The sidewheeler Idaho was a steamboat that ran on the Columbia River and Puget Sound from 1860 to 1898. There is some confusion as to the origins of the name; many historians have proposed it is the inspiration for the name of the State of Idaho. Considerable doubt has been cast on this due to the fact that it is unclear if the boat was named before or after the idea of 'Idaho' as a territory name was proposed. John Ruckel also allegedly stated he had named the boat after a Native American term meaning 'Gem of the Mountains' he got from a mining friend from what is now Colorado territory.[5] This steamer should not be confused with the many other vessels of the same name, including the sternwheeler Idaho built in 1903 for service on Lake Coeur d'Alene[6] and the steamship Idaho of the Pacific Coast Steamship Line which sank near Port Townsend, Washington.[7]
Idaho was built on at the Upper Cascades on the Columbia River by John J. Holland (1843–1893) for John Ruckel. Holland, who was then only a very young man, later went on to build many famous steamboats, including in 1890 his masterpiece, the Bailey Gatzert[2]
Soon after she was launched, Idaho was acquired by the Oregon Steam Navigation Company, and ran on the middle Columbia. This was a stretch of the river that ran between the rapids at the Cascades and The Dalles, where another longer stretch of rapids began. Because the rapids were not generally navigable, all traffic had to be routed around the rapids on portages, first paths and roads, then on railways. This meant that no single steamboat could run up the whole river. The Idaho's role was to transport people and freight on the middle Columbia, bracketed by the rapids at the Cascades and by Celilo Falls to the east. She ran on this route with the small sidewheeler Dalles and the larger Iris.[8]
George H. Knaggs, an early purser of the Idaho
Idaho made a lot of money on the middle Columbia, when she was generally under the command of Captain John McNulty. The profits from Idaho's work allowed the Oregon Steam Navigation Company to build more and bigger steamers, including the Oneonta and Daisy Ainsworth. One of the most important positions on any steamboat was the purser, who was in charge of collecting fares, paying debts and wages, and in general running the business affairs of the vessel. During the times when steamboats were the center of commerce, the position of purser was a sought-after and lucrative post. One of the early pursers on the Idaho was George H. Knaggs, who also served on many other steamboats in the Pacific Northwest.[9]Idaho was rebuilt in 1869.[1]
In 1880, the shareholders of the Oregon Steam Navigation Company sold out to the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company.[2] As railroads were constructed through from Portland to The Dalles, the steamboats of the middle river, including the Idaho could not compete and they were taken down through the Cascades Rapids one by one. Idaho was taken through on July 11, 1881 under the command of master steamboat captain James W. Troup.[2][9]
Following her run through the Cascades, Idaho was taken down to Portland, Oregon, where she was hauled out of the water and completely rebuilt on a new hull. Her paddle wheels were replaced, and new cabin space and a new pilot house were added. The total cost of the reconstruction was $20,000.[4]
Transfer to Puget Sound
As the O.R. & N completed its railroad line up the Columbia, the company management realized that this would put out of work most of their steamboats on the middle river, including the Idaho. The only near place where these boats could be employed was Puget Sound, and the company began to expand its operations there. First, in May 1881 they bought the Starr Navigation Company, thereby acquiring the largest steamboat fleet on the sound, including among others, the George E. Starr. Next they began bringing the redundant boats from their Columbia River fleet around the Olympic Peninsula to Puget Sound.[4] Taking a shallow draft lightly built inland-vessel on this route was a difficult task. The storms and sea conditions in this area of the Pacific Ocean were so bad that it became known as the Graveyard of the Pacific. Just crossing the Columbia Bar was dangerous even to large seagoing vessels.
