George Anson Pease (1830-1919) was a well-known steamboat captain in the Pacific Northwest region on the United States, who was active from the earliest days of steamboat navigation on the Willamette River in the 1850s. He worked in various roles until the early 1900s, commanding numerous vessels during that time. During a flood in 1861, while in command of the sternwheeler Onward, Pease rescued 40 people from a flood in the area of Salem, Oregon.
George Anson Pease was born at Stuyvesant Landing, Columbia County, New York State, on September 30, 1830.[1] His father was Norman Pease (b. 1805;[2] d. Jan 4, 1847, age 43), who was an architect and builder in New York State.[1] His mother was Harriet McAllister, who moved to Oregon in 1862 from New York, and who died in 1890, at Oregon City, Oregon, at the age of 90 years.[1]
Pease, the oldest of the family, had six siblings, one of whom died in infancy.[1] The others, all sisters, were:
Maria A. Pease, who married Alexander Warner; as of 1904 resided in the Mount Tabor neighborhood of Portland, Oregon.[1]
Martha E. Pease, who married John Howser, was living in Portland in 1890, but by 1904 she was widowed and living in New York City.[1]
Harriet E. Pease, who married Capt. Charles W. Pope (1831-1871).[1]
Pamela Pease, who married Alfred Herring and who died in Portland in 1887.[1]
Education and training
Pease and his sisters were all educated in the subscription schools of New York State.[1] At age fifteen he started working with his father to learn the carpenter and joiner's trade.[1] When his father died, in 1847, Pease completed his apprenticeship with another man.[1]
Move to California
In 1849, news of the California Gold Rush induced Pease to go to the west, by way of a ship around Cape Horn.[1] Pease arrived on September 30, 1849.[1] Pease worked in the mines for a while, where he achieved some success in the following winter, but he was cheated by his partner, and ended up with nothing.[1]
Pease bought a pair of flatboats and ran them on the Willamette River from Milwaukie, Oregon, to Oregon City and later from Portland.[1] Pease began in a keel-boat in 1850, taking freight from Portland to Oregon City for $20 a ton.[2] The boat was propelled by Native Americans with poles, oars and sails.[2]
Steamboat career
When in 1851, the first steamboat, the sidewheeler Canemah was brought to the upper Willamette River, Pease became a deckhand and a clerk on the vessel for six months.[1] He also served on the early Willamette steamers Hoosier, Oregon, and Franklin.[1]
In the summer of 1852, Pease supervised the construction of the sidewheeler Oregon, at Fairfield Landing, on the Willamette River.[3]
In 1858, with others Pease bought Elk, and, in 1860, Onward[1]
In 1860 Pease help build, and owned five-ninths, of the steamer Enterprise.[2] Pease ran Enterprise for two years and placed it into the People's Transportation Company, which had been organized in 1862.[2]
Also in 1860, Rival was built at Oregon City, Oregon, by William and John Dement, two brothers who were merchants in Oregon City, and Capt. George A. Pease, who became her first captain.[5]
During the great flood of the Willamette River in November and December 1861, which among other things destroyed Champoeg and Linn City the steamer Onward, under Captain Pease, was able to run through the streets of Salem to rescue people. For Onward this started out as a routine upriver journey from Canemah. The river was cluttered with debris from riverside houses and landings that had been washed downstream by the flood. By the time Onward reached Salem, her ordinary commercial operation turned into one of rescuing people from the flooded city.[6]
In 1863, Pease built a new independent steamer, also named Enterprise, at Canemah, Oregon.[7] Pease was backed by a company formed by his brother in law, Capt. Charles. W. Pope (1831-1871), Capt. Nat H. Lane, Sr. (1823-1878), C. Friendly, Judge Riley E. Stratton, C. Crawford, James Wilson, C.W. Rea, and S. Ellsworth.[7] The new Enterprise was launched in November 1863, and ran independently for a short time under Pease.
Pease become connected with the People’s Transportation Company in 1865.[2] For some years the captain was a member of the board of directors, but in 1871, all the assets of the P.T. Company were sold to Benjamin Holladay[1][2] Pease remained in his employ as superintendent of Holladay’s river lines.[1][2] Pease also supervised for Holladay the construction of large hotel at Clatsop Beach, in 1872.[2]
In March 1889, the pilots and engineers of the Oregon Railway & Navigation company went on strike for higher wages.[8] On Friday, March 8, 1889, the pilots and the engineers appointed three men each to negotiate with the company, with George Pease being one of men selected by the pilots.[8]
In 1896 Pease was appointed captain of the United States government dredge. W. S. Ladd, and remained until May. 1903, when he resigned and quit active work.[1]
Mining and prospecting
In 1855 Pease went out on a gold prospecting expedition with 25 other men.[2] While they were out the Indian war broke out.[2] Pease owned some mines in Idaho.[2]
Marriage and children
In Linn City, Oregon, on December 26, 1857, Pease was married to Mildred A. Moore.[1][2] Moore had been born in Illinois and been brought to Oregon with her family when she was five years old.[1]
Mildred A. Moore died in Portland on October 22, 1879.,[2] at the age thirty-seven years.[1] The couple had four children, of whom two died as children, Francis A. Pease, age six, and George E. Pease, age two.[1]
The two children who survived were Archibald Leon Pease (1858-1919)[9] and Harriet M. Pease Colbert (1861-1948), both of whom were married and had children as of 1904.[1] Archibald L. Pease was also a steamboat captain, who, in 1893 was the master of the side-wheeler T.J. Potter, one of the most famous steamboats to operate on the Columbia River.[2]
Fraternal, social and business associations
Pease became a Mason in 1855, in Oregon City, and acted as master of Multnomah Lodge, which was the oldest on the Pacific coast.[1] Pease was a charter member of Portland Masonic Lodge No. 55, and was a Royal Arch Mason, a charter member and Thirty-Second Degree Mason of the Scottish Rite and a member of the Al Kader Temple.[1]
Pease was also a member of the Odd Fellows, being in 1857 secretary of Oregon Lodge No. 3, I.O.O.F.[2][10]
Pease also belonged to the Pioneers' Association of Oregon and Historical Society, the Masters and Pilots' Association of United States Steam Vessels, and of the American Brotherhood of Steamboat Captains and Pilots.[1][2]
Political affiliation
Pease was a Republican and was at one time a member of the Oregon City Council.[2] Pease was strongly pro-Union during the American Civil War. On Tuesday, June 11, 1861, in command of Onward, he carried a pro-Union crowd upriver to a large Union rally at Corvallis, Oregon, with the trip from Canemah taking two days.[11]
Around the state in the summer of 1861, flag poles were being set up in various towns, on which the national colors were hoisted.[12] Confederate sympathizers in Oregon, referred to derogatorily as "secesh" by opposing Unionists,[13] occasionally replaced the flag of the Union with that of the Confederacy.[12] At the now-vanished town of Linn City, Oregon, on Monday, July 1, 1861, Pease and fellow steamboat captain James D. Miller led a group of pro-Union citizens in raising a 132ft (40.2m) flag pole, at the top of which was placed a Union flag made by the women of the city.
