Telegraph was a sternwheel steamboat that was operated on the Coquille River on the southern Oregon coast from 1914 to 1927. Telegraph is perhaps best known for having been in involved in collisions with rival steamboats, apparently as a result of fierce competition for business on the Coquille River.
A steamboat is a boat that is propelled primarily by steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels. Steamboats sometimes use the prefix designation SS, S.S. or S/S or PS, however these designations are most often used for steamships.
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.
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region on the West Coast of the United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. The parallel 42° north delineates the southern boundary with California and Nevada.
Telegraph was built at Prosper, Oregon in 1914 for the Myrtle Point Transportation Company.[1]Telegraph cost $9,500 to build, and was launched at the Herman ranch.[2] The designing naval architect was Dudley Collard.[3]
Prosper is an unincorporated community in Coos County, Oregon, United States. It is about 3 miles (5 km) northwest of Bandon next to the Coquille River. There is no longer a town at the site.
Ceremonial ship launching is the process of transferring a vessel to the water. It is a naval tradition in many cultures, dating back thousands of years. It has been observed as a public celebration and a solemn blessing.
Telegraph was 103ft (31.39m) long, with a beam of 16.2ft (4.94m) and depth of hold of 3.2ft (0.98m).[1] At 96 gross tons, Telegraph was the largest vessel ever built for service on the Coquille River.[1] Maximum passenger capacity was variously reported as 100,[2] 150 to 200,[4] or 200[5]
The foot is a unit of length in the imperial and US customary systems of measurement. Since the International Yard and Pound Agreement of 1959, one foot is defined as 0.3048 meter exactly. In customary units, 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 a vacuum in 1/299 792 458 of a second.
Telegraph's sternwheel was driven by twin horizontally-mounted steam engines, generating a total of 250 horsepower (190kW).[1] Each engine comprised a single cylinder with a 9-inch bore and a 42-inch stroke.[1] Steam was generated by burning slab wood as fuel, as it was in all other steamers on the river.[2] Passengers would be accommodated with street car-type chairs, and the vessel would have "all the equipment of a modern passenger boat."[4]
Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions being used today are the mechanical horsepower, which is about 745.7 watts, and the metric horsepower, which is approximately 735.5 watts.
Telegraph was launched on February 22, 1914 at the Herman Brothers yard near Prosper, Oregon.[4] As launched, Telegraph was 85ft (25.91m) long, and had engines generating 280 horsepower (210kW) .[4][5] It was expected to take about a month after the launch to complete the vessel.[4] Once complete, Telegraph was intended to be placed into regular service between Bandon and Myrtle Point.[4]
Owners
Telegraph's original owner was the Myrtle Point Transportation Company.[5] However, on August 21, 1915, it was reported that Telegraph was owned by a competing concern, the Farmer's Transportation Company.[6]
Entry into service
On May 5, 1914 it was announced that Telegraph was complete and would enter into service the following morning, May 6, 1914, on the run between Bandon and Myrtle Point.[7]
On October 16, 1914, Telegraph was reported to be going off the water for a few days at the Prosper boatyard.[8]Telegraph's schedule would be taken over by Dora.[8]
Rivalry on the river
The initial owners of the company were the Myrtle Point Transportation Company, which mostly consisted of the large Panter family.[4] When Telegraph was launched, there was a fierce and ongoing rivalry between the Panters, who owned other boats on the river, and the other operators, in particular (but not limited to) the Willards, who, doing business as the Coquille River Company, were operating the gasoline launch Charm.
