquille, Oregon. The sender was the guy standing on the bitts but I removed the word "ME" that he wrote next to himself. He didn't sign his name to the card. What flavor, a great cast of characters.

Canvas cover on the side of the delivery wagon on the right says Wm. Carver Transport / Phone. 37.

Second file is of my favorite detail of the 2 gents on top of the pilot house. The man seated is wearing a cap, suppose he could have been the pilot.

Some historical background to accompany the ECHO photo . . . adapted from this link - click here.

Myrtle Point, Oregon

Said to be one of the best-preserved small towns in Southern Oregon, Myrtle Point is at the southern end of the Coquille River Valley, about 25 miles inland from the Oregon Coast. The historic downtown district is ringed by many vintage homes, some well kept and others in the process of restoration.

The town sits along Highway 42, a major east-west route between US 101 and Interstate 5. Highway 42 S, which branches off Highway 42 in Coquille, provides an easy route to the Pacific Ocean at Bandon.

The annual Coos County Fair is held in Myrtle Point. It has been held yearly since 1912 and only cancelled once, in 1942 during the war.

The town's main event is the Harvest Festival, usually the last weekend in September.

The town is home to the Coos County Logging Museum, open in summertime. The museum is located in a domed, pioneer-era building with unusual acoustics.

Myrtle Point's boom years came in the late 1890s, when speculation ran high about a railroad connection to Roseburg. The railroad eventually chose another route, but the region's rich timberlands and farmlands sustained the community.

The town is adjacent to the Coquille River, which rises from the nearby Coast Range and finds its way to the sea at Bandon.

Once an important waterway for frontier-era commerce and transportation, the river is a popular fishery for salmon and steelhead.

The Coquille River Valley remains a productive cattle and dairy region, and there are sawmills and other small industry. Pride in a hard-working pioneer heritage runs high, and the town strives to maintain its downtown district and small-town character.

Wikipedia Echo sternwheeler built 1901 in Coquille, Oregon built by Ellingson. 76 tons; 66' length; fate unknown, probably abandoned 1911.

Sent: Tuesday, January 17, 2012 11:49 PM
Subject: photo of the ECHO

Dave, My name is Diana James. We have this same photo.

Printed on the back is words written by Pearl James, my husbands Grandmother:

"This is our boat. Charles Zevely (Known as Chas) is standing on the bow with his arms folded. Charles Henry James is sitting up on the pilot house and the boy on his left is Captain Jack."

Pearl's maiden name was Zevely so Charles must have been her brother. Charles James was her husband. The couple were quite the pioneers and had 11 children. Charles Henry worked in gold mines in California and also lived in Alaska for a while. The last of the old pioneer homestead is on the Rogue River.

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1891 Stereoview of the Echo


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Steamboat North-West

A motley crew on deck below and diverse passengers above on the boiler deck aboard the NORTH-WEST which camefrom a source in Oregon so likely navigated the Columbia River and tributaries. There was also a boat named the NORTHWEST (without the hyphen) which is remembered fondly in an extensive write-up on the internet but it musthave been a much grander and prestigious steamer than this relatively modest boat.


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Photo from the city of Campbell River, British Columbia of the Gold Rush era Yukon River sternwheel steamboat CLIFFORD SIFTON taken on July 24th, 1900 with jubilant passengers and crew waving to the photographer after the boat had safely survived an exciting voyage through the White Horse Rapids which were submerged under Schwatka Lake after the Whitehorse Dam was built in 1958-59. The other photo is a small stern view of the CLIFFORD SIFTON with VICTORIA under her name above the paddlewheel indicating her home port in B.C.

The CLIFFORD SIFTON was built in 1898 at Bennett, British Columbia. She was 120 feet long and originally owned by Dominion Steamboat Line then acquired by the White Pass Line in 1903. She was last used as a powerboat in 1903, converted to a barge and first used at Hootalinqua in Yukon Territory in 1904. Demolished in a collision at Dawson City, Yukon Territory in 1905.


contemporary paddlewheel steamboat

contemporary paddlewheel steamboat

It's a "fur piece" to fly up and then to see the MOYIE but Jim says it's well worth the effort. Believe this photo was off "flickr." Nice pristine in white, good as new . . . You may already have the MOYIE's link on your site. klhs.bc.ca The S.S. Moyie sternwheeler is one of the most significant preserved steam passenger vessels in North America. When the Moyie was retired in 1957, after a 59-year career with the Canadian Pacific Railway's BC Lake and River Service, she was the last operating passenger sternwheeler in Canada. She is in a surprisingly complete state for a vessel with such a long service record. The SS Moyie is located in the beautiful town of Kaslo, in the West Kootenay region of British Columbia.


