Steamboats of the Cowlitz River

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Joseph Kellogg Joseph Kellog 1903.JPG
Joseph Kellogg

The Cowlitz River flows into the Columbia River at a point 68 miles from the Columbia's mouth, [1] in southwestern Washington, United States.

Cowlitz River river in the United States of America

The Cowlitz River is a river in the state of Washington in the United States, a tributary of the Columbia River. Its tributaries drain a large region including the slopes of Mount Rainier, Mount Adams, and Mount St. Helens.

Columbia River river in North America; flows from British Columbia, through Washington, and along the Washington–Oregon border to the Pacific Ocean

The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada. It flows northwest and then south into the US state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state of Oregon before emptying into the Pacific Ocean. The river is 1,243 miles (2,000 km) long, and its largest tributary is the Snake River. Its drainage basin is roughly the size of France and extends into seven US states and a Canadian province. The fourth-largest river in the United States by volume, the Columbia has the greatest flow of any North American river entering the Pacific.

United States federal republic in North America

The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States or America, is a country composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the largest city by population is New York. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico. The State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U.S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The extremely diverse geography, climate, and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries.

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The head of navigation, Cowlitz Landing, was about 35 east of the meeting of the Clackamas with the Columbia. Early steamboat operations on the Cowlitz were haphazard from 1858 to 1864. By the later date, the monopoly Oregon Steam Navigation Company had taken over, driving competitors out with a price war. Once O.S.N. had crushed all its competitors, the quality of service fell off. Residents of the area brought in Captain Joseph Kellogg, his brother and two sons to organize a new service on the Cowlitz. Kellogg did so with the Toledo. The Kelloggs established a new town at Cowlitz Landing, and named it Toledo after their sternwheeler.

Oregon Steam Navigation Company

The Oregon Steam Navigation Company (O.S.N.) was an American company incorporated in 1860 in Washington with partners J. S. Ruckle, Henry Olmstead, and J. O. Van Bergen. It was incorporated in Washington because of a lack of corporate laws in Oregon, though it paid Oregon taxes.

Toledo, Washington City in Washington, United States

Toledo is a city in Lewis County, Washington, United States. The population was 725 at the 2010 census.

Other boats eventually placed on the Cowlitz run were Joseph Kellogg, Northwest, and Chester. Chester in particular, launched in 1897, was described as "the ultimate in shallow-draft steamboating. [2] She worked upstream from Kelso, where she connected with larger river boats, and could run in water only a foot deep. There was not a need for docks, customers just drove their wagons into the river to load or unload. The design was widely copied for use in Alaska and the Yukon for shallow-draft boats in the gold rush. [3]

Kelso, Washington City in Washington, United States

Kelso is a city in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Washington and is the county seat of Cowlitz County. At the 2010 census, the population was 11,925. Kelso is part of the Longview, Washington Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a population of 102,410. Kelso shares its long western border with Longview. It is near Mount St. Helens.

Railroad and highway competition ended steamboat service on the Cowlitz in 1918. [4]

See also

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<i>Georgiana</i> (steamboat)

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<i>Fleetwood</i> (steamboat)

The steamboat Fleetwood operated in the 1880s and 1890s on the Columbia River and later as part of the Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet.

<i>Altona</i> (sternwheeler) steamship

The steamship Altona operated from 1890 to 1907 on the Willamette River in the U.S. state of Oregon. In 1907, she was transferred to Alaska.

<i>Leona</i> (sternwheeler)

The steamship Leona operated from 1899 to 1912 on the Willamette River in the U.S. state of Oregon. This vessel was original launched under the name McMinnville in 1899, and should not be confused with an earlier vessel named McMinnville, which ran on the Willamette River from 1877 to 1881.

<i>Lurline</i> (sternwheeler 1878) streamboat

Lurline was a steamboat that served from 1878 to 1930 on the Columbia and Willamette rivers. Lurline was a classic example of the Columbia river type of steamboat.

Joseph Kellogg American businessman

Joseph Kellogg was a well-known steamboat captain and businessman of Portland, Oregon.

<i>J.D. Farrell</i> (sternwheeler)

J.D. Farrell was a sternwheel steamer that operated on the Kootenay River in western Montana and southeastern British Columbia from 1898 to 1902.

<i>Marion</i> (sternwheeler) small sternwheel steamboat

Marion was a small sternwheel steamboat that operated in several waterways in inland British Columbia from 1888 to 1901.

<i>Ramona</i> (sternwheeler 1892) 1892 sternwheeler

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.

<i>Pomona</i> (sternwheeler) steamboat

Pomona was a steamboat which operated on the Willamette, Columbia and Cowlitz rivers from 1898 to 1940. Pomona was specially designed to operate in low water conditions such as typically prevailed in the summer months in Oregon. Pomona was one of the few steamers that could regularly navigate to Corvallis, Oregon which was the practical head of navigation on the Willamette. In 1926, Pomona was substantially rebuilt, and served afterwards as a towboat. In 1940, Pomona was converted into an unpowered floating storehouse.

<i>Wenat</i> (sternwheeler)

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.

<i>No Wonder</i> (sternwheeler)

No Wonder was a stern-wheel driven steamboat that operated on the Willamette, Columbia and Cowlitz rivers from 1889 to 1930. No Wonder was originally built in 1877 as Wonder, which was dismantled in 1888, with components being shifted over to a new hull, which when launched in late 1889 was called No Wonder.

<i>Northwest</i> (sternwheeler)

Northwest was a steamboat that operated on the Columbia, Cowlitz and lower Willamette rivers from 1889 to 1907. In 1907 Northwest was transferred to Alaska, where it sank on the Skeena River

<i>Joseph Kellogg</i> (sternwheeler)

Joseph Kellogg was a stern-wheel driven steamboat that operated on the Willamette, Columbia, and Cowlitz rivers for the Kellogg Transportation Company. It was named after the company's founder, Joseph Kellogg (1812-1903). The sternwheeler Joseph Kellogg was built in 1881 at Portland, Oregon.

<i>Chester</i> (sternwheeler)

Chester was a shallow draft steamboat built in 1897 that ran until 1917, mostly on the Cowlitz River in southwestern Washington.

References

  1. ↑ Timmen, Fritz, Blow for the Landing, at page 228, Caxton Publishers, Caldwell, ID (1973).
  2. ↑ Newell, Gordon R., ed., H.W. McCurdy Marine History of the Pacific Northwest, p. 19, Superior Publishing, Seattle WA (1966)
  3. ↑ McCurdy, p19-20
  4. ↑ Timmen, p84-86

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