Oregon Steam Navigation Company

Oregon Steam Navigation Company
Oregon Steam Navigation Company
Fate stock bought by Oregon Railway and Navigation Company
Successor Oregon Railway and Navigation Company
Founded 1860
Defunct 1879
Headquarters Portland, Oregon

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.[1]

The company operated steamships between San Francisco and ports along the Columbia River at Astoria, Portland and The Dalles, serving the lumber and salmon fishing industries.[2] A railroad was built to serve the steamship industry.

Contents

Formation of the monopoly

The company was incorporated on December 29, 1860, at Vancouver, Washington, with 22 shareholders. Principal shareholders included D. F. Bradford (one of the owners of the north bank portage railway at the Cascades), Jacob Kamm, Harrison Olmstead, Simeon G. Reed, R. R. Thompson, and steamboat captains John C. Ainsworth and L. W. Coe. The company then gained control over most of the boats on the Columbia and Snake rivers.

Timmen described the Oregon Steam Navigation Company as "the many-tentacled monopoly of river transportation."

From 1858 to 1863, the Oregon Portage Railroad operated 4.5 miles of track between Bonneville and Cascade.[2] The railroad hauled primarily military and immigrant traffic.[2] In 1862, the railroad was sold to the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company for $155,000.[2]

Soon afterwards, the company acquired most of the steamboats on the Columbia and Snake Rivers.[2] The Oregon Railway and Navigation Company purchased the Oregon Steam Navigation Company in 1879.[1][2]

  • On the lower Columbia, the company's boats included Senorita, Fashion (ex-Venture), Julia (Barclay), Belle (of Oregon City), Mountain Buck, and Carrie Ladd.
  • On the middle Columbia, boats were Mary, Hassaloe, Wasco, and Idaho.
  • On the upper Columbia, the company ran the Tenino and the Colonel Wright.[3]

Competitors bought off

In 1862, river transport concerns not involved with the Oregon Steam Navigation Company formed the People's Transportation Company.[3] The new competitor put the E.D. Baker on the lower Columbia, the Iris on the middle, and the Kiyus on the upper Cascades.[4] These boats posed serious competition to the monopoly, so much so that in about 1864,[4] the Oregon Steam Navigation Company paid its rival $10,000 a year to confine its operations to the Willamette River.[3] Oregon Steam Navigation Company also picked up People's Transportation's boats Iris and Kiyus, in exchange for three OSN boats on the Willamette River, Onward, Rival, and Surprise.[4]

Expansion of fleet

Traffic increased in the early 1860s, so in 1863 and 1864, OSN added the Nez Perce Chief, the Webfoot, the Owyhee and the Yakima, all built at Celilo on the upper Columbia, and the Mississippi-style side-wheeler Oneonta on the middle river. OSN also purchased the side-wheeler New World to work the lower Columbia.[3] By 1878, OSN had added to its fleet the sternwheelers Harvest Queen, John Gates, Spokane, Annie Faxon, Mountain Queen, R.R. Thompson, and Wide West.[3]

Struggle for the portages

The Dalles-Celilo portage railroad in 1867 looking west towards "Cape Horn".

Control of the portages was critical to control of the river. OSN controlled all the portages, including both the north and the south portage railways around the Cascades (which had once been in competition with each other) as well as a portage system that had been built around Celilo Falls by one Orlando Humason. In 1863, the company replaced the mule-drawn portage railway on the north side of the Cascades with a steam locomotive. The company also built a 13-mile (21 km) steam railway from the Dalles around Celilo Falls, which opened on April 23, 1863 and cost $1 million to build.[3]

Competition

The People's Transportation Company was organized in 1862 to compete with the Oregon Steam Navigation Company.[3] The company then began a rate war with the O.S.N.[3] People's Transportation was so successful that O.S.N. bought them off with an agreement to pay them $10,000 a year for ten years if People's Transportation would restrict its operations to the Willamette River.[3]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Bancroft, Hubert Howe (1888). History of Oregon. II. pp. 481. 
  2. ^ a b c d e f Laubaugh, Glenn. The Oregon Steam Navigation Company and its Related Portage Tramways, Pacific Northwest Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Timmen, Franz: Blow for the Landing, A Hundred Years of Steam Navigation on the Waters of the West, at 14, 17, and 27, Caxton Printers, Caldwell, ID, 1973
  4. ^ a b c Affleck, Edward L., A Century of Paddlewheelers in the Pacific Northwest, the Yukon, and Alaska, at 43, Alexander Nicholls Press, Vancouver, BC (2000) ISBN 0-920034-08-X

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Steam Navigation Company — may refer to:* British India Steam Navigation Company, British shipping company * Calcutta and Burmah Steam Navigation Company, a defunct shipping company * China Merchants Steam Navigation Company, a transportation company * Illawarra Steam… …   Wikipedia

  • Willamette Steam Navigation Company — Infobox Defunct Company company name = Willamette Steam Navigation Company company fate = sold to People s Transportation Company foundation = 1865 defunct = 1867 location = Portland, Oregon successor = [People s Transportation Company The… …   Wikipedia

  • Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company — The Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company (OR N) was a railroad that operated a rail network of 1,143 miles (1,839 km) of track running east from Portland, Oregon, United States to northeastern Oregon, northeastern Washington, and northern… …   Wikipedia

  • Oregon Railway and Navigation Company — The Oregon Railway and Navigation Company was a 643 mile railroad operating between Portland, Oregon, United States and eastern Washington and Oregon from 1879 1896. In 1896, the corporation was reorganized into the Oregon Railroad and Navigation …   Wikipedia

  • Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company — L Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company (OR N) était une compagnie de chemin de fer américain de classe I, dont l ancêtre fut créée vers 1860. L OR N exploitait un réseau de 1 839 km situé à l est de Portland, Oregon, au nord est de l Oregon, au …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Ilwaco Railway and Navigation Company — infobox rail railroad name=Ilwaco Railway and Navigation Company logo filename= logo size= marks= locale=Pacific County, Washington start year=1889 end year=1930 gauge=3 ft (914 mm) old gauge= hq city=Ilwaco, WashingtonThe Ilwaco Railway and… …   Wikipedia

  • Oregon Portage Railroad — Locale South bank of the Cascades canal near the Columbia River, near Bonneville Dam and Tanner Creek to Cascade Locks Dates of operation 1858–1896 …   Wikipedia

  • Oregon Pony — Power type Steam Builder Vulcan Iron Works Build date 1861 Configuration 0 4 0 Driver diameter 34 in (0.864 m) Wheelbase Coupled: Length 14 …   Wikipedia

  • Oregon and California Railroad — (red) and Southern Pacific system (orange) as of 1918 Locale Portland, Oregon via California …   Wikipedia

  • Oregon Rangers — Active 1844 1846 Country Provisional Government of Oregon Type …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”