In January, 1915, there had been a collision between the Panter-owned sternwheeler Dora and Charm.[9] This resulted in an investigation by the U.S. Steamboat Inspection Service. On February 3, 1915, following a two-day trial before inspectors Edwards and Fuller, the service suspended, for 20 months each, the licenses of Captains Walter Panter and Allen Panter, as well as that of engineer William Panter, all of the Myrtle Point Transportation Company, as well as the licenses of Capt. O. R. Willard and engineer Elmer Willard, both of the Coquille River Company.[9] Both the Panters and the Willards were also barred from operating any vessel on the Coquille River or anywhere else.[9] As a result, the Panters had to hire a new captain for Telegraph, Harvey Dunham, and the Willards.[9]
First collision with Charm
Motor vessel Charm
Collisions between rival vessels continued. On March 13, 1915, another Panter-owned boat, Telegraph this time, again collided with Charm.[10] The March 11 collision occurred when Telegraph was ahead of Charm, and then stopped at a dock to take on passengers.[10]Charm caught up with Telegraph and had almost passed the sternwheeler when Telegraph pulled away from the dock, with the bow of Telegraph striking Charm just a bit forward of the stern, spinning Charm across Telegraph's bow, and bow-first into the log boom at the landing.[10]
Charm then went bumping along the log boom to a piling, called a "dolphin", securing the end of the boom, where Charm came to a halt.[10] Engines on Telegraph were reversed, but not in time to prevent Telegraph from striking Charm a second time, as the smaller motor vessel was jammed up against the dolphin.[10]
The crew of Charm claimed that they had blown four blasts on the motor vessel's whistle before overtaking Telegraph, but this was denied by the crew of the sternwheeler.[10] Damaged to Charm consisted of three boards near the bow torn away, including damage below the waterline.[10]Charm was laid up on Saturday night on the beach in Coquille City, where the vessel was pumped out and repaired sufficiently to move down river the next day, where Charm was hauled out at a shipyard and repaired more thoroughly.[10] By Tuesday, March 16, Charm was back on its normal run.[10]
On March 16, 1915, formal reports of the collision had reached the office of the U.S. Steamboat Inspection Service in Portland, Oregon.[11]
According to the affidavit of George W. Leneve, master of Charm, at 2:16 pm on March 13, while Charm was en route from Bandon for Coquille City, at a one-half mile downriver from Cedar Point, Charm was ahead of Telegraph when it appeared that Telegraph was about to collide with Charm.[11] Leneve swore that he gave four blasts on Charm's whistle as a warning signal, but this was ignored by Telegraph, which went ahead full speed and rammed Charm, damaging Charm so much that the motor vessel had to be beached to prevent it from sinking.[11] Leneve said the bulwarks on the left side of Charm were damaged, and the fender strake (which protected the hull from damage) had been ripped all along the length of the vessel.[11]
On the Tuesday and Wednesday before March 26, 1915, a hearing was held on the collision before U.S. steamboat inspectors George F. Fuller and E.S. Edwards.[12] The evidence was reported to have shown that the collision was "largely in the nature of an accident."[12] An unlicensed deck hand had been at the wheel of Telegraph at the time of the collision.[12] Although the deck hand was deemed competent to handle the wheel, this was still a violation of the regulations, for which Capt. Henry Dunham, of Telegraph was held responsible.[12] As a result, Dunham's license was suspended for 60 days.[12] Dunham was replaced in charge of Telegraph by T.W. McCloskey, an experienced river man who had mostly worked on the route between Coquille City and Myrtle Point.[12]
Second collision with Charm
On about September 1, 1915, Charm was backing up at a wharf and struck the bow of Telegraph.[13] There was no damage, and the deck hands on Telegraph did not notice when the boats struck.[13] However, Captain Panter of Telegraph filed a complaint with the steamboat inspectors, and, following an investigation, the license of George Leneve, captain of the Charm, was suspended for 60 days.[13]
Collision with Dispatch
On January 22, 1917, at 3:40 pm, near Prosper, Telegraph, under the command of Capt. Allan R. Panter collided with the rival sternwheeler Dispatch.[14][15] Capt. Thomas O. White,[16] of Dispatch, attributed the collision to "pure cussedness" on the part of Captain Panter.[15] Both captains filed reports with the steamboat inspection service.[14] The points on which they agreed were that the steamers had been at Prosper, when Telegraph was backing away from the wharf, and then struck Dispatch on the left side near the rear of the vessel, where the engines were located.[14]Dispatch was leaving the dock at the time.[14] The collision caused the loss of about 20 feet of the rear portion of the cabin structure on Dispatch.[14]
As a result of this collision the license of Captain Panter was suspended for thirty days.[15] About a year previously, Captain Panter's license had been suspended for 18 months, but the suspension time had been reduced following Panter's appeal.[15] There had been a number of similar incidents on the river, and rivalry between the competing steamboat lines was thought to be the principal reason for the Coquille river cases then being investigated by the steamboat inspectors.[15]
Disposition
Telegraph abandoned, June 26, 1941. Part of another sternwheeler, Dora can be seen on the right.
