Some time later in the '50's Colonel Ruckel and H. Olmstead built and operated a portage road on the south bank of the Columbia.
Before the portage roads and the steamships combined their interests, the portage company received half the freight charges on all freights to their destination. If the price was $40 per ton from Portland to The Dalles, and that was the regular price for many years, the portage men got $20 per ton for carrying it around the falls, six miles.
The old Columbia was the first steamboat, I believe, to go as far as the Cascades. The first steamboat built above the Cascades was the James R. Flint, built by the Bradfords, J. O. Vanbergen, and James R. Flint, of San Francisco. She was a small side- wheel boat, with single engine "geared" to the shafts, and when in motion sounded more like a thrashing machine than a steamboat. On her first trip down from The Dalles old Dr. Newell was a passenger, and for a time seemed nervous and disturbed. He finally asked one of the employes what made that rattling sound. "Oh, that's only the cook grinding coffee," was the reply.
In the fall of 1861 the Flint was taken over the Cascades and run between Portland and Oregon City. Later on she was cut in two, lengthened, and the machinery of the old Columbia put into her and named Fashion.
The Bradfords next built the Mary, a double-engine boat, to run between the Cascades and The Dalles. The Mary was lying at the Upper Cascades at the commencement of the Indian massacre in 1856, and was dispatched to The Dalles in great haste for relief. She brought back a company of cavalry in barges.
About the same time a messenger was sent to Portland and Vancouver for assistance, and the steamer Belle was dispatched, with Second Lieutenant Philip H. Sheridan and 40 men. This was Sheridan's first battle. In less than 10 years he had become one of the greatest heroes of his age, a renowned general, and had made the name of Sheridan imperishable.
