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Multnomah (sternwheeler)
Encyclopedia
The sternwheeler Multnomah was built at East Portland, 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...
in 1885 and operated on the Willamette
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...
and Columbia
Columbia River
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, flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state...
Rivers until 1889 in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. She was later transferred to Puget Sound
Puget Sound
Puget Sound is a sound in the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected marine waterways and basins, with one major and one minor connection to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean — Admiralty Inlet being the major connection and...
and became one of the better known steamboats operating there.
Construction and Early Operations
She was built for the run from PortlandPortland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
to Oregon City
Oregon City, Oregon
Oregon City was the first city in the United States west of the Rocky Mountains to be incorporated. It is the county seat of Clackamas County, Oregon...
and was considered one of the top boats on the Willamette River at the time. One of her early captains was James D. Miller (1830–1914).
Transfer to Puget Sound
Capital City (sternwheeler)
Capital City was a sternwheel steamboat of the Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet. The vessel was originally named Dalton.-Career:Capital City was built in 1898 at Port Blakely at the Hall Brothers shipyard. This vessel was originally owned by Canadian Pacific Ry. and was acquired by White Pass in 1901,...
from S. Willey Navigation, and put them in competition with the Greyhound
Greyhound (sternwheeler 1890)
The Greyhound was an express passenger steamer which operated in 1890s to about 1915 on Puget Sound in Washington, United States. This vessel, commonly known as the Hound, the Pup or the Dog, was of unusual design, having small upper works, but an enormous sternwheel...
, which had been taken off the Seattle-Tacoma run. There was a rate war between the two concerns, and eventually Greyhound’s owners, acting as the Olympia-Tacoma Navigation Company, bought Multnomah and Capital City from Captain McDonald. Captain George W. Barlow, a son of an Oregon pioneer family, commanded all three vessels at various times; he retired in 1910.
In 1900, Multnomah and City of Aberdeen hauled beer from the Olympia Brewery to various points on Puget Sound. Once acquired by the Olympia-Tacoma Navigation Company, Greyhound ran with Multnomah on the Seattle-Tacoma-Olympia route, making at various smaller landings in the South Sound, including Three Tree Point
Three Tree Point
Three Tree Point is a low, gravelly, triangle-shaped spit jutting into the east side of Puget Sound. It is about the mid-point between Seattle and Tacoma. It is referred to on some navigation charts as "Point Pully", in recognition of crew member Robert Pulley of the Wilkes Expedition.-History:In...
and Johnson’s Landing on Anderson Island.
Other captains for the Olympia-Tacoma Navigation Company included George L. Hill, who was in command on November 10, 1904 when Multnomah collided with the French full-rigged ship Amiral Cecile in Commencement Bay
Commencement Bay
Commencement Bay is a bay of Puget Sound in the U.S. state of Washington. The city of Tacoma is located on the bay, with the Port of Tacoma occupying the southeastern end. A line drawn from Point Defiance in the southwest to Browns Point in the northeast serves to mark the generally accepted...
. In foggy conditions, the steamboat passed under the bowsprit of the ship, and the ship’s anchor flukes caught in the steamer’s upper works, tearing them up. Litigation went on for eight years over this, amid apparently credible charges that witnesses had been paid off.
Collision and sinking
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Elliott Bay
Elliott Bay is the body of water on which Seattle, Washington, is located. A line drawn from Alki Point in the south to West Point in the north serves to mark the generally accepted division between the bay and the open sound...
, she was rammed by the steamer Iroquois, sinking in 240 feet of water.