The ''Columbia'' was a steamboat built at

Astoria, Oregon Astoria is a port city and the seat of Clatsop County, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1811, Astoria is the oldest city in the state and was the first permanent American settlement west of the Rocky Mountains. The county is the northwest corne ...

in 1850. It was the first steamboat built in the

Oregon Territory The Territory of Oregon was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from August 14, 1848, until February 14, 1859, when the southwestern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Oregon. Ori ...

, and the first to establish regular service on the lower Columbia and Willamette rivers. This vessel should not be confused with the many other craft with the same or a similar name, including in particular at least four other vessels named ''Columbia'' which ran on the Columbia river or its tributaries.

Owners

''Columbia'' was built at upper

. One source states that the vessel was built by Gen. James Adair (1808–1888) and James Frost.Corning, ''Willamette Landings'', at 23-24. John Adair was the first collector of customs for the Oregon Territory.Horner, ''Oregon: Her History'', at 148. Adair was a lawyer with political connections, and later was friend and advisor to

Joseph Lane Joseph "Joe" Lane (December 14, 1801 – April 19, 1881) was an American politician and soldier. He was a state legislator representing Evansville, Indiana, and then served in the Mexican–American War, becoming a general. President James K. ...

, one of Oregon's first senators.Hines, ''Illustrated History of the State of Oregon'', at 657. Frost, originally from Missouri, had come out to Oregon with a pioneer rifle regiment.Bancroft, ''History of Oregon 1848-1888'', at 255-56 He had been a sutler in this regiment, and his brother was

quartermaster Quartermaster is a military term, the meaning of which depends on the country and service. In land armies, a quartermaster is generally a relatively senior soldier who supervises stores or barracks and distributes supplies and provisions. In m ...

. When the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

began, he returned to Missouri, where he served with the rebel militia. He lived in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

after the war. Another source states that ''Columbia'' was built by Thomas Goodwin and George Hewitt for Adair, Frost, and two others, whose names are given as Leonards and Green.

Design

''Columbia'' has been described as odd-shaped and clumsy-looking, and double-ended like a

ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...

. The vessel was built of wood and powered by sidewheels, which were driven by engines which originally came from France. James Frost had journeyed to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

to purchase the engines, which were shipped up to Astoria. Another source states that the chief engineer, Thomas V. Smith, went to San Francisco to purchase engines.

First trip upriver

''Columbia'' began its first trip up the Columbia on the morning of July 3, 1850, with James Frost acting as captain. No one on board knew where the channel was, and the steamer's progress was slow. To act as pilots, Frost hired two young people of the

Coast Salish The Coast Salish is a group of ethnically and linguistically related Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, living in the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. states of Washington and Oregon. They speak one of the Coa ...

who had been fishing on the river. By the end of the first day, they had travelled fifty miles, and Frost, not wanting to risk the vessel in the dark, tied up to the riverbank. The next morning, July 4, 1850, the steamer cast off again and proceeded upstream, arriving at

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

(then only a small settlement) at 3:00 p.m. After staying at Portland for abouttwo hours, ''Columbia'' then proceeded on to Oregon City, arriving there at 8:00 p.m., where there was a celebration of the vessel's arrival. It had taken 26 hours to make the trip.

Later operations

After a second trip to Oregon City, ''Columbia'' began to run regular trips between Oregon City and Astoria, connecting with the ocean steamer coming up from San Francisco that was owned by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company. ''Columbia'' was "no floating palace". Fares were $25 per person either way, with passengers to furnish their own food, which would be eaten from baskets or on blankets spread out on the deck or a table in the small cabin. Space was allocated for sleeping at night on the deck, for which there was no additional charge. Often there was standing room only on the boat. Once gold strikes began in the west, fares could be paid in gold. One early passenger, John McCracken, reported that he once paid two ounces of gold dust for travel on the ''Columbia'' from Astoria to Portland. He had to sleep on the upper deck, the vessel was crowded, and the trip took two days. The boat did not run at night. ''Columbia'' completed with the

keelboats A keelboat is a riverine cargo-capable working boat, or a small- to mid-sized recreational sailing yacht. The boats in the first category have shallow structural keels, and are nearly flat-bottomed and often used leeboards if forced in open w ...

bateau A bateau or batteau is a shallow- draft, flat-bottomed boat which was used extensively across North America, especially in the colonial period and in the fur trade. It was traditionally pointed at both ends but came in a wide variety of sizes. T ...

x and sailing vessels that had provided the transport on the river, by towing barges, transporting immigrants who had reached the

Cascade Rapids The Cascades Rapids (sometimes called Cascade Falls or Cascades of the Columbia) were an area of rapids along North America's Columbia River, between the U.S. states of Washington and Oregon. Through a stretch approximately wide, the river ...

and general steamboat work. For six months ''Columbia'' was the only steamboat on the river, until the ''Lot Whitcomb'' was launched on December 25, 1850. ''Lot Whitcomb'' was a vessel far superior to ''Columbia''. The owners of ''Columbia'' dropped their fare to $15. According to one source, Mills, the backers of ''Lot Whitcomb'' refused to meet this, believing, correctly, that people would pay more to ride their superior steamer. Another source, Corning, states that ''Lot Whitcomb'' forced the ''Columbia''s fare down to $12.

Disposition

Fashion (Columbia river steamboat) advertisement 1850s

The sources disagree as to the disposition of the vessel. Corning states that by June 1856, ''Columbia'' had made over 100 runs to Portland, and earned over $500,000 for her owners. Mills gives 1852 as the year in which the vessel was dismantled, as does the ''Lewis and Dryden Marine History''.Wright, ed., ''Lewis and Dryden Marine History'', at 28-29, and 38. Sources agree, however, that the engines of ''Columbia'' were installed in the sidewheeler ''Fashion'', which was built in 1853. After the engines had been removed, ''Columbia''s hull was swept downstream and lost during a spring freshlet.

Notes

References

* Affleck, Edward L., ''A Century of Paddlewheelers in the Pacific Northwest, the Yukon, and Alaska'', Alexander Nicolls Press, Vancouver, BC 2000 * Corning, Howard McKinley, ''Willamette Landings—Ghost Towns of the River'', Oregon Historical Society, Portland, Oregon (2nd Ed. 1973) * Bancroft, Hubert Howe, ''History of Oregon'', Vol. II 1848-1888, The History Company, San Francisco 1888 * Hines, H. K. ''An Illustrated History of the State of Oregon'', Chicago: Lewis Pub. Co. 1893. * Horner, John B., "Oregon: Her History, Her Great Men, Her Literature", ''Gazette-Times Press'', Corvallis 1919 * Mills, Randall V., ''Sternwheelers up the Columbia—A Century of Steamboating in the Oregon Country'', University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE (1977 reprint of 1947 edition) * O'Neill, Dan, recollections, January 1895, published in Wright, E.W. ed., ''Lewis and Dryden Marine History'', at 28-29. * Wright, E.W., ed., ''Lewis and Dryden Marine History of the Northwest'', Lewis and Dryden Printing Co., Portland, OR 1895 available on-line at th
Washington Secretary of State Historical Section