The Coos Bay Mosquito Fleet comprised numerous small steamboats and motor vessels which operated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries on Coos Bay, a large and mostly shallow harbor on the southwest coast of the U.S. state of Oregon, to the north of the Coquille River valley. Coos Bay is the major harbor on the west coast of the United States between San Francisco and the mouth of the Columbia River.
Inland riverboats were used to navigate the bay and the several rivers flow that flow into it. Many of the passages were quite narrow, for example Beaver Slough was aptly named, as every night beavers built dams across the slough which had to be dismantled to allow the passage of Mud Hen.
Nat H. Lane and W.H. Troup, both steamboat captains from the Columbia River, began steamboat operations on Coos Bay in 1873. They built and operated Messenger, doing business as the Coos Bay and Coquille Transportation Company. [1]
One feature of Coos Bay was that one shallow southern arm called Isthmus Slough reaches south almost to Beaver Slough, a shallow north-extending branch of the Coquille River. In 1869 Judge Gilbert Hall built a mule-hauled portage railway across the Isthmus. This line, which was a little over 1.5 miles long, cost $8,000 to build, and consisted of wooden rails laid on rough wooden sleepers, with trestles crossing the ravines that were encountered along the route. The transport on the route consisted of a single wagon carrying a platform, with one man driving the wagon. [2]
Smaller steamboats ran up Isthmus Slough to the north landing to connect to the portage railway, where passengers and freight were transferred to a wagon, and then hauled across the isthmus to Hall's southern landing on Beaver Slough. [2] In 1872, the steamboat Satellite made daily trips from Empire City to Isthmus Slough. Satellite also ran 18 miles up the Coos River twice a week. [1] Once at the south landing, canoes and small unpowered boats carried passengers and freight south to the Coquille River. [2] The journey was about 6 miles from the north landing to the Coquille River. It took one day to make the trip, and the railway carried about 2 tons of freight in a single day. In 1873, about 600 tons of freight were shipped over the line. [2]
In August 1874, construction began on a steam-powered narrow gauge portage railroad to replace the mule-hauled cars. The narrow gauge steam line was called the "Isthmus Transit Railroad". [3]
This was a good shortcut between Marshfield, as Coos Bay was then called, and Coquille, and it also eliminated the need to cross the hazardous Coos and Coquille bars by the ocean. [4]
Frank Lowe had a shipyard in Marshfield, and in the early part of the century he produced many vessels for the Mosquito Fleet, including the propeller Coquille and the sternwheelers Millicoma and Rainbow. [4]
In 1876, Capt. A. Campbell and son launched the steamer Juno on the Coos River. Captain Campbell ran Juno for over ten years, after which the vessel was commanded by N.J. Cornwall Sometime before 1895, the Campbells sold Juno to W.F. Jewett. [5]
In 1899, the 13-ton propeller steamer Alma (later renamed Jauniata) was built for passenger service on Coos Bay. Gasgo, 8 tons, powered by gasoline, was built in 1900 at Marshfield, and was placed in passenger service on Coos Bay and the Umpqua River. In 1901, the small (9 tons) gasoline-engine launch Relief was built at Marshfield by the Holland Brothers for passenger and towing work on Coos Bay. In 1903, Comet (9 tons), Curlew, Dixie (8 tons), Eagle (12 tons), and Fish were all built at Marshfield for the Coos bay service. Dixie also served on the Coquille River. [6]
In 1907, Max Timmerman launched Bonita (14 tons) and City of Coos Bay (later Sunrise) (13 tons), both used on Coos Bay and the Umpqua River. W.W. Holland built the passenger vessels Beaver (later converted to a tug and renamed Atomic) (8 tons), Express, Queen (14 tons) and Koos (10 tons), all for the Coos Bay service. Other boats built for Coos Bay work 1907 included from Marshfield yards, by G.H. Elliott, Messenger (10 tons), and by Frank Lowe, Telephone (7 tons). At North Bend, Z.A. Kanick built Tioga (11 tons), and at Allegany, H.P. McCallon built Transfer. [7]
In 1908, Peter Olson built Coast (later renamed Enterprise and Arrow No. 5). Arthur Mattson built Marshfield at Eastside. J.D. Ross built Traveler (8 tons) at Pleasant Point and Max Timmerman built Victor (8 tons) and Wolverine (14 tons) at his Marshfield yard. Also in 1908, W.W. Holland built Ranger (12 tons) and Shamrock (8 tons) at Marshfield. North Bend yards also produced a number of smaller vessels in 1908. George Smith built the towboat Arrow, Peter Peterson built Vega, J.H. Cullon builtMawnell (8 tons), and C.A. Johnson built North Star. [7]
In 1909, Timmerman built the gas boats Hercules and Mae, both 12 tons, and Holland built Alice H. (11 tons). In 1912, various yards around Coos Bay built the small gasoline-powered vessels Albatross (13 tons), Freak (11 tons), and Union (7 tons). Turtle (16 tons) was built the same year, and a good photo of her survives, loading wood components, probably ship's knees for the construction of a steam schooner.
