As built: 131ft (39.9m), and after reconstruction in 1874, 150ft (45.7m)
Beam
26ft (7.9m)
Draft
15 inches (unladen)
Depth
5ft (2m) depth of hold
Installed power
twin horizontally mounted steam engines
Propulsion
stern-wheel
Fanny Patton was a stern-wheel driven steamboat that operated on the Willamette River, in Oregon, starting in August 1865. This steamer operated from 1865 to 1880 for various owners, and was a considered a profitable vessel. The steamer was named for the daughter of businessman Edwin N Cook, Frances Mary "Fannie" Cooke (1837–1886). Edwin N. Cook was one of the principals of the People's Transportation Company.
The machinery for Fannie Patton came from the dismantled steamer Onward.[5] The boat was driven by two horizontally-mounted single-cylinder steam engines.[6] Each cylinder had a bore of 17 (or 16) inches, with a piston stroke of 60 inches.[6] The engines generated 74 nominal horsepower.[7]
Design
Fannie Patton was built to handle extreme low water conditions in the upper Willamette River, drawing only 15 inches of water when unloaded.[3]
Dimensions
According to one source, Fannie Patton was 150ft (45.7m) feet long, measured over the hull only, and excluding the extension of the main deck over the stern, called the "fantail", on which the stern-wheel was mounted.[2] The beam was 26ft (7.9m) feet and depth of hold was 5ft (1.5m) feet.[2] According to another source, Fannie Patton’s dimensions were 131 feet length, 26.5 feet beam, and 4 feet depth of hold.[3]
According to one source, the tonnage of the vessel was 368 tons, which is a measure of size and not weight.[2] The official steamboat registry number was 9615.[7] According to another source, the vessel measured out at 298 tons.[6]
Ownership
Fannie Patton was originally built and owned by the People’s Transportation Company.[6]
In 1874, Fannie Patton came under the control of the Oregon Steamship Company,[3] a Ben Holladay concern, which had four other river boats, E.N. Cooke, Alice, Dayton, and Albany.[8] As of February 1, 1874, and continuing for some time thereafter, all five of these boats operated out of Oregon City, with Fannie Patton running for Albany and intermediate points twice every week.[8] John D. Biles was the Oregon City agent for all five steamers.[8]
In April 1877, Bernard "Barney" Goldsmith and J.N. Teal were reported to have sold their interest in the Willamette Transportation and Locks Company to Henry W. Corbett and Henry Failing.[9]Fannie Patton was among a number steamboats and other assets that changed hands in the transaction.[9] The Oregon Steam Navigation Company still kept its controlling interest in the Willamette Locks and Transportation concern.[9]
As of December 15, 1866, Fannie Patton was operating on the upper Willamette River, running from Oregon City every Tuesday and Friday for Corvallis, Oregon.[11][12]Fannie Patton was reported to have done a very profitable business on the upper Willamette River.[3]
On Monday, January 14, 1867, Fannie Patton was reported to have arrived in the boat basin at Oregon City "loaded to the guards", that is, so heavily laden that the protective timbers around the edges of the hull, called "guards" were at water level.[13]
On Thursday March 26, 1868, the Oregon City delegates to the Union Party convention in Salem returned to Oregon City on board the Fannie Patton.[14] The convention had nominated David Logan for the Union Party’s nominee for Oregon’s seat in Congress, as well as other candidates, including the slate of electors for Ulysses S. Grant, the party’s nominee for the presidency.[14] Upon return to Oregon City on the Fannie Patton, the conventioneers were greeted with cheers by a crowd on the wharf, as well as an escort from the Oregon City Brass Band.[14]
On December 30, 1868, J.H. Foster & Co. of Magnolia Mills in Albany, shipped out on Fannie Patton the largest single lot shipment of flour every sent out from Albany.[15] The shipment consisted of 4,400 sacks of flour, the equivalent of 1,100 barrels.[15] The flour mills were then reported to be running "night and day.".[15]
On Sunday, May 7, 1870, Fannie Patton was scheduled to carry an excursion from Albany to Corvallis for the benefit of the Albany fire company.[16] The "magnificent steamer" Fannie Patton was scheduled to depart Albany at 7:30a.m. and, returning, leave from Corvallis at 2:30p.m.[16] The Albany fire company was to take along their fire engine to make a demonstration in Corvallis.[16] Tickets were 50 cents for adults, and free for children under 12, with the Albany Brass Band coming along.[16]
