Jacob Kamm was a prominent early transportation businessman in Oregon

Oregon

Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...

.

Early life

Kamm was born on December 12, 1823 in Canton of Glarus

Canton of Glarus

The Canton of Glarus is a canton in east central Switzerland. The capital is Glarus.The population speaks a variety of Alemannic German.The majority of the population identifies as Christian, about evenly split between the Protestant and Catholic confessions.-History:According to legend, the...

, Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

. His family immigrated to America when he was 8 to Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

, St. Louis, then New Orleans. He worked as a Printer's devil

Printer's devil

A printer's devil was an apprentice in a printing establishment who performed a number of tasks, such as mixing tubs of ink and fetching type...

 beginning at age 12. A story repeated after Kamm's death was that a thief stole $12 from him in 1837, leading Kamm to work on a Mississippi steamer, the Ark, as a cabin boy. Trained as an engineer on the Mississippi River

Mississippi River

The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...

, he was certified chief engineer with the St. Louis Association of Steamboat Engineers at age 25. In 1849, he moved west with the California Gold Rush

California Gold Rush

The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...

, piloting the Blackhawk, a steamer, on the Sacramento River

Sacramento River

The Sacramento River is an important watercourse of Northern and Central California in the United States. The largest river in California, it rises on the eastern slopes of the Klamath Mountains, and after a journey south of over , empties into Suisun Bay, an arm of the San Francisco Bay, and...

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Oregon

Kamm came to Oregon in 1850 after being hired by Milwaukie

Milwaukie, Oregon

Milwaukie is a city in Clackamas County, Oregon, United States. A very small portion of the city extends into Multnomah County. The population was 20,291 at the 2010 census. Founded in 1848 on the banks of the Willamette River, the city, known as the Dogwood City of the West, was incorporated in...

 founder Lot Whitcomb onto his eponymous ship, being the chief engineer on the Willamette River

Willamette River

The Willamette River is a major tributary of the Columbia River, accounting for 12 to 15 percent of the Columbia's flow. The Willamette's main stem is long, lying entirely in northwestern Oregon in the United States...

. The Whitcomb was launched on December 25, 1850. Kamm and John C. Ainsworth

John C. Ainsworth

John Commingers Ainsworth was an American pioneer businessman and steamboat owner in Oregon. A native of Ohio, he moved west to mine gold in California before immigrating to Oregon where he piloted steamships and became a founder of the Oregon Steam Navigation Company and several banks.-Early...

 joined with Abernathy and Clark, merchants from Oregon City, in 1854 or 1855 to build the Jenny Clark, a sternwheeler on the Willamette. Kamm owned half of the Jenny Clark, Ainsworth owned a quarter, and Abernathy and Clark shared the remaining quarter. They then built the Carrie Ladd steamer in 1858, called the "keystone of the Oregon Steam Navigation company."

He was a founder of the Oregon Steam Navigation Company

Oregon Steam Navigation Company

The Oregon Steam Navigation Company was an American company incorporated in 1860 in Washington with partners J. S. Ruckle, Henry Olmstead, and J. O. Van Bergen...

 in 1879 and a shareholder in the Ilwaco Railway and Navigation Company

Ilwaco Railway and Navigation Company

The Ilwaco Railway and Navigation Company operated a narrow gauge railroad ran for over forty years from the bar of the Columbia River up the Long Beach Peninsula to Nahcotta, Washington, on Willapa Bay. The line ran entirely in Pacific County, Washington, and had no connection to any outside rail...

. He built steamboats including in 1891, the Ocean Wave and in 1900, Athlon

Athlon (steamboat)

-Construction:Athlon was built in Portland, Oregon by the J.H. Johnston yard. Her first owners were a consortium of Jacob Kamm , Shaver Transportation Company and the Kellogg Transportation Company. The consortium built her at a cost of $4,950...

. One of the companies he owned was called the Vancouver Transportation Company.

Kamm sold property to the city in approximately 1910 to construct Old Lincoln High School

Lincoln Hall (Portland, Oregon)

Lincoln Hall is a building containing a theatre and classrooms at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon. It was originally home to Lincoln High School.-History:...

, currently known as Portland State University

Portland State University

Portland State University is a public state urban university located in downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1946, it has the largest overall enrollment of any university in the state of Oregon, including undergraduate and graduate students. It is also the only public university in...