1912 was a bad year for wrecks among the mosquito fleet. On March 6, 1912, Curlew, which had been hauling milk from Sumner to Marshfield, collided with the Simpson Lumber Company's tug Columbia at North Bend, and sank as a result. On December 30, 1912, Mayflower burned at Coos Bay. Worst of all, on January 20, 1912, the North Star No. 1, which had been operated by Joseph Yonkers between Marshfield and the South Inlet, drifted over the bar and capsized, drowning Yonkers and five passengers. Bad as this was, it could have been worse, as North Star No. 1 had dropped off 12 passengers at a landing just before the accident. [8]
One of the more unusual vessels built in 1912 was Life-Line, a gasoline-powered 24 horsepower (18 kW) propeller vessel designed by George H. Hitchings and built for use as a mission boat by the Rev. G. L. Hall of the American Baptist Publications Society. [9] Marshall summed up Life-Line's career and ended as follows:
This little ship, under zealot Captain Lund, ran up and down the coast for the Baptist Missionary Society saving the souls of erring seaman and longshoremen alike. After a long and healthy life of do-gooding, she ran ashore just south of Neahkanie. Long forgotten, the little vessel was uncovered by a bulldozer in 1949. [10]
| Name | Type | Year built | Where built | Builders | Owners | Gross tons | Length | Disposition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Messenger | Sternwheeler | 1872 | Empire City | Capt. M. Lane | 136 | 91' | Burned 1876 at Coos Bay, total loss [12] | |
| Juno [13] | Propeller | 1906 | Marshfield | 32 | 60.8' | Unknown | ||
| Millicoma | Sternwheeler | 1909 | Marshfield | Frank Lowe [14] | 14 | 55' | Later converted to gasoline engine, rebuilt 1917 as propeller, ultimate disposition unknown. | |
| Pedler | Sternwheeler | 1908 | Marshfield | S. Gilroy | 407 | 124' | Unknown, 1910 | |
| Fay No. 4 | Sternwheeler (gasoline) | 1912 | North Bend | 179 | 136' | Transferred to California, 1913 | ||
| Life-Line | Propeller (gasoline) | 1912 | Marshfield | 36' | Foundered off coast June 5, 1923, just south of Neahkanie Mountain, while en route from Coos Bay to Kelso. Crew survived, hull washed ashore and buried by sand. [15] | |||
| Rainbow | Sternwheeler | 1912 | Marshfield | Frank Lowe [16] | Coos River Trans. Co. [17] | 75 | 64' | Abandoned 1923 |
The history of steamboats on the Oregon Coast begins in the late 19th century. Before the development of modern road and rail networks, transportation on the coast of Oregon was largely water-borne. This article focuses on inland steamboats and similar craft operating in, from south to north on the coast: Rogue River, Coquille River, Coos Bay, Umpqua River, Siuslaw Bay, Yaquina Bay, Siletz River, and Tillamook Bay. The boats were all very small, nothing like the big sternwheelers and propeller boats that ran on the Columbia River or Puget Sound. There were many of them, however, and they came to be known as the "mosquito fleet."
The Coquille River starts in the Siskiyou National Forest and flows hundreds of miles through the Coquille Valley on its way to the Pacific Ocean. Bandon, Oregon, sits at the mouth of the Coquille River on the Pacific Ocean. Before the era of railroads and later, automobiles, the steamboats on the Coquille River were the major mode of transportation from Bandon to Coquille and Myrtle Point in southern Coos County, Oregon, United States.
Yaquina Bay, like Coos Bay, is a shallow coastal bay on the Oregon Coast in the Pacific Northwest of North America. The principal town on Yaquina Bay is Newport, Oregon. The Yaquina River flows into the bay. Until modern roads reached Newport in the late 1920s, the principal transportation method to and from Newport was by ship or boat.