In late June 1870, a newspaper reported that Fannie Patton was to be brought into drydock for the purpose of lengthening the steamer’s hull, so that upon completion of the work, the boat would be 150 feet long.[17]
On Monday, February 17, 1873, Fannie Patton brought upriver to Corvallis thirty-eight cases of oil and other lighthouse supplies for the Yaquina Head Lighthouse, then under construction, and known as the Cape Foulweather Lighthouse.[18] These supplies were transported overland to Elk City, Oregon, in Lincoln County on the Yaquina River, starting with one shipment on Thursday, February 20, 1873, hauled by drovers Hamlin and Stanford, and with the rest scheduled to be transported on Saturday, February 22, by Brown and Emrick.[18]
In late January 1876, Fannie Patton raced upriver against its competitor, the City of Salem from Salem to Albany.[19] The engineer of Fannie Patton disputed claims that the City of Salem won the race, stating that the rival vessel had departed Salem twenty minutes early, but Fannie Patton still caught up, and would have passed the City of Salem but for the fact that the City of Salem locked sides with Fannie Patton.[19] According to the engineer, City of Salem was only able to reach Albany first because Fannie Patton had had to stop at Independence, Oregon along the way.[19]
On Tuesday, November 28, 1876, Fannie Patton was the first steamboat of the winter navigation season to reach Lafayette, Oregon, on the Yamhill River, where its arrival was greeted enthusiastically by the residents of the town.[20]
Crew and incidents
The first captain of Fannie Patton, in 1865, was George Jerome, who, according to one source, remained in charge for most of the boat’s career.[3] For a few years George A. Pease and James D. Miller were in charge.[3]
The well-known river man Sherman V. Short (1856-1915) began his career as a deckhand on the Fannie Patton.[21]
On Wednesday, June 18, 1873, a crewman on Fannie Patton, Norman Warner, aged 16, was drowned when he had tried to draw water from the river using a bucket.[22] The bucket pulled the boy into the water, and although he swam for a while, he eventually went under the water before the boat could be stopped or help rendered.[22] The drowning was reported to have occurred near Champoeg, Oregon.[23] The body was not recovered for two weeks, when it was found floating in the water at Butteville[23][24] The steamer Governor Grover carried the body upriver to Salem.[24]
Lucien E. Pratt (1824-1899), a director of the People’s Transportation Company, was also a captain of Fannie Patton.[25] In December 1873, Pratt was reported to have been placed in charge of Fannie Patton.[26] A newspaper of the time described Pratt as "one of the oldest, as well as most popular steamboatmen on the Willamette."[26] Pratt was in command when, in 1874, the steamer Shoshone sank in the Willamette River and Fannie Patton rescued the Shoshone’s passengers.[25] According to one steamboatman’s reminiscences 15 years later, Fannie Patton had been racing with Shoshone, during which Shoshone ran into a snag, causing the sinking.[27]
Early criticism
In December 1866, Martin H. Abbott, editor of the State Rights Democrat, an Albany newspaper, and an opponent of the People’s Transportation Company, criticized the meal service on board Fanny Patton, stating, in part, as follows:
… when we pay four bits for a meal, we do expect to have something near its equivalent set before us, whether we partake of it or not; and having been but recently engaged in the hotel business, we claim to know what a meal should be for which half a dollar is charged. The breakfast furnished us, to which we have above alluded, consisted of a piece of very tough beaf, cooked till it was dry and quite tasteless. We set it aside. The coffee was black as tar-water, nearly cold and without milk.[28]
Disposition
In August 1880 the useful components of the steamer were stripped out and the vessel was converted to a barge.[3] In March 1881, Col. William S. Button, of Roseburg, Oregon was supervising the removal of the machinery of the Fannie Patton so that it could be installed in the Lake Pend Oreille steamer Henry Villard.[29][30]
1 2 3 4 Affleck, Edward L. (2000). "Part One: Ch. 2: Columbia River Waterways — List of Vessels". A Century of Paddlewheelers in the Pacific Northwest, the Yukon, and Alaska. Vancouver, BC: Alexander Nicholls Press. p.13. ISBN0-920034-08-X.