's Lincoln Hall. His 1870s French Second Empire style home, the Jacob Kamm House

Jacob Kamm House

The Jacob Kamm House, also called the Jacob Kamm Mansion, is a French Second Empire style mansion in Portland, Oregon, built in 1871. It was moved from its original Goose Hollow location in 1950 to make room for Lincoln High School's campus....

 was moved from its 14th and Main location in the 1950s to construct the current Lincoln High School. This estate near 14th and Main contained 11 acres (44,515.5 m²).

Personal life

Kamm married Caroline Augusta Gray on Stepember 13, 1859 during the Pig War

Pig War

The Pig War was a confrontation in 1859 between the United States and the British Empire over the boundary between the US and British North America. The territory in dispute was the San Juan Islands, which lie between Vancouver Island and the North American mainland...

, on the PS Eliza Anderson steamer just outside Fort Hope, Canada

Hope, British Columbia

Hope is a district municipality located at the confluence of the Fraser and Coquihalla rivers in the province of British Columbia, Canada. Hope is at the eastern end of both the Fraser Valley and the Lower Mainland region, and is at the southern end of the Fraser Canyon...

. They had one son, Charles Tilton Kamm, 1860-1906. Kamm was a Mason

Freemasonry

Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...

, being inducted at age 21 in St. Louis. In Portland, he was affiliated with the Multnomah Lodge in Oregon City, then the Willamette Lodge in Portland. He was also a Knights Templar

Knights Templar

The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...

 and a Shriner.

Caroline Augusta Gray was born October 16, 1840 at Camp Lapwai

Camp Lapwai

Camp Lapwai was established by Company E, 1st Regiment Washington Territory Volunteer Infantry when after being mustered in at Alcatraz, they were ordered on October 19, 1862 to Camp Lapwai near the Nez Perce Agency...

, outside Lewiston, Idaho

Lewiston, Idaho

Lewiston is a city in and also the county seat of Nez Perce County in the Pacific Northwest state of Idaho. It is the second-largest city in the northern Idaho region, behind Coeur d'Alene and ninth-largest in the state. Lewiston is the principal city of the Lewiston, ID - Clarkston, WA...

. Her father was William H. Gray

William H. Gray (Oregon politician)

William Henry Gray was a pioneer of the Oregon Country in the present-day U.S. state of Oregon. He was an active participant in the efforts to organize a government in the region....

. She died in 1932.

Late life and death

In December 1907 Kamm was "run down by a reckless bicycle rider" in Portland. Another report described the bicyclist as a "careless boy bicyclist"; Kamm was confined to his bed for many days.

Kamm became ill on December 1, 1912, "being an invalid" since the 1907 bicycle wreck. By December 13, The Oregonian

The Oregonian

The Oregonian is the major daily newspaper in Portland, Oregon, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 1850...

 reported he "may only live a few hours", stating his condition was "sinking rapidly". The following day, he entered a coma and died. He was buried at the River View Cemetery

River View Cemetery (Portland, Oregon)

River View Cemetery in the southwest section of Portland, Oregon, United States, is a non-profit cemetery founded in 1882. It is the final resting place of many prominent and notable citizens of Oregon, including many governors and United States Senators...

 in Portland.

At time of death, his estate was valued at approximately $4 million. Aside from the Jacob Kamm home and property, he also owned a half-block building at Front and Pine, a quarter block at Third and Yamhill, a quarter block at First and Washington, the Vancouver Transportation Company, a "heavy stockholder" in the First National Bank of Astoria, and a "heavy stockholder" in the First National Bank of Portland. He also owned valuable property on Market Street in San Francisco. At the time of his death, the Vancouver Transportation Company operated two ships: the Lurline and Undine on routes between Portland and Astoria

Astoria, Oregon

Astoria is the county seat of Clatsop County, Oregon, United States. Situated near the mouth of the Columbia River, the city was named after the American investor John Jacob Astor. His American Fur Company founded Fort Astoria at the site in 1811...

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In 1929, E.W. Wright, a marine historian, wrote Kamm was one of "two outstanding figures whose leadership in Columbia river steamboating will never be disputed."

External links

• Biographical Sketch (with portrait)