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The QUEEN of SEATTLE at Seattle, Washingon. The initials "AQ" between her stacks originated during her second incarnation as the ALASKA QUEEN in Alaska.

seattletimes.com

At quarter of its value, Queen of Seattle paddle-wheeler still for sale

Originally published July 2015The price has recently been cut to $250,000 on the 138-foot Queen of Seattle, a steam-powered, paddle-wheel boat moored on Lake Union.By Jack Broom Seattle Times staff reporterShe has worked in three states under three different names. She loves to party, and has her own bar, cabaret stage, dance floor, player piano and 38-whistle calliope. There's even a touch of mystery in her background, stemming from the fact that her first owner's body was found in a California river in 2003—a death never fully explained. Call her Queen of Seattle. That's the name this 138-foot paddle-wheeler used on her most recent job, taking visitors on a 2-1/2-hour loop around Lake Union from 2010 to 2013. "I love her. She's an amazing piece of history," said Lisa Dindinger of Alaska Travel Adventures, owners of the boat since 2005. "She needs loving care and someone with the know-how to make the best of her."

The steel-hulled vessel, which can carry up to 400 passengers, has the classic "floating wedding cake" look of a paddle-wheel riverboat, with its bright-red, 24-foot-diameter stern wheel. Dindinger said her company decided reluctantly that the boat isn't a good fit with its Alaska focus, and has offered it for sale for more than two years. Based on an insurance appraisal that put the boat's replacement value at more than $1 million, Dindinger said, the company first listed it for sale at $895,000, then dropped the price after about a year to $500,000 and—in the last two weeks—to $250,000.

Any potential purchaser would need pockets deep enough to cover not just the purchase price, but the succession of expenses for moorage, maintenance, fuel, insurance and renovations that will follow.

And there's this: Anytime the boat is under way, the Coast Guard requires that it have a licensed steam engineer on board.

Dindinger admits only a small slice of the boat-buying public would have a use for a vessel like this. She's had a couple of recent inquiries, but nothing that panned out.

The boat was built in Sacramento in 1984 as the "Elizabeth Louise" by Harold Wilmunder, whom Dindinger said was a sign maker by occupation and a steam engineer by hobby. He didn't operate a consistent tour business with the boat but did some charters and special events, and took friends and family for rides along the Sacramento River.

One day in 2003, the 78-year-old Wilmunder got a call from police saying it appeared a hatch had been forced open near the boat's bow. Wilmunder went to investigate and was never seen alive again.

After his body was found in the water between a Coast Guard boat and a dock, authorities said the death appeared to be a drowning but were hesitant to rule out possible foul play. Dindinger said she and her husband learned of the boat online and found Wilmunder's widow willing to sell. The boat was barged to Seattle, renovated and then steamed its way Ketchikan to begin running tours under the name "Alaska Queen."

(It still carries the initials "AQ" in gold letters high between its smokestacks, even though the hull identifies it as the Queen of Seattle.)

But Dindinger said the Coast Guard was concerned that the boat, which is tall, narrow and sits high in the water, might not be stable enough for winds and waves in Southeast Alaska, which could be as strong as those in the open ocean.

So the tour company brought the boat down to Seattle and put it to work on Lake Union. But Dindinger said it's been difficult for the company to give the boat tours proper attention, since its other operations are based in Alaska.

Dindinger said she doesn't expect the price to drop below the $250,000, adding that it could cost nearly that amount to dispose of the boat. "We sure hope it doesn't come to that," she said.


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Yukon Steamer AKSALA (ALASKA spelled backwards)
Taken at Whitehorse, Yukon Territory July, 1949