↑ Mills, Randall V. (1947). "Ch. 5: Beautiful Willamette". Sternwheelers up Columbia -- A Century of Steamboating in the Oregon Country. Lincoln NE: University of Nebraska. 57. ISBN0-8032-5874-7. LCCN77007161.
↑ "Loaded to the guards", Oregon City Enterprise, vol.1, no.13, Oregon City, OR: D.C. Ireland, 3, col. 2, January 19, 1867
1 2 3 "Hon. David Logan", Oregon City Enterprise, vol.2, no.23, Oregon City OR: D.C. Ireland, 2, col.3
1 2 3 "Large shipment", Albany Register, vol.1, no.17, Albany, OR: Collins Van Cleve, 3, col.2, January 2, 1869
Unio was a small sternwheel-driven steamboat which operated on the Willamette and Yamhill rivers from 1861 to 1869. This vessel is primarily remembered for its having been named Unio when built in 1861, in the first year of the American Civil War, and then having the name completed, to Union, by a new, staunchly pro-Union owner, James D. Miller. Union appears to have sunk in 1869, been salvaged, and then dismantled, with the machinery going to a new steamer then being built for service on the Umpqua River.
The People's Transportation Company operated steamboats on the Willamette River and its tributaries, the Yamhill and Tualatin rivers, in the State of Oregon from 1862 to 1871. For a brief time this company operated steamers on the Columbia River, and for about two months in 1864, the company operated a small steamer on the Clackamas River.
Shoo Fly was a sternwheel-driven steamboat that operated on the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the 1870s. Originally built as primarily a freight boat, the vessel was used in other roles, including towing and clearing of snags. Shoo Fly inspired the name of another sternwheeler on the Willamette River, Don't Bother Me.
The Upper Willamette Transportation Line was a line of four inland steamboats that operated from the fall of 1859 to the summer of 1860 on the upper Willamette River in the state of Oregon, United States.
Enterprise was a sternwheel steamboat that operated on the Willamette River from 1863 to 1875. This vessel should not be confused with several other steamers named Enterprise which operated in the Pacific Northwest at about the some time.
Alert was a sternwheeler steamboat which operated on the Willamette River, in Oregon, United States, from 1865 to 1875. Originally built for and owned by the Willamette Steam Navigation Co., it was soon acquired by the People's Transportation Company, a steamboat line which held a near-monopoly on Willamette River transportation. This vessel was rebuilt in 1871, and ran until 1875, when it was dismantled.
James Clinton was a steamboat which operated on the upper Willamette River from 1856 to 1861. Although the Clinton was said to have been "not a very good boat.", it was the first steamer ever to reach Eugene, Oregon. James Clinton was destroyed in April 1861, when a large fire broke out at Linn City, Oregon in a shoreside structure near to where the vessel was moored.
Oregon was a side-wheel driven steamboat that operated on the Willamette River in the state of Oregon from 1852 to 1854. The steamer was not economically successful and became a total loss by sinking after a short career.
Alice was a stern-wheel driven steamboat that operated on the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the 1870s and 1880s. Alice was the largest vessel built above Willamette Falls and was considered in its day to be the "Queen of the River". This steamer was rebuilt after near-destruction in a fire at Oregon City, Oregon in May 1873. In 1876, it was withdrawn from the upper Willamette River and transferred to the Columbia River, where it was worked as a towboat moving ocean-going ships to and from Portland and Astoria, Oregon, near the mouth of the Columbia River.