The first boat brought around was the sternwheeler Welcome, with Capt. George S. Messegee (1837–1911), in command. Welcome was taken up in August 1881 the tow of the tug Tacoma. Captain Messegee then returned to the Columbia River to take the Idaho around. Originally the company had planned to have Idaho towed around just as Welcome had been, but when the company learned the towing charges would be $1,000, they ordered Captain Messegee to take Idaho up under her own power. Messegee took command of Idaho on October 22, 1881, the day she was launched following her reconstruction. In case of engine failure on the trip to Puget Sound, Messegee rigged up a square sail and a jib on the vessel.[4]
At 8:00a.m. on Sunday, February 19, 1882, Idaho left Portland on her voyage to Puget Sound, heading down first the Willamette River and then the Columbia, reaching Astoria, Oregon at 3:30 that afternoon. The next day, Monday the 20th, Messegee tried taking Idaho out from Astoria and west to the mouth of the Columbia, but conditions were so bad that the bar could not be safely crossed, and the vessel returned to Astoria. On Tuesday, Messegee took Idaho downriver again, and pulled into Baker Bay, near the Columbia Bar and the town of Ilwaco. On Wednesday, February 22, at 6:00a.m. a second attempt to cross the bar failed, and Idaho returned to Baker Bay at 8:00a.m., where Messegee and the assistant engineer Reuben Smith disembarked and went up to the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse to watch the sea conditions. At 11:00a.m. they judged the seas to be sufficiently calm to allow the Idaho to cross the bar, so they returned to the vessel, and took her over the bar, encountering heavy seas as they did so. Once past the bar, Idaho ran fast on her own power, reaching Port Townsend the next day, February 23, 1882.[4] This was the fastest time yet for any steamer brought around to the Sound from the Columbia River.[9]
Service on Puget Sound
Idaho went into service immediately on the Tacoma to Port Townsend route, under Capt. Cyrus Orr, former mate of the North Pacific. In 1883, the O.R. & N advertised her as
The first class steamer Idaho will leave Seattle every Sunday and Wednesday at 6 p.m. for Sehome and intermediate ports, returning on Tuesday and Friday, carrying passengers to all ports for 50 cents, freight 50 cents per ton.[10]
An example of cargo carried by Idaho out of Tacoma on one trip was 450 tons of coal, 410 sacks of potatoes, 550 bundles of hoops, 2245 bundles of barrel staves, 15 sacks of onions, and five bales of hides.[4]
In 1890 Idaho was sold to Capt. James Hastings who put on the route from Seattle to Everett, Washington and the Snohomish River. Idaho did not succeed on this route, and was then sold to Capt. Curtis D. Brownfield, who put her on the Seattle to Blaine route. On May 18, 1894, she was sold to Captain D.B. Jackson, who, doing business as the Northwestern Steamship Company (as known as the Washington Steamship Company), put her on the run from Seattle to Port Townsend by way of the mill ports (Port Gamble, Port Ludlow, etc.) Idaho's pilot during her ownership by the Washington line was Everett B. Coffin, later to become one of the most famous steamship captains of in the Northwest as captain of Flyer and the steel express passenger Tacoma.[2][4][9][11]
Hulk of Idaho in use as a hospital on Seattle waterfront, 1899 to 1907.
Retirement from service
Idaho did not serve long with Captain Jackson, and on August 10, 1894, she was sold to Cohn & Cohn, a firm of junk dealers. They removed her machinery, and then sold her to Dr. Alexander De Soto. He had the vessel set up on pilings on the Seattle Waterfront at the foot of Washington Street, where she served as the Wayside Mission Hospital.[12] Later she was taken over by the city of Seattle to function as the town's first emergency hospital. until about 1909, when a new hospital was built ashore and she was finally abandoned. The vessel gradually fell apart and it is said that her slip was filled around her and she became part of the Alaskan Way in the growing city.[4][11]
Notes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Affleck, Edward L., A Century of Paddlewheelers in the Pacific Northwest, the Yukon and Alaska, at 16, Alexander Nicolls Press, Vancouver, BC 2000 ISBN0-920034-08-X
1 2 3 4 5 6 Newell, Gordon R., H.W. McCurdy Marine History of the Pacific Northwest, at 12, 14, 15, 50, Superior Publishing, Seattle WA 1966 ISBN0-87564-220-9
↑ There may be conflict in the sources on this point. Carey, Sound of Steamers, at 77, gives 150 feet as the size of the steamer following an 1881 reconstruction, and this may be more accurate since Carey cites an 1882 source.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Carey, Roland, The Sound of Steamers, at 76-80, Alderbrook Publishing, Seattle, WA 1965
↑ Hult, Ruby El, Steamboats in the Timber, at 144-45, Binfords and Mort, Portland, OR (2nd Ed. 1968)
↑ Newell, Gordon R., Coastal Liners, at 183, Superior Publishing, Seattle, WA 1959
↑ Timmen, Fritz, Blow for the Landing -- A Hundred Years of Steam Navigation on the Waters of the West, at 11, 32, Caxton Printers, Caldwell, ID 1973 ISBN0-87004-221-1
1 2 3 4 Wright, E.W., ed., Lewis and Dryden Marine History of the Northwest, at 60, 91-92, 191, 270, 287, 297, Lewis and Dryden Printers, Portland, OR 1895
1 2 Newell, Gordon, R. Ships of the Inland Sea -- The Story of the Puget Sound Steamboats, at 97-99, Binford and Mort, Portland, OR (2nd Ed.) 1960
↑ One source says that Idaho was placed into service as a Klondike gold rush vessel in 1897. Faber, JIm, Steamer's Wake -- Voyaging down the old marine highways of Puget Sound, British Columbia, and the Columbia River, at 246, Enetai Press, Seattle, WA 1985 ISBN0-9615811-0-7 Certainly a number other old hulks such as George E. Starr and Eliza Anderson were repainted, whisked past the steamboat inspectors, and pressed into service as gold rush vessels bound for Alaska. However, this may be a confusion with another vessel named Idaho, a propeller-driven steamship, which was put into the gold rush service.
The Puget Sound mosquito fleet was a multitude of private transportation companies running smaller passenger and freight boats on Puget Sound and nearby waterways and rivers. This large group of steamers and sternwheelers plied the waters of Puget Sound, stopping at every waterfront dock. The historical period defining the beginning and end of the mosquito fleet is ambiguous, but the peak of activity occurred between the First and Second World Wars.