The river sternwheeler Ramona operated from 1892 to 1908 on the Willamette River in Oregon, on the Stikine River running from Wrangell, Alaska into British Columbia, and the Fraser River, in British Columbia. This vessel should not be confused with the coastal steamship Ramona which also ran in Alaskan waters.
Rabboni was a steam tug that operated on the west coast of the United States starting in 1865.
Rainbow was a sternwheel steamboat that was operated in the Coos Bay region of Oregon from 1912 to 1923. Rainbow is sometimes referred to as a "launch", meaning a small steamboat. This vessel's name is sometimes seen as Rain-Bow.
Welcome was a sternwheel steamboat that was operated on the Coquille River on the south Oregon coast from 1900 to 1907.
Dora was a sternwheel steamboat that was operated on the Coquille River on the southern coast of Oregon from 1912 to 1923. This vessel should not be confused with a number of other craft of the same name operating at the same time in other parts of North America.
Myrtle was a steamboat built in 1909 for service on the Coquille River and its tributaries, in Oregon. The ability of this small vessel to reach remote locations on the river system was cited many years later as evidence in support of the important legal concept of navigability.
Coquille was a steamboat built in 1908 for service on the Coquille River and its tributaries. Coquille served as a passenger vessel from 1908 to 1916, when the boat was transferred to the lower Columbia River. Coquille was reconstructed into a log boom towing boat, and served in this capacity from 1916 to 1935 or later.
Echo was a sternwheel steamboat that was operated on the Coquille River on the Southern Oregon Coast from 1901 to 1910.
Liberty was a sternwheel steamboat that was operated on the Coquille River and then on Coos Bay from 1903 to 1918. Liberty was notable for having its ownership entangled in various legal claims in the early 1910s, including some involving a colorful North Bend, Oregon business promoter Lorenzo Dow "Major" Kinney (1855-1920).
Antelope was a steamboat that was operated on the Coquille River and on Coos Bay on the southern Oregon coast from 1886 to about 1908. Antelope was a versatile boat, which served in various roles, including passenger transport, barge towing, and as a fisheries tender.
Dispatch was a sternwheel steamboat that was operated on the Coquille River on the southern Oregon coast from 1903 to 1920. The name of this vessel is sometimes seen spelled Despatch. This sternwheeler should not be confused with an earlier and somewhat smaller sternwheeler, also named Dispatch, that was built at Bandon, Oregon, in 1890, for which the 1903 Dispatch was a replacement.
Favorite was a small steamboat that was operated on the Coquille River, Coos Bay and on the Siuslaw River, in the southern Oregon coast region from 1900 to 1918.
Wolverine was a launch powered by a gasoline engine that operated on the Coquille River on the southern coast of Oregon, United States, from 1908 to the 1920s. Later the boat operated on Coos Bay, and, in the mid-1930s, was transferred to Eureka, California. Wolverine is principally known for its early service as a high-speed passenger vessel.
Little Annie was a sternwheel-driven steamboat that operated on the Coquille River on the Southern Oregon Coast from 1876 to 1890. This steamer should not be confused with a number of other vessels with the same name operating at about the same time in various parts of the United States.
Sue H. Elmore was a steamboat built for service on the coast of Oregon and southwest Washington. From 1900 to 1917, the vessel's principal route ran from Portland, Oregon down the Columbia River to Astoria, and then west across the Columbia Bar, then south along the Oregon coast to Tillamook Bay. Once at Tillamook Bay, Sue H. Elmore was one of the few vessels that could reach Tillamook City at the extreme southern edge of the mostly very shallow bay. After this Sue H. Elmore was sold, being operated briefly in Puget Sound under the name Bergen, and then for many years, out of San Diego, California as a tugboat under the name Cuyamaca. During World War II Cuyamaca was acquired by the U.S. Army which operated the vessel as ST-361. Afterwards the army sold ST-361 and the vessel returned to civilian ownership, again under the name Cuyamaca. In 1948 Cuyamaca sank in a harbor in Venezuela, but was raised and by the early 1950s, was owned by one A. W. Smith, of Pensacola, Florida. This vessel's former landing place in Tillamook, Oregon is now a municipal park named after the ship.
Gazelle was a gasoline powered launch that operated on the Willamette and Columbia river from 1905 to 1911. For short periods of time Gazelle was operated on the Oregon Coast, on Yaquina Bay and also as an off-shore fishing vessel, in the Coos Bay area.