Surprise (sternwheeler)

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Upper Willamette Transportation Line ad.jpg
Advertisement for Surprise and other steamers of the Upper Willamette Transportation Line, published December 3, 1859.
History
NameSurprise
RouteWillamette River
BuilderCochrane, Cassidy & Gibson
In service1857
FateDismantled
NotesEngines went to the steamer Senator.
General characteristics
Typeinland steamship
Tonnage120 gross tons
Length130 ft (40 m), and after reconstruction, 191 ft (58 m)
Beam22 ft (6.7 m)
Depth4.6 ft (1.4 m) depth of hold
Decksthree (freight, passenger, boat)
Installed powertwin steam engines, horizontally mounted, each with bore of 14 in (36 cm) and stroke of 60 in (1.5 m).
Propulsionstern-wheel

Surprise was a steamboat which operated on the upper Willamette River from 1857 to 1864.

Construction[]

Surprise was built in 1857 at Canemah, Oregon by Cochrane, Cassidy & Gibson, who had built the James Clinton the year before.[1] Surprise, reportedly a well-built boat, was 130 ft (40 m), feet long, probably exclusive of the extension of the main deck over the stern, called the fantail, on which the stern-wheel was mounted.[1] The beam was 22 ft (6.7 m) feet and the depth of hold was 4.6 ft (1.4 m) feet.[2] The steamer’s registered size was 120 tons, a measure of size, not weight.[1]

Engineering[]

Surprise was a sternwheeler, and the wheel was turned by twin steam engines, horizontally mounted, each with bore of 14 in (36 cm) and stroke of 60 in (1.5 m).[2]

Operations[]

Surprise was operated on the upper Willamette River by Capt. Theodore T. Wygant.[1] Other partners in the boat were Absalom F. Hedges, Oregon City merchant, William. C. Dement[1] & Co., Charles C. Felton, J. Harding, and Robert Patton.[1] In April 1858, Surprise transported the native American leader Tecumtum, also known as Old John, to Fort Vancouver where he was to be held in custody.[3]

As of November 1, 1859, Surprise was running under the control of the Upper Willamette Transportation Line.[4] Other boats controlled by the line were Onward, Elk, and Relief.[4] In December 1859, the line advertised that one of its four boats would leave Canemeh for Corvallis, Oregon twice a week, and for Eugene City once a week, with freight and passage “at the usual rates.”[4] Theodore Wygant (b.1831) was the Oregon City agent for the line.[4]

Disposition[]

Surprise operated on the upper Willamette until 1864 when it was dismantled and the engines installed in a new steamer, Senator.[1]

Notes[]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wright, E.W., ed. (1895). "Chapter 4: Puget Sound Steamboats, Golden Days of Fraser River Navigation". Lewis & Dryden's Marine History of the Pacific Northwest. Portland, OR: Lewis and Dryden Printing Co. 64. LCCN 28001147.
  2. ^ a b Affleck, Edward L. (2000). A Century of Paddlewheelers in the Pacific Northwest, the Yukon, and Alaska. Vancouver, BC: Alexander Nicholls Press. 26. ISBN 0-920034-08-X.
  3. ^ William G. T'Vault, ed. (May 15, 1858), "From the North — The Indians", Oregon Sentinel (reprinted from the Occidental Messenger, April 24, 1858), Jacksonville, OR: William G. T'Vault, vol. 3, no. 18, 2, col.6
  4. ^ a b c d "Upper Willamette Transportation Line!", Oregon Argus, Oregon City, OR, 3, col.1, December 3, 1859

References[]

Printed sources[]

  • Affleck, Edward L. (2000). A Century of Paddlewheelers in the Pacific Northwest, the Yukon, and Alaska. Vancouver, BC: Alexander Nicholls Press. ISBN 0-920034-08-X.
  • Corning, Howard McKinley (1973). Willamette Landings -- Ghost Towns of the River (2nd ed.). Portland, OR: Oregon Historical Society. ISBN 0875950426.
  • Mills, Randall V. (1947). Sternwheelers up Columbia -- A Century of Steamboating in the Oregon Country. Lincoln NE: University of Nebraska. ISBN 0-8032-5874-7. LCCN 77007161.
  • Timmen, Fritz (1973). Blow for the Landing -- A Hundred Years of Steam Navigation on the Waters of the West. Caldwell, ID: Caxton Printers. ISBN 0-87004-221-1. LCCN 73150815.
  • Wright, E.W., ed. (1895). Lewis & Dryden's Marine History of the Pacific Northwest. Portland, OR: Lewis and Dryden Printing Co. LCCN 28001147.

Newspaper collections[]

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