''Nez Perce Chief'' was a steamboat that operated on the upper

Columbia River The Columbia River (Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, C ...

, in Washington, U.S., specifically the stretch of the river that began above the Celilo Falls. Her engines came from the ''Carrie Ladd'', an important earlier sternwheeler. ''Nez Perce Chief'' also ran up the

Snake River The Snake River is a major river of the greater Pacific Northwest region in the United States. At long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, in turn, the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean. The Snake ...

Lewiston, Idaho Lewiston is a city and the county seat of Nez Perce County, Idaho, United States, in the state's north central region. It is the second-largest city in the northern Idaho region, behind Coeur d'Alene, and ninth-largest in the state. Lewiston is ...

, a distance of 141 miles from the mouth of the Snake River near Wallula, Wash. Terr.Mills, Randall V., ''Sternwheelers up Columbia -- A Century of Steamboating in the Oregon Country'', at 43, 83, and 205, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE (1977 reprint of 1947 ed.)

Operations in gold rush

During the 1860s there was a gold rush in Idaho, and ''Nez Perce Chief'' and other steamboats of the Oregon Steam Navigation Company were key links in the transportation of miners and equipment upriver to the gold fields, and in transporting gold mined from the fields out. On one trip downriver at the height of the gold rush ''Nez Perce Chief'' carried $382,000 worth of gold dust and bars locked in the captain's safe.Timmen, Fritz, ''Blow for the Landing -- A Hundred Years of Steam Navigation on the Waters of the West'', Caxton Printers, Caldwell, ID 1973

Transfer to other parts of the Columbia River

In 1870, ''Nez Perce Chief'' was brought down through Celilo Falls to The Dalles, where she operated on the middle river, that is, the stretch between The Dalles and the rapids downriver known as the

Cascades of the Columbia The Cascades Rapids (sometimes called Cascade Falls or Cascades of the Columbia) were an area of rapids along North America's Columbia River, between the U.S. states of Washington and Oregon. Through a stretch approximately wide, the river ...

, that began near where the modern town of Cascade Locks is located. On July 6, 1871, with Capt.

John C. Ainsworth John Commingers Ainsworth (June 6, 1822 – December 30, 1893) 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 ...

in personal command, she was brought down through the Cascades to the lower Columbia River.Wright, E.W., ed., ''Lewis and Dryden Marine History of the Northwest'', at 197, Lewis and Dryden Publishers, Portland, OR 1895

Notes

Steamboats of Oregon Steamboats of Washington (state) Steamboats of Idaho Steamboats of the Columbia River Steamboats of the Snake River Oregon Steam Navigation Company Ships built in Oregon {{ship-stub