FreightWaves Classics: Steamboat helped open the Oregon Territory

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The Oregon Territory was originally claimed by several nations. The area was divided between the United Kingdom and the United States in 1846. When established, the Oregon Territory included the current states of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, as well as parts of Wyoming and Montana. 

The organized incorporated territory of the United States existed from August 14, 1848, until February 14, 1859. On that date the southwestern portion of the territory became the State of Oregon. 

A few months before (October 24, 1858) in what is now central Oregon, E.F. Coe and R.R. Thompson launched a newly built steamboat named the Colonel Wright at the mouth of the Deschutes River. The sternwheeler was a reliable means of transporting freight and passengers in the Pacific Northwest. In addition, the ship played a pioneering role in the successful navigation of some of the region’s major inland waterways.

The Colonel Wright helped to further settlement of the vast Oregon Territory. The 110-foot-long vessel was named after Colonel (and later General) George Wright, a U.S. Army officer who served in the region during the 1850s.

The sternwheeler made her first trip in the spring of 1859 – the first steamboat to travel up the Snake River – and then the Palouse River. The Colonel Wright also became the first steamboat to reach what is now Lewiston, Idaho, which was founded at the confluence of the Snake and Clearwater rivers.

The Colonel Wright was the first steamboat to operate on the section of the Columbia River above the city of The Dalles in north-central Oregon. Before that, vessels making their way on that upper section of the river were generally either Native American canoes or shallow-draft, flat-bottomed sailboats known as bateaux. While a number of steamboats traveled on the lower Columbia River, none of them had reached the waters north of The Dalles. By reaching that part of the river, the Colonel Wright opened it for the operation of other steamboats. 

The steamboat made her last trip in the spring of 1865. Capt. Thomas Stump attempted to take her above the Snake River rapids to Farewell Bend. The 100-mile trip took eight days; then the ship headed downstream, returning to Lewiston much more quickly (less than five hours). Although the exploratory trip turned out to have little practical value, the steamboat traveled farther to the east in the region than any craft had ever gone before.

By August 1865, the Colonel Wright’s hull was worn out from the upriver trips. The sternwheeler was dismantled. However, during her time on various rivers of the Pacific Northwest, the Colonel Wright was a trailblazer.

Source: freightwaves - FreightWaves Classics: Steamboat helped open the Oregon Territory
Editor: Scott Mall