Steam navigation increased rapidly in proportion to other business, the principal trade being confined to the Willamette River, although about this time there began to be some traffic on the Columbia, above as well as below the mouth of the Willamette.[1] Ocean
- ↑ The Gazelle was a side-wheel boat built for the upper Willamette in 1853 by the company which constructed the basin and hoisting works at the falls, and began to run in March 1854, but in April exploded her boiler while lying at her wharf, causing the most serious calamity which ever occurred on Oregon waters. She had on board about 50 persons, 22 of whom were killed outright and many others injured, some of whom died soon after. Among the victims were some of the principal persons in the territory: Daniel D. Page, superintendent of the company owning the Gazelle, whose wife and daughter were killed by the explosion of the Jenny Lind in San Francisco Bay April 11, 1853; Rev. James P. Miller, father of Mrs E. M. Wilson of The Dalles; David Woodhull, and Joseph Hunt of Michigan; Judge Burch, David Fuller, C. Woodworth, James White, Daniel Lowe, John Clemens, J. M. Fudge, Blanchet, Hill, Morgan, John Blaimer, John Daly, John K. Miller, Michael Hatch, Michael McGee, Charles Knaust, David McLane, Piaut, and an unknown Spanish youth. Or. Statesman, April 18, 1854; Armstrong's Or., 14; Brown's Salem Directory, 1871, 35. Among the wounded were Mrs Miller, Charles Gardiner, son of the surveyor-general, Robert Pentland, Miss Pell, C. Dobbins, Robert Shortess, B. F. Newby, Captain Hereford of the Gazelle, John Boyd, mate, and James Partlow, pilot. The chief engineer, Tonie, who was charged with the responsibility of the accident, escaped and fled the territory. Portland Oregonian, Jan. 29, 1870. The Oregon, another of the company's boats, was sunk and lost the same season. The wreck of the Gazelle was run over the falls, after being sold to Murray, Hoyt, and Wells, who refitted her and named her the Señorita, after which she was employed to carry troops, horses, and army stores from Portland to Vancouver and the Cascades. In 1857 the machinery of this boat was put into the new steamer Hassaloe, while the Señorita was provided with a more powerful engine, and commanded by L. Hoyt, brother of Richard Hoyt. In 1854 the pioneer steamboat men of the upper Willamette, captains A. F. Hedges and Charles Bennett, sold their entire interests and retired from the river.
In 1855 a new class of steamboats was put upon the Willamette above the falls, stern-wheels being introduced, which soon displaced the side-wheel boats. This change was effected by Archibald Jamieson, A. S. Murray, Amory Holbrook, and John Torrence, who formed a company and built the Enterprise, a small stern-wheel boat commanded by Jamieson. This boat ran for 3 years on the Willamette, and was sold during the mining rush of 1858, taken over the falls and to Fraser River by Thomas Wright. She finished her career on the Chehalis River. Her first captain, Jameison, was one of a family of five steamboat men, who were doomed to death by a fatality sad and remarkable. Arthur Jamieson was in command of the steamer Portland, which was carried over the falls of the Willamette in March 1857; another brother died of a quick consumption from a cold contracted on the river; another by the explosion of the steamer Yale on the Fraser River; and finally Archibald and another brother by the blowing up of the Cariboo at Victoria.
Another company, consisting of captains Cochrane, Gibson, and Cassady,
A. L. Lovejoy, directors. Strong, contractor, owned considerable stock in it, which he sold to the California State Telegraph Company in 1863, the line being completed in March. In 1868 a line of telegraph was extended to The Dalles, and eastward to Boisé City, by the Oregon Steam Navigation Company, in 1869. A new line to the east was erected in 1876, which was extended to S. F., and a line to Astoria at the mouth of the Columbia.