Minnehaha was a sternwheel-driven steamboat which was built in 1866 on Oswego Lake, then known as Sucker Lake, in Oregon, United States. Minnehaha was later transferred to the Willamette and Columbia rivers where it operated for the first part of the 1870s.
Dayton was a steamboat which operated on the Willamette and Columbia rivers from 1868 to 1881. Dayton operated on the Willamette from 1868 to 1876, mostly upriver from Willamette Falls, including a route on the Yamhill River to Dayton, Oregon, after which the steamer was named. From 1876 to 1881, Dayton was employed on a run from Portland to Monticello, W.T., which was located on the site of what is now Longview, Washington.
Senator was a stern-wheel-driven steamboat which operated on the Willamette River in the state of Oregon from 1863 to 1875. Senator is chiefly remembered for its having been destroyed in a fatal boiler explosion in 1875 while making a landing at the Portland, Oregon waterfront in 1875.
Albany was a stern-wheel driven steamboat that operated on the Willamette River from 1868 to 1875. This vessel should not be confused with the later sternwheeler Albany, which ran, also on the Willamette River, from 1896 to 1906, when it was rebuilt and renamed Georgie Burton.
Onward was a stern-wheel driven steamboat that operated on the Tualatin River from 1867 to 1873, on Sucker Lake, now known as Oswego Lake, from 1873 to 1874, on the Cowlitz and Lewis rivers. This vessel should not be confused with the similar sternwheeler Onward built in 1858 at Canemah, Oregon and dismantled in 1865.
Occident was a steamer that operated on the Willamette River and occasionally its tributary, the Santiam River from 1875 to about 1890. Occident was designed primarily for freight work, and did not have passenger accommodations. This Occident should not be confused with the smaller steam launch Occident, apparently propeller-driven, which operated out of Astoria, Oregon in the 1890s.
Relief was a stern-wheel driven steamboat that operated on the Willamette River from 1858 to 1865. Relief ran for a short time on the route from Portland to Oregon City, Oregon. After being bought out by the competition, Relief was lined around Willamette Falls to the upper Willamette, where it became the first steamboat to reach Springfield. This vessel should not be confused with a later vessel, also named Relief, which operated on the Columbia and Lewis rivers from 1906 to 1931.
Active was a stern-wheel driven steamboat that operated on the upper Willamette River from 1865 to 1872. During its short operational life, Active was owned by several different steamboat companies. It was dismantled in 1872 at Canemah, Oregon.
Orient was a light-draft sternwheel-driven steamboat built in 1875 for the Willamette River Transportation Company, a concern owned by pioneer businessman Ben Holladay. Shortly after its completion, it was acquired by the Oregon Steam Navigation Company. Orient was a near-twin vessel of a steamer built at the same time, the Occident.
N.S. Bentley, commonly referred to as simply Bentley, was a stern-wheel driven steamboat that operated on the Willamette rivers. Launched in East Portland in December 1886, Bentley ran until 1896, when it was rebuilt and renamed Albany. Bentley was owned by the Oregon Pacific Railway, and was used as part of a rail and marine link from Portland to San Francisco, running down the Willamette, then to Yaquina Bay, and then by ocean steamer south to California. In 1896, Bentley was rebuilt and renamed Albany.
Surprise was a steamboat which operated on the upper Willamette River from 1857 to 1864.
References
Printed sources
Affleck, Edward L. (2000). A Century of Paddlewheelers in the Pacific Northwest, the Yukon, and Alaska. Vancouver, BC: Alexander Nicholls Press. ISBN0-920034-08-X.
Newell, Gordon R., ed. (1966). H.W. McCurdy Marine History of the Pacific Northwest. Seattle, WA: Superior Pub. Co. LCCN66025424.
Timmen, Fritz (1973). Blow for the Landing -- A Hundred Years of Steam Navigation on the Waters of the West. Caldwell, ID: Caxton Printers. 29. ISBN0-87004-221-1. LCCN73150815.
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