YukonStrAksala-wiki

Wikipedia


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History of the steamer CASCA from explorenorth.com:
explorenorth.com
The CASCA was a wooden sternwheeler, 180 feet long, with 36.5-foot beam and 5.6-foot hold.
She had one deck, was of carvel build, with a straight head and transom stern, and had 5 bulkheads.
Over the winter of 1936-1937, the CASCA was partially constructed at Vancouver for the British Yukon Navigation Company with pre-fab units then shipped to Whitehorse for assembly; most of the boat was then built at Whitehorse
Licensed for 180 passengers in 1937, she was the plushest ship on the upper river, used for most British Yukon Navigation Company tourist runs.
On June 20, 1974, the CASCA and the WHITEHORSE stood side by side out of the water on the ways when they were lost in a fire at Whitehorse, Yukon Territory.
They were occupied by squatters at the time who probably started the the blaze by accident with a cooking fire.
Fortunately the Yukon steamboats KENO (now at Dawson City, Yukon Territory) and the KLONDIKE (now at Whitehorse) have been preserved, restored and can be visited.
Below is a portion of an informative online article about the Klondike River "Five Finger Rapid not Rapid[s]."
"Highway #2—North Klondike Highway, Km. 380 - FIVE FINGER RAPID"
sightsandsites.ca
During the 1898 Klondike Gold Rush, thousands of prospectors navigated their homemade boats and rafts 1300 800 miles from Bennett Lake to Dawson City.
Five Finger Rapid was a major obstacle along the route and more than a few stampeders ended up in the water after choosing the wrong channel.
". . . a great barrier looms up a mile ahead—five great irregular blocks of reddish rock ranging across the river like the piers of a bridge—making two principal channels. That on the left is growling ominously over shallow rocks, so we turn to the right and drop into a small eddy a few hundred feet above the great wall. We climb up and look at the rapid. It seems by no means dangerous. The opening is about one hundred feet wide, with vertical walls, through which the river drops a couple of feet, the waves rising angrily in a return curl, then dancing on in rapidly diminishing chops until lost in the swift current below."
" We turn our prow squarely for the middle of the cleft; a drop, a smash, a few quarts of water over the sides, and we are shot through into the fast current, without even looking back."
Tappan Adney, The Klondike Stampede.
Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press
Navigation
Only one of the Five Finger channels was deep enough for the sternwheelers, but the current remained very strong.
At low water, the boats could steam right up and through it.
At high water, the falls created a 1 to 2 foot shelf.
A sternwheeler ascending the rapid could only move up over the shelf until the wheel lifted out of the water and then the vessel lost power.
A cable was attached to the rocks so sternwheelers could winch themselves up stream.
It took 15 - 20 minutes for a power-capstan on the deck to pull the sternwheeler through the channel.
In 1903, the sternwheeler Mary F. Graff touched bottom at Five Fingers and cracked several hull frames.
In 1911 there were complaints that nearly every season there was an accident caused by a steamer striking the rocks at Five Finger.
Blasting work started at Five Finger in 1900 and continued until at least 1927.
Rock was removed and the channel widened by 20 feet. . . .
The Five Finger islands and riverbank are composed of conglomerate rock (pebbles and boulders embedded in a sand-to-mud matrix) that is more resistant to erosion than surrounding mudstone layers.


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Columbia River sternwheeler UNDINE circa 1915

Canada across the border to the north had a great deal of steamboat commerce on its lakes and rivers and especially on the Yukon River during the Gold Rush while in the U.S. territory of Alaska the Klondike River transported gold seekers, supplies and necessities of life to frontier settlers who would not have been otherwise reliably connected to the outside world.

The sternwheeler "Undine" on the Columbia River

April 29 - May 3, 1915
columbiariverimages.com

With more than 100 people aboard, the sternwheeler "Undine" was the first steamer to travel on the Columbia River from Portland, Oregon, to Lewiston, Idaho, during the week-long celebrations of the opening of The Dalles - Celilo Locks and Canal.

The "Undine" was the flagship to a long string of vessels participating in the celebrations. She left Portland, Oregon at 1 a.m. on April 30th and arrived in Lewiston, Idaho on the morning of May 3rd. On the return trip she led the "fleet" from community to community to participate in canal opening celebrations.

Contemporary newspaper account from "The Sunday Oregonian", May 9, 1915:

"... The Undine party left Portland at 1 o'clock Friday morning, April 30. The vessel passed through the Cascade locks at 6 o'clock in the morning and reached The Dalles about 10 o'clock. The vessel was delayed there for several hours on account of high winds, but about 3 o'clock in the afternoon left on the up-river journey. It took about four hours to go through the locks and waterways. The Undine's first stop was at Maryhill, Washington. The Undine reached Pasco, Wash., on Saturday night, with a brief call at Umatilla, Oregon in the afternoon.

On Sunday night they stopped about three miles below Almota, Washington after calling at Riparia in the afternoon for copies of The Sunday Oregonian.

At 10 o'clock Monday morning the Undine reached its objective point Lewiston, Idaho...