Many steamboats operated on the Columbia River and its tributaries, in the Pacific Northwest region of North America, from about 1850 to 1981. Major tributaries of the Columbia that formed steamboat routes included the Willamette and Snake rivers. Navigation was impractical between the Snake River and the Canada–US border, due to several rapids, but steamboats also operated along the Wenatchee Reach of the Columbia, in northern Washington, and on the Arrow Lakes of southern British Columbia.
The Bailey Gatzert was a famous sternwheel steamboat that ran on the Columbia River and Puget Sound from the 1890s to the 1920s. This vessel was considered one of the finest of its time. It was named after Bailey Gatzert, an early businessman and mayor of Seattle, who was one of the closest friends and business associates of John Leary – the person who financed the ship.
The steamboat Fleetwood operated in the 1880s and 1890s on the Columbia River and later as part of the Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet.
Olympian was a large side-wheel inland steamship that operated in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. Olympian operated from early 1884 to late 1891 on the Columbia River, Puget Sound, and the Inside Passage of British Columbia and Alaska.
The steamship Alaskan operated from 1884 to 1889 on the Columbia River and Puget Sound. Alaskan and her near-sistership Olympian were known as "Henry Villard's White Elephants." There were a number of vessels named Alaska and Alaskan, this large side-wheel steamboat should not be confused with them.
The steamboat Hassalo operated from 1880 to 1898 on the Columbia River and Puget Sound. Hassalo became famous for running the Cascades of the Columbia on May 26, 1888 at a speed approaching 60 miles (97 km) an hour. This vessel should not be confused with other steamboats with the same or a similar name, including Hassalo (1899) and Hassaloe (1857).
The steamboat Rosalie operated from 1893 to 1918 as part of the Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet, also operating out of Victoria, B.C. In 1898, Rosalie went north with many other Puget Sound steamboats to join the Klondike Gold Rush.
Wilson G. Hunt was a steamboat that ran in the early days of steam navigation on Puget Sound and Sacramento, Fraser, and Columbia Rivers. She was generally known as the Hunt during her years of operation. She had a long career on the west coast of the United States and Canada, and played an important transportation role in the California Gold Rush; it also transported the Governor and the state legislature as the state capital of California moved from Benicia to Sacramento in 1854.
Flyer was an American steamboat that served from 1891 to 1929 on Puget Sound. From 1918 until the end of her service, she was officially known as the Washington. The Flyer ran for millions of miles at high speed, more than any inland vessel in the world. This 1891 steamer Flyer should not be confused with the steamboat Flyer built on Lake Coeur d'Alene in 1905, although the Coeur d'Alene vessel was inspired both in design and name by the success of the Puget Sound ship.
James William Troup was an American steamship captain, Canadian Pacific Railway administrator and shipping pioneer.
Tacoma was a steamship that served from 1913 to 1938 on Puget Sound. Built of steel, Tacoma was known for being one of the fastest and best-designed vessels to operate on Puget Sound. Tacoma was particularly noted for high-speed service from 1913 to 1930 on the route between Tacoma and Seattle.
North Pacific was an early steamboat operating in Puget Sound, on the Columbia River, and in British Columbia and Alaska. The vessel's nickname was "the White Schooner" which was not based on the vessel's rig, but rather on speed, as "to schoon" in nautical parlance originally meant to go fast.
The Carrie Ladd was an important early steamboat on the lower Columbia and lower Willamette rivers. The vessel established the basic design of the Columbia River steamboat, which was later used throughout the Pacific Northwest, British Columbia, Alaska, and the Yukon.
The Multnomah was one of the first steamboats to operate on the Willamette and Yamhill rivers. This vessel should not be confused with the Multnomah, a steamboat built in Portland, Oregon in 1885, which was larger and of a much different design.
Otter was a wooden sternwheel steamboat that was used in Puget Sound and briefly on the Columbia and Stikine rivers from 1874 to 1897.
Inland Flyer was a passenger steamboat that ran on Puget Sound from 1898 to 1916. From 1910 to 1916 this vessel was known as the Mohawk. The vessel is notable as the first steamer on Puget Sound to use oil fuel. Inland Flyer was one of the most famous vessels of the time on Puget Sound.
General Miles was a steamship constructed in 1882 which served in various coastal areas of the states of Oregon and Washington, as well as British Columbia and the territory of Alaska. It was apparently named after US General Nelson A. Miles.
Emma Hayward commonly called the Hayward, was a steamboat that served in the Pacific Northwest. This vessel was once one of the finest and fastest steamboats on the Columbia River and Puget Sound. As newer vessels came into service, Emma Hayward was relegated to secondary roles, and, by 1891, was converted into a Columbia river tow boat.
Wenat was a stern-wheel steamboat that, under the name Swan, was built and operated, briefly, on the Tualatin River, in the state of Oregon. In 1858, Swan was sold, moved to the lower Willamette River, renamed Cowlitz, and placed on a route between Portland, Oregon the Cowlitz River.
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