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Upper Willamette Transportation Line

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Upper Willamette Transportation Company
Industryriver transport
FoundedNovember 1, 1859 (1859-11-01)
FounderTheodore Wygant (1831-1905)
DefunctJune 30, 1860 (1860-06-30)
HeadquartersOregon City, Oregon
Area served
Upper Willamette 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.

Operations

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As of November 1, 1859, businessman Theodore Wygant (1831-1905) was the agent in Portland, Oregon for the steamers Elk, Onward, Surprise, and Relief.[1] Wygant formed these steamers into the Upper Willamette Transportation Company, and starting November 19, 1859, advertised, stage of water permitting, steamers of the line would depart for Corvallis twice a week, and, for Eugene City, once a week.[1] This arrangement was advertised until June 30, 1860.[2]

In 1860, the steamers of the line were competing against two powerful companies on the Willamette River, the Oregon Steam Navigation Company and the People's Transportation Company.[3]

Steamers of the line

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All vessels of the line were wooden-hulled sternwheelers, built in the 1850s at Canemah, Oregon.[4]

Notes

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  1. ^ a b "UPPER WILLAMETTE Transportation Line". The Oregon Argus (advertisement). Vol. 5, no. 48. Oregon City, OR: D.W. Craig. Mar 10, 1860. p.3, col.3.
  2. ^ "UPPER WILLAMETTE Transportation Line". The Oregon Argus (advertisement). Vol. 6, no. 12. Oregon City, OR: D.W. Craig. Jun 30, 1860. p.3, col.5.
  3. ^ Corning, Howard McKinley (1973). "Paddle-Wheels and Smoke Plumes". Willamette Landings -- Ghost Towns of the River (2nd ed.). Portland, OR: Oregon Historical Society. p. 122. ISBN 0875950426.
  4. ^ a b c d e Affleck, Edward L. (2000). "Part One: Chapter Two. Columbia River Waterways — List of Vessels". A Century of Paddlewheelers in the Pacific Northwest, the Yukon, and Alaska. Vancouver, BC: Alexander Nicholls Press. pp. 12, 22, & 26. ISBN 0-920034-08-X.
  5. ^ William L. Adams, ed. (Nov 24, 1860). "These Offices … THE STEAMER ELK BLOWN UP.— On Saturday afternoon last, the steamer Elk exploded her boiler …". The Oregon Argus. Vol. 6, no. 33. Oregon City, OR: D.W. Craig. p.2, col.3.
  6. ^ Mills, Randall V. (1947). "Chapter 9: As the Sparks Fly Upwards". Sternwheelers up Columbia -- A Century of Steamboating in the Oregon Country. Lincoln NE: University of Nebraska. p. 117. ISBN 0-8032-5874-7. LCCN 77007161.
  7. ^ "Early Steamers on Willamette River described". The Oregonian (recollections of Edwin T. Hatch). Vol. 36, no. 30. Jul 29, 1917. Section Two, p.14, col.2.

References

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Books

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Newspaper collections

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