The Undine, followed by the steamer J.N. Teal and the Government vessels ... left at daybreak the following morning for the festivities at lower river points. ..."


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The GRAHAMONA built in 1912 for the Oregon City Transportation Company

ONE THE BACK OF THE ORIGINAL PHOTO IS WRITTEN THE LOCALE: "ALBANY" - LOCATION OF THAT TOWN AND LANDING AS FOLLOWS:

Photo circa 1912 taken of the GRAHAMONA on the Albany, Oregon landing at the confluence of the Calapooia River and the Willamette River, just east of Corvallis and south of Salem.

The GRAHAMONA
U.S. Steamboat registry #210453
Sternwheeler

Wikipedia

Built by Joseph Supple at Portland, Oregon in 1912 for a total cost of $35,000 for the Oregon City Transportation Co., to serve in their Yellow Stack Line. The boat was especially designed to serve on the shallow waters of the upper Willamette River; one of the largest steamboats ever to operate there and later would navigate on both the Columbia and Snake Rivers for the Inland Empire Truck & Boat Co. and the Portland Navigation Co. In 1920 the GRAHAMONA was sold and her name changed to the NORTHWESTERN. In 1939, the vessel was sold again, and transferred to Alaska for service on the Kuskokwim River. By 1949 she was out of service and was abandoned on the riverbank at McGrath, Alaska.


the_cremation_of_Sam_McGee4_by_InkEtch_DeviantArt

On the marge of Lake Lebarge, a derelict there lay . . . it was called the ALICE MAY

Enjoy the classic 1897 Robert Service poem of "The Frozen North" that takes place during Gold Rush days in Yukon Territory. Great illustration by InkEtch on Deviant Art of the "derelict steamboat ALICE MAY" where the narrator of the rhyming tale decides to fulfill the last wish of his cold-phobic friend Sam McGee to be cremated. Don't worry about being grossed out by the story which has a satisfactory resolution where McGee gets "thawed out" instead of burned up. Johnny Cash recorded the best reading of the poem which is on the YouTube link below.

The abandoned steamboat ALICE MAY is introduced with these lines:

"I came to the marge of Lake Lebarge, and a derelict there lay; It was jammed in the ice, but I saw in a trice it was called the 'Alice May.' "

Johnny Cash - The Cremation Of Sam McGee

Youtube

JohnnyCash1Fan1
Published on Mar 15, 2012
From Johnny Cash - 2006 - Personal File

The Cremation of Sam McGee

By Robert W. Service

poetryfoundation.org

There are strange things done in the midnight sun

By the men who toil for gold;
The Arctic trails have their secret tales
That would make your blood run cold;

The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
But the queerest they ever did see
Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge
I cremated Sam McGee.

Now Sam McGee was from Tennessee, where the cotton blooms and blows.
Why he left his home in the South to roam 'round the Pole, God only knows.
He was always cold, but the land of gold seemed to hold him like a spell;
Though he'd often say in his homely way that "he'd sooner live in hell."
On a Christmas Day we were mushing our way over the Dawson trail.

Talk of your cold! through the parka's fold it stabbed like a driven nail.
If our eyes we'd close, then the lashes froze till sometimes we couldn't see;
It wasn't much fun, but the only one to whimper was Sam McGee.

And that very night, as we lay packed tight in our robes beneath the snow,
And the dogs were fed, and the stars o'erhead were dancing heel and toe,
He turned to me, and "Cap," says he, "I'll cash in this trip, I guess;
And if I do, I'm asking that you won't refuse my last request."

Well, he seemed so low that I couldn't say no; then he says with a sort of moan:
"It's the cursèd cold, and it's got right hold till I'm chilled clean through to the bone.
Yet 'tain't being dead—it's my awful dread of the icy grave that pains;
So I want you to swear that, foul or fair, you'll cremate my last remains."

A pal's last need is a thing to heed, so I swore I would not fail;
And we started on at the streak of dawn; but God! he looked ghastly pale.
He crouched on the sleigh, and he raved all day of his home in Tennessee;
And before nightfall a corpse was all that was left of Sam McGee.

There wasn't a breath in that land of death, and I hurried, horror-driven,
With a corpse half hid that I couldn't get rid, because of a promise given;
It was lashed to the sleigh, and it seemed to say: "You may tax your brawn and brains,
But you promised true, and it's up to you to cremate those last remains."

