350 FRED LOCKLEY
line of communication between Ellensburg and their mine. This required a trip across the mountains from Ellensburg to Wenatchee. They thought if they could haul their supplies to Wenatchee they could put a boat on the river and take their supplies from Wenatchee to the Okanogan much more cheaply by boat than to haul by team. They looked the matter up and found I had reported it feasible to take boats over Priest Rapids, and also Rock Island Rapids. Acting on my report, made some years before to the O. R. & N. Co., they built a boat at Pasco to navigate the Columbia from Point Eaton at the mouth of Johnson's canyon, to the site of their mines in the Okanogan. They secured the services of Captain Jones, a Mississippi steamboat man, to plan and build a boat suitable for use on the upper river.
"Shortly before the boat was completed, I had a talk with him and urged him to make a personal examination of the Rock Island Rapids. He told me he was able to navigate water, no matter how swift it was. However, in a rather lofty way, he consented to go up and look at the rapids before mak- ing the trip. He visited the Rock Island Rapids and by a roundabout way he got back to the railroad and went back to the Mississippi. Neither the stockholders of the boat com- pany nor any one else in this part of the country ever saw him again.
"This left the Ellensburg miners in a rather bad way. They were out the expense of the boat and had no one who would tackle the job of operating it. They came to me, but I told them I could not afford to neglect my own interests for the sake of running their boat.
"They put it up to me, however, that it was on the strength of my report the boat had been built, so, to the neglect of my own interests, I agreed to take charge of their steamer, 'The City of Ellensburg,' and demonstrate for them the rapids could be overcome.
"In July, 1888, we left Pasco with 45 tons of freight and several passengers on board for the Okanogan. The steamer was a stern wheeler, 120 feet long, 22 foot beam and drew four feet when loaded.