Death
Pease died on January 22, 1919, in Portland, Oregon, at his residence at 784 Pettigrove Street.[14] Interment was at the Mountain View Cemetery in Oregon City.[15]
Vessels commanded, built, or piloted
The following is a non-exclusive list of vessels owned (in whole or in part) commanded, built or piloted by George A. Pease. All were sternwheel river steamers, except as stated:
↑ Affleck, Edward L. (2000). "Part One: Chapter 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.12. ISBN0-920034-08-X.
↑ Wright, ed., Lewis & Dryden Marine History, at 92 and 108.
↑ Corning, Howard McKinley (1973). "Lost Towns of Willamette Falls … Linn City, Terminal of Commerce". Willamette Landings -- Ghost Towns of the River (2nded.). Portland, OR: Oregon Historical Society. p.45. ISBN0875950426.
1 2 Corning, Howard McKinley (1973). "Lost Towns of Willamette Falls … Linn City Terminal of Commerce". Willamette Landings -- Ghost Towns of the River (2nded.). Portland, OR: Oregon Historical Society. p.44. ISBN0875950426.
↑ "Affairs at The Dalles", Morning Oregonian (letter to the editor dated Sep. 12, 1861), Portland, OR: Henry L. Pittock, vol.1, no.195, 2, col. 4, Sep 16, 1861
Gazelle was an early sidewheeler on the Willamette River in what is now the U.S. state of Oregon. She did not operate long, suffering a catastrophic boiler explosion on April 8, 1854, less than a month after her trial voyage. This was the worst such explosion ever to occur in the Pacific Northwest states. The wrecked Gazelle was rebuilt and operated for a few years, first briefly as the unpowered barge Sarah Hoyt and then, with boilers installed, as the steamer Señorita. A victim of the explosion was D.P. Fuller, age 28, who is buried in Lone Fir Cemetery in Portland, Oregon.
The Willamette Steam Navigation Company (W.S.N.) was an American company incorporated in October 1865 to challenge the monopoly on Willamette River inland steam navigation that the People's Transportation Company was attempting to establish.
Onward was an early steamboat on the Willamette River built at Canemah, Oregon in 1858. This vessel should not be confused other steamboats named Onward, including in particular the Onward of 1867, a similar but somewhat smaller vessel built at Tualatin Landing, which operated on the Tualatin River under Capt. Joseph Kellogg.
James D. Miller (1830-1914) was a steamboat captain in the Pacific Northwest from 1851 to 1903. He became well known for his long length of service, the large number of vessels he commanded, and the many different geographical areas in which he served.
Rival was a sternwheel steamboat that ran on the Willamette River between Oregon City and Portland, Oregon from 1860 to 1868. Rival was intended to be a boat which would promise low fares in an effort to beat a steamboat monopoly which was then in formation.
Elk was a stern-wheel driven steamboat built on the Willamette River in 1857 at Canemah, Oregon. This steamboat is chiefly remembered for its destruction by a boiler explosion in which by good fortune no one was seriously hurt. A folklore tale later arose about this disaster.
Jennie Clark, also seen spelled Jenny Clark, was the first sternwheel-driven steamboat to operate on the rivers of the Pacific Northwest, including British Columbia. This vessel was commonly known as the Jennie when it was in service. The design of the Jennie Clark set a pattern for all future sternwheel steamboats built in the Pacific Northwest and in British Columbia.
Portland was a side wheel steamer built at Portland, Oregon in the summer of 1853. This vessel was chiefly remembered for its dramatic destruction in 1857 by being washed over Willamette Falls, an incident which killed its captain and a deckhand. The death of the captain, Arthur Jamieson, was one of at least four brothers, all steamboat officers, who were killed in three separate steamboating accidents occurring between 1857 and 1861 in Oregon and in British Columbia.
Wallamet was a sidewheel-driven steamboat that operated on the Willamette and Columbia rivers in Oregon and later on the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers in California. Built in a Mississippi river style that was not suited to the conditions of these rivers, and suffering from construction defects, Wallamet was not a financially successful vessel. The name of this vessel is often seen spelled as Willamette.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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