Now a promise made is a debt unpaid, and the trail has its own stern code.
In the days to come, though my lips were dumb, in my heart how I cursed that load.
In the long, long night, by the lone firelight, while the huskies, round in a ring,
Howled out their woes to the homeless snows—O God! how I loathed the thing.

And every day that quiet clay seemed to heavy and heavier grow;
And on I went, though the dogs were spent and the grub was getting low;
The trail was bad, and I felt half mad, but I swore I would not give in;
And I'd often sing to the hateful thing, and it hearkened with a grin.

Till I came to the marge of Lake Lebarge, and a derelict there lay;
It was jammed in the ice, but I saw in a trice it was called the "Alice May."
And I looked at it, and I thought a bit, and I looked at my frozen chum;
Then "Here," said I, with a sudden cry, "is my cre-ma-tor-eum."

Some planks I tore from the cabin floor, and I lit the boiler fire;
Some coal I found that was lying around, and I heaped the fuel higher;
The flames just soared, and the furnace roared—such a blaze you seldom see;
And I burrowed a hole in the glowing coal, and I stuffed in Sam McGee.

Then I made a hike, for I didn't like to hear him sizzle so;
And the heavens scowled, and the huskies howled, and the wind began to blow.
It was icy cold, but the hot sweat rolled down my cheeks, and I don't know why;
And the greasy smoke in an inky cloak went streaking down the sky.

I do not know how long in the snow I wrestled with grisly fear;
But the stars came out and they danced about ere again I ventured near;
I was sick with dread, but I bravely said: "I'll just take a peep inside.
I guess he's cooked, and it's time I looked" . . . then the door I opened wide.

And there sat Sam, looking cool and calm, in the heart of the furnace roar;
And he wore a smile you could see a mile, and he said: "Please close that door.
It's fine in here, but I greatly fear you'll let in the cold and storm—
Since I left Plumtree, down in Tennessee, it's the first time I've been warm."

There are strange things done in the midnight sun
By the men who toil for gold;
The Arctic trails have their secret tales
That would make your blood run cold;

The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
But the queerest they ever did see
Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge
I cremated Sam McGee.

The Cremation of Sam McGee

npr.org

August 19, 2006
Heard on Weekend Edition
Saturday
Scott Simon

Robert Service's poem, "The Cremation of Sam McGee," tells the tale of two gold miners in the Yukon and one man's "last request." The poem, which was originally published in 1907, was later transformed into a children's book with colorful illustrations by Ted Harrison, in 1986. Now, a 20th-anniversary edition has been released by Kids Can Press, with new cover art and heavy paper stock.


BlackPrinceSkagit37percent

Skagit River sternwheeler BLACK PRINCE

The BLACK PRINCE on the Skagit River in Washington State

The following story and others about the BLACK PRINCE can be found at this link: stumpranchonline.com

BLACK PRINCE sternwheeler by Ray Jordan

Though half a century has passed, nostalgic twinges grip the writer at times as he seems to hear the melodious whistle, faint and far away, of the old sternwheeler BLACK PRINCE as she boils up the Skagit River in Washington state with cool-headed Captain Forrest Elwell at the wheel.

Highlights of the career of the historic steamer were contained in a letter sent by Captain Elwell to the Skagit Valley Herald in 1964.

Captain F.M. Elwell, aged 84 in 1964, resided in Everett, Washington. Elwell's last tour of duty before retiring was with the Black Ball Line as Captain of one of the large ferries on Puget Sound.

Ray Jordan wrote the following which included excerpts from Captain Elwell's letter in quotation marks. This was published October 7th, 1964 in the Skagit Valley Herald:

"In the summer of 1900, Captain Charles Wright sold the City of Bothell and then the Snohomish and Skagit River Navigation Company was formed by Captain Charles Wright, Captain Charles Elwell, and Captain Vic Pinkerton. It was then decided to build a boat for towing on the Snohomish and Skagit rivers. Captain Charles Elwell made the hull model and Bob Houston was given the job of building the BLACK PRINCE."

Dimensions of the steamboat were: hull, 93 feet; over-all length, 112 feet; beam, 19 feet; depth of hold, 5 feet; tonnage measurement was 159 gross tons, according to the captain. When the hull and the superstructure were completed, she was towed to Seattle by the tug NELLIE PEARSON, where a pair of 10 X 48 steam engines and a 100 horsepower brickyard boiler, 150 working pressure, were installed.

"After completion, the Prince came back to Everett under her own power and then went to the Skagit to tow logs and pilling," Elwell wrote.

