Shoalwater (sidewheeler 1852)

The steamboat ''Shoalwater'' was the sixth steamer to operate on the upper Willamette River, which refers to the part of the river above Willamette Falls at Oregon City. In a short career of six years, ''Shoalwater'' was renamed ''Fenix'', ''Franklin'', and ''Minnie Holmes''.Wright, E.W., ''Lewis & Dryden Marine History of the Pacific Northwest'', pp. 57-58, Lewis & Dryden Publishing, Portland, OR 1895 ''Shoalwater'' was the first steamboat in Oregon to suffer a boiler explosion, although no fatalities resulted.

Construction

''Shoalwater'' was built in 1852 by Leonard White at Canemah, a small settlement just above Willamette Falls. Her first owners were McCarver and Son, who were merchants in Oregon City.Corning, ''Willamette Landings'', pp. 63, 72, 87, 119. Leonard White and others may have had ownership interests in the vessel. ''Shoalwater'' was fitted with two geared engines, of which historian Corning said "generated more noise than power". ''Shoalwater'', as her name indicated, was designed to run when all other boats were compelled to lay up for lack of water on the sand and gravel bars that often blocked river navigation.

Mechanical failure and renaming as ''Fenix''

On April 30, 1853, while ''Shoalwater'' was making a landing below Rock Island near Butteville on the Willamette River between Champoeg and Canemah, the steam ran up too fast, causing a flue to collapse. Several persons received injuries, none of which, however, resulted seriously. The accident proved so expensive that the vessel changed ownership and name, this time to ''Fenix'' (the owners' method of spelling Phoenix).

Reaching the head of navigation

''Fenix'' became part of the short-lived Defiance Line, which made daily runs south from Canemah with the steamers ''Wallamet'' and ''Canemah''. During this time, Capt. Leonard White, who was considered one of the most intrepid of all steamboat captains of the time,Timmen, ''Blow for the Landing'', pp. 141–142. took ''Fenix'' up the Willamette River to Harrisburg, which was further upriver then any steamboat had yet been run, and well above Corvallis, which was the presumed head of navigation at the time. ''Fenix'' is also recorded as having taken Independence Day celebrants out from Champoeg for a three-mile (5 km) excursion cruise on July 4, 1854.Mills, ''Sternwheelers up Columbia'', pp. 53, 54, 114–15

Operations on Yamhill River

Captain White sold ''Fenix'' to Captain Hereford, who with others in the Willamette Falls Company was trying to organize a steamboat line. Hereford put ''Fenix'' on the run from Canemah up the Willamette and then the Yamhill River to Lafayette. Hereford was competing with the larger steamer ''Oregon'' and once tried to pass ''Oregon'' on a narrow stretch of the river. The vessels collided, and ''Oregon'' shoved ''Fenix'' out of the way. The Willamette Falls Company decided to sell ''Fenix'' and replace her with a steamer then under construction at Canemah. (That steamer was never launched, having burned on the ways when almost complete.)

Sale to Citizens' Accommodation Line

''Fenix'' was sold and again renamed, as ''Franklin'' and was run by the Citizens' Accommodation Line in company with ''Canemah''. Three times a week ''Franklin'' made trips from Canemah to Salem, stopping at the many landings along the way. In February 1855, ''Franklin'' was advertised as making daily trips to Champoeg, Oregon and intermediate points, and would make through trips to Corvallis during the winter. Franklin was then running under the command of S.C. Alexander.

''Franklin'' was later lengthened and renamed ''Minnie Holmes'', in honor of a young woman of Oregon City. In May 1857, ''Minnie Holmes'' was running under the command of Capt. Leonard White, who had a reputation as a popular man which could help the boat financially.

(Minnie Holmes later married Dan O' Neill, who in 1850 had been a captain of ''Columbia'', the first steamboat built in the Oregon Territory. O'Neill later became a long-term steamboat purser.)

Conversion to sawmill

''Shoalwater'' was unable to earn money under any name, and so in 1858 sold her to B. N. Du Rell, by whom she was taken to Salem and fitted up as a floating sawmill. The machinery was subsequently removed and permanently located on the bank of the river, where it was used in the manufacture of lumber until 1860, at which time the mill was destroyed by fire.

Notes

References

* Affleck, Edward L., ''A Century of Paddlewheelers in the Pacific Northwest, the Yukon, and Alaska'', Alexander Nicolls Press, Vancouver, BC 2000
* Corning, Howard McKinley, ''Willamette Landings -- Ghost Towns of the River'', Oregon Historical Society, Portland, Oregon (2nd Ed. 1973)
* Mills, Randall V., ''Sternwheelers up the Columbia -- A Century of Steamboating in the Oregon Country'', at 39-41, 46, 69, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE (1977 reprint of 1947 edition)
* Timmen, Fritz, ''Blow for the Landing'', at 228-229, Caxton Press, Caldwell, ID 1973
* Wright, E.W., ed., ''Lewis and Dryden Marine History of the Northwest'', at 85-86, Lewis and Dryden Printing Co., Portland, OR 1895, available on-line at th
Washington Secretary of State Historical Section

Further reading

* Faber, Jim, ''Steamer's Wake -- Voyaging down the old marine highways of Puget Sound, British Columbia, and the Columbia River'', Enetai Press, Seattle, WA 1985
* Newell, Gordon, and Williamson, Joe, ''Pacific Steamboats'', Bonanza Books, New York, NY (1963)

{{Willamette River Steamboats

Steamboats of Oregon
Passenger ships of the United States
Steamboats of the Willamette River
Ships built in Canemah, Oregon
1852 ships