Automobile roads were built in the Coquille Valley in the 1920s, which quickly eliminated most of the demand for riverine passenger and freight service.[17] In 1924, the closing of the Nestil Milk Condensing Plant in Bandon took away a major remaining customer for the boat.[17]Telegraph was abandoned, along with several other steamboats, along the banks of the Coquille River at Lampa Creek.[17]
Plans in archive
In September 1992, five blackline plans on five sheets of Telegraph were donated to the Oregon Historical Society.[3]
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.
Welcome was a sternwheel steamboat that was operated on the Coquille River on the south Oregon coast from 1900 to 1907.
Dora was a sternwheel steamboat that was operated on the Coquille River on the southern coast of Oregon from 1912 to 1923. This vessel should not be confused with a number of other craft of the same name operating at the same time in other parts of North America.
Myrtle was a steamboat built in 1909 for service on the Coquille River and its tributaries, in Oregon. The ability of this small vessel to reach remote locations on the river system was cited many years later as evidence in support of the important legal concept of navigability.
Coquille was a steamboat built in 1908 for service on the Coquille River and its tributaries. Coquille served as a passenger vessel from 1908 to 1916, when the boat was transferred to the lower Columbia River. Coquille was reconstructed into a log boom towing boat, and served in this capacity from 1916 to 1935 or later.
Echo was a sternwheel steamboat that was operated on the Coquille River on the Southern Oregon Coast from 1901 to 1910.
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).
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.
Dispatch was a sternwheel steamboat that was operated on the Coquille River on the southern Oregon coast from 1903 to 1920. The name of this vessel is sometimes seen spelled Despatch. This sternwheeler should not be confused with an earlier and somewhat smaller sternwheeler, also named Dispatch, that was built at Bandon, Oregon, in 1890, for which the 1903 Dispatch was a replacement.
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.
Wolverine was a launch powered by a gasoline engine that operated on the Coquille River on the southern coast of Oregon, United States, from 1908 to the 1920s. Later the boat operated on Coos Bay, and, in the mid-1930s, was transferred to Eureka, California. Wolverine is principally known for its early service as a high-speed passenger vessel.
Little Annie was a sternwheel-driven steamboat that operated on the Coquille River on the Southern Oregon Coast from 1876 to 1890. This steamer should not be confused with a number of other vessels with the same name operating at about the same time in various parts of the United States.
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.
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.
Grahamona was a sternwheel steamboat built in 1912 for the Oregon City Transportation Company, commonly known as the Yellow Stack Line. Grahamona was specially designed to serve on the shallow waters of the upper Willamette River. It was one of the largest steamboats ever to operate on the upper Willamette. In 1920, Grahamona was sold and the name was changed to Northwestern. In 1939, the vessel was sold again, and transferred to Alaska for service on the Kuskokwim River.
Nestor was a stern-wheel driven steamboat that operated on the Cowlitz and Columbia rivers from 1902 to 1929. Nestor was primarily operated as a towboat, and did most of the towing work on the Cowlitz River. During the 1920s Nestor was part of a small fleet of towboats operated out of Rainier, Oregon by Capt. Milton Smith.
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.
Robert Young was a stern-wheel driven steamboat that operated on the Columbia and Willamette rivers from 1918 to 1935. This vessel was originally named Nespelem, and operated under that name until 1920. From 1920 to 1935, this vessel was owned by the Western Transportation Company or one of its subsidiaries, and was employed primarily in service to paper mills.
La Center was a small stern-wheel steamboat that operated from 1912 to 1931, mostly on the Lewis and Lake rivers in southwest Washington, on a route to and from Portland, Oregon along the lower Columbia and lower Willamette rivers.
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