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.
The Coquille River is a stream, about 36 miles (58 km) long, in southwestern Oregon in the United States. It drains a mountainous area of 1,059 square miles (2,740 km2) of the Southern Oregon Coast Range into the Pacific Ocean. Its watershed is between that of the Coos River to the north and the Rogue River to the south.
Coos Bay is an S-shaped inlet where the Coos River enters the Pacific Ocean, approximately 10 miles (16 km) long and two miles wide, on the Pacific Ocean coast of southwestern Oregon in the United States. The city of Coos Bay, once named Marshfield, was renamed for the bay and is located on its inner side. The Port of Coos Bay is the largest and deepest port between San Francisco, California and the Columbia River.
The Siuslaw River is a river, about 110 miles (180 km) long, that flows to the Pacific Ocean coast of Oregon in the United States. It drains an area of about 773 square miles (2,000 km2) in the Central Oregon Coast Range southwest of the Willamette Valley and north of the watershed of the Umpqua River.
Favorite was built in 1901 at Coquille at the yard of Arthur Ellingson (born 1875).[1][2]Favorite was 72.4ft (22.07m) long, with a beam of 13.6ft (4.15m) and depth of hold of 4.3ft (1.31m),[3]
The foot is a unit of length in the imperial and US customary systems of measurement. Since 1959, both units have been defined by international agreement as equivalent to 0.3048 meters exactly. In both systems, the foot comprises 12 inches and three feet compose a yard.
The metre or meter is the base unit of length in the International System of Units (SI). The SI unit symbol is m. The metre is defined as the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum in 1/299 792 458 of a second.
The overall size of the vessel was 63 gross and 46 net tons.[3][4]Favorite had two cabins and could carry about 125 passengers.[5]
Change in ownership
In May 1901, David Perkins and John Moomaw bought out W.R. Panter's interest in the river transportation business, which included the steamers Dispatch and Favorite.[6] At that time, Favorite had been on the beach having its hull repainted.[6] Once returned to service, Favorite was expected to be making a run from Coquille City to Bandon and back.[6] Capt. Panter and his family were reported to be moving to their ranch downriver from Riverton.[6]
Riverton is an unincorporated community in Coos County, Oregon, United States, on Oregon Route 42S, about 12 miles (19 km) up the Coquille River from Bandon. Route 42S is the former alignment of U.S. Route 101.
Attempted salvage of Welcome
On March 7, 1902, at 12:30 pm while en route to Bandon, the sternwheel steamer Welcome became stranded on the north flats of the Coquille River during a very heavy squall, with the wind blowing at gale strength and a rough sea.[7] The grounded vessel was immediately spotted by the personnel at the Coquille River Life-Saving Station, who boarded the steamer and then passed a line to the steamer Favorite.[7]Favorite however was not able to haul Welcome off the bank. This was effected the following night by the life-saving crew with the use of an anchor, hawser, and cables.[7]
Welcome was a sternwheel steamboat that was operated on the Coquille River on the south Oregon coast from 1900 to 1907.
Grounding
On November 9, 1907, Favorite grounded on a tide flat just upriver from Bandon.[8] The sternwheeler Liberty made the trip in its place.[8]
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).
Return and resignation of Captain Willard
On July 23, 1907, it was reported that Capt. Ott Willard would return as master of Favorite, which he had formerly commanded.[9] On November 12, 1907, Captain Willard gave notice that he would resign as master of Favorite to take charge of a new gasoline-powered boat that he was having built at the yard of Max Timmerman in Coos Bay.[8] (This was probably Wolverine.) Once built, Willard intended to place it on the run from Bandon to Coquille under his own command.[8]
Sunk at mooring
Favorite being raised after sinking
On the night of February 5, 1908, while tied to a dock at Coquille, Oregon, Favorite filled up with water and sank.[10] The next morning there was nothing visible of the steamer except the smokestack rising clear of the water.[10] The value of the vessel at the time was estimated to have been about $4,500.[10] At the time, Favorite was owned by the Coquille River Steamboat Company and was run under the command of Captain Ross.[10] The cause for the sinking was said to be a defective hull, and the vessel was reportedly in need of repair.[10] The sternwheeler Liberty, which had been running with the Favorite would be the only boat on the run between Bandon and Coquille until Favorite could be raised and repaired, or a new boat brought onto the route.[10]
On February 18, 1908, it was reported that Favorite had been raised.[11] While the cause of the accident had not been determined by then, it was supposed that somehow the gunwale of the steamer had been caught under the beams supporting wharf floor, and as the river rose, the vessel was trapped and pushed under the water.[11]Favorite had sunk on a Friday, but with the use of jackscrews, and the aid of the tug Triumph and a scow, by Sunday evening, Favorite had been raised sufficiently high above the water for a fire to be raised in the boiler.[11] It was estimated that Favorite could be returned to service within a few days after repairs could be effected.[11]
From August 6, 1908, to March 3, 1910, Favorite was running on the following schedule on the Coquille River set by its owners, the Coquille River Transportation Company: two trips a day running between Bandon and Coquille City, departing from Bandon at 6:45 am, and 1:20 p.m, and departing from Coquille City at 9:15 am and at 4:00p.m.[12][13]
This schedule was claimed to allow travellers from Bandon to meet all trains connecting with Marshfield (the former name of Coos Bay).[12] It also permitted travellers from Marshfield to leave on a Coquille-bound train in the morning and reach Bandon by noon.[12] Persons from the Coquille river could be picked up by the steamer, transfer at Coquille City on to a Marshfield-bound train, and spend three hours in Marshfield before having to return to Coquille City.[12]
Transfer
In 1908 or 1909, Favorite was transferred to Coos Bay.[5] On January 20, 1910, it was reported that Favorite would be transferred from service on Coos Bay north to the Siuslaw River where it would be run between Florence and Mapleton, Oregon under the command of Capt. Ludwig Christensen.[5]
In a comprehensive list of the steamboats operating on the Coquille River published November 29, 1915, Favorite was not listed as in being in service.[14]Favorite was listed on the Merchant Vessel Register for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1915, with its home port shown as Empire, Oregon.[15]
Disposition
Final disposition of Favorite is not known. The boat was last on the Merchant Vessel Registry for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1918.[16]
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Related Research Articles
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.
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.
Washington was an early steamboat operated in the states of California and Oregon. Washington was built in California and was initially operated on the Sacramento River. In 1851, the steamer was purchased and brought on a ship to the Oregon Territory, where it was operated on the Willamette River until the summer of 1853. Washington was sold again, and then transferred to the Oregon coast, where it operated on the Umpqua River, on the Coquille River and on Coos Bay. Washington was able to operate for shorter distances over the open ocean along the Oregon coast. The steamer was wrecked by a boiler explosion in December 1857, near Scottsburg, O.T., on the Umpqua river.
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Echo was a sternwheel steamboat that was operated on the Coquille River on the Southern Oregon Coast from 1901 to 1910.
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.
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