Advertisement for Oregon, placed March 10, 1854
History
Name:	Oregon
Owner:	Ben Simpson and others
Route:	Upper Willamette River
In service:	1852
Out of service:	1854
Fate:	Sunk after striking snag, total loss
General characteristics
Type:	inland steamship
Length:	120 ft (36.6 m) exclusive of fantail
Beam:	22 ft (6.7 m) exclusive of guards
Depth:	5 ft (2 m) depth of hold
Installed power:	steam engine
Propulsion:	side-wheel

Oregon was a side-wheel driven steamboat that operated on the Willamette River in the state of Oregon from 1852 to 1854. The steamer was not economically successful and became a total loss by sinking after a short career.

Construction[edit]

Oregon was built at Fairfield, Oregon in the summer of 1852.^[1] Fairfield was located 16 miles (26 km) downstream from Salem, Oregon, and was once one of the most important wheat shipping points on the Willamette River.^[2] Ben Simpson, the held of the original ownership syndicate, was also the builder.^[1] Construction was supervised in the summer of 1852 by George A. Pease (1830-1918).^[1]

Oregon was 120 feet long.^[3] The beam (width) of the steamer was 22 feet (6.7 m), probably exclusive of the guards.^[3] The depth of hold was 5 feet.^[3]

Oregon was described as a small sidewheeler and a poor money earner.^[4]

Operations[edit]

George A. Pease (1830-1919), first pilot of the Oregon.

Upon completion, Parker and J.D. Shields served as captains.^[1] George A. Pease was the pilot of the Oregon until July 1853.^[1] Another report states that Jacob Wortman, later president of the First National Bank of McMinnville, was the captain of Oregon, starting in 1853.^[5] Fare from Oregon City to Corvallis, Oregon was then $30 for a trip.^[5]

Starting on December 3, 1853, the "fast running steamer" Oregon was advertised as making regular runs from Oregon to Marysville, as Corvallis was then known, and way landings.^[6]

On March 4, 1854, the steamer Oregon was reported to have been purchased by the Willamette Falls Mill and Transport Company, sometimes referred to as the Willamette Falls Company.^[7]

On March 17, 1854, the Willamette Falls Company placed into service a new steamer, the side-wheeler Gazelle, giving the company, briefly, two steamers operating above Willamette Falls.^[3][8]

Loss[edit]

Shortly after Gazelle was placed in operation, Oregon was sunk and became a total loss. Oregon hit a snag just down river from Salem, and began sinking.^[9] Word was passed to Gazelle, which steamed upriver and stood by as Oregon was filling with water.^[9]

Cargo from the Oregon was loaded onto Gazelle to lighten Oregon to better allow salvaging.^[9] Suddenly Oregon broke free of the snag, drifted downstream, ran up on a sandbar and sank so deeply that only a part of the upper works were visible above the water.^[9]Oregon was a total loss.^[9]

Gazelle itself was destroyed by a boiler explosion only a short time later, on April 8, 1854, ending the brief steamboat operations of the Willamette Falls Company^[8]

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

Printed sources[edit]

• 
  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[edit]

• 
  "Historic Oregon Newspapers". University of Oregon.