The first crew on the Prince in 1901, was Captain Elwell; Captain (Engr.) Wright; engineer Mike Hertzberg; Captain Pinkerton; Forrest Elwell, deck hand, and Wes Harbert, fireman.

"In the late summer of 1901, she made a trip between Novelty and Tolt. In 1902, the Prince took a two from Haskell Slough (near Monroe) to the mouth of the Snohomish River.

"On July 7, 1903, loaded 50 tons of machinery at Mount Vernon designated for the old Talc Mine about 12 miles above Marblemount. ( A former employee of the talc mine remembered the date as 1906. The distance was estimated in river miles. Mileage by automobile is about 6 miles. This trip took three days to get up the river and unload," the Captain continued.

To negotiate Stick's Riffle (named for the old Indian, Johnny Stick, who lived there) below Bacon Creek, the crew found it necessary to pay out 1200 feet of line and employ the boat's winch to pull the heavily laden PRINCE over this shallow, swift piece of water.

"Before this trip was made, Captains Wright and Elwell decided to decrease the diameter of the paddle wheel by about one foot. This was done to give a little more power on the wheel. "They also set up the safety valve another 10 pounds, carrying a boiler pressure of 160 pounds. After this trip, the wheel a safety valve were returned to their original settings."

This trip by the BLACK PRINCE may have been the farthest upstream penetration of a steamer sine the gold rush of 1880. One sternwheeler, the CHEHALIS, is reported to have reached the Portage, a mile or more above the old talc mine, during the gold excitement. One old-timer, who has lived on the river since 1877, is inclined to believe this. He says that a river-wise boat captain conceivably could have made it over the riffles above the talc mine during real high water. He added, however, that most of the gold rush steamers got no farther than Durand Riffle, a mile or so below Marblemount.

"In 1906, the Company operated a logging camp across the Skagit from Birdsview The logs were towed to the mouth of the Skagit and later to Utsaladdy by the PRINCE."

"The writer well remembers towing from Birdsview, and especially through the Dalles (above Birdsview) which is like the letter 'Z'. If you were lucky, okay, but if the raft broke up, you were in a mess, as logs would be all around and under the PRINCE, which would almost spin like a top.

"I also remember a trap (fish trap) pile that went through the bow, and as luck would have it, the pile tore a hole in the forward tank, or else the boat would have sunk. The PRINCE ran on the Skagit for some time before this hole was fixed."

"The first time (after the damage was done) that she took a tow to Utsaladdy, they put the PRINCE right on the beach and when the tide went out the hole was repaired."

In 1910, the Company sold the PRINCE and the T.C. REED to Elwell, Pinkerton, Ira Hall and Tom Meagher, who organized as the Washington Tugboat Company. Forrest Elwell was master of the PRINCE from 1907-1922.

Before the year of 1910 was out they sold out to the Puget Sound and Baker River Railroad (the logging line that hauled Dempsey and Lyman Timber Company, and later, Scott Paper Company logs down the river).

How the BLACK PRINCE got her name: Captain Wright had a dream that he had a boat that was all black and called the BLACK PRINCE, so that is where her name came from, Elwell recalled.

An excerpt from a paper read to members of the Everett Yacht Club reveals the fate of the colorful BLACK PRINCE:

"In 1922, Captain Harry Ramwell of the American Tugboat Company purchased the BLACK PRINCE. She was sold to the Everett Port Commission in the year of 1935 for one dollar. The Port Commission then turned her over to the Everett yacht Club."

"Time marches on and we found that the BLACK PRINCE was too small, too old, and too expensive to repair. She was dismantled in the late fall of 1956 to make room for a larger clubhouse." "As a memorial to the sternwheeler days, the paddlewheel of the BLACK PRINCE sits on the lawn of the Port Commission Office on the Everett waterfront."


SteamLaunches4KlamathLakeForNORI

Steamboats Still Chug On Klamath Lake

This is just about the nicest short film devoted to steam launches that I've ever seen with beautiful scenery and plenty of characters: enthusiastic "folks." Lots of care was taken by the director and camera operators - first rate job.

Steamboats Still Chug On Klamath Lake
Youtube

OPB
Published on Apr 27, 2019
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Every year, a group of boating enthusiasts come to Klamath Lake to blow off steam and build community.





moremusejmphotosclickhere

With the exception of images credited to public institutions,
everything on this page is from a private collection.
Please contact Steamboats.com for permission for commercial use.*

All captions provided by Dave Thomson, Steamboats.com primary contributor and historian.

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