Nestor (sternwheeler)

Nestor was built at Catlin, Washington, (now west Kelso) in 1902 by Capt. C.P. Stayton (1846-1932), and named after his son, Nestor W. Stayton (1878-1957), who himself later became a steamboat captain and Columbia river pilot.[1]

C.P. Stayton had been a Methodist minister, who originally arrived in the Pacific Northwest in 1873, where he served as a missionary in Yakima, Washington until 1889, when he came to Catlin, which is now west Kelso, Washington.[2][3] At Kelso, Stayton built the first Methodist church, and then entered the steamboat business, building Nestor and holding an ownership interest in the Kelso-Catlin ferry, which crossed the Cowlitz river before it was bridged.[2]

Nestor was 82.4 feet long exclusive of the extension over the stern, called the “fantail” on which the stern-wheel was mounted.[1] Nestor had a beam (width) of 19.6 feet, exclusive of the guards, which were long heavy protective timbers running along the outside of the top of the hull on both sides.[1] Depth of hold was 5.0 feet.[1] The overall size of the vessel was 133 gross and 78 registered tons.[1] The twin-horizontally mounted single-cylinder steam engines generated 150 indicated horsepower.[1] The number of crew required was listed as five.[1] The official merchant vessel registry number was 130998.[1][4]

Nestor was originally owned by the Columbia & Cowlitz River Transportation Company.[5] For many years it was worked as a towboat on the Cowlitz River.[4] Later, under Captain Milton Smith, Nestor engaged in towing work on the Columbia River.[4]

In late 1903 Nestor was rebuilt at Rainier, Oregon, reducing the vessels overall size from 133 to 97 gross tons.[5] The purpose was to lower the required number of crew, with craft of less than 100 tons having to carry much fewer crew than craft over 100 tons.[5] The reduction consisted of reducing the size of the cabin structure, called the “house” and leaving the lower, or “freight” deck, open on the sides.[5]

Stern-wheel steamers Service (center), Cowlitz (center), and Nestor (right), tied up at a dock, probably at Rainier, Oregon, some time between 1917 and 1929.

Nestor handled most of the towing business on the Cowlitz river from 1902 to the 1920s.[6] The company added the shallow-draft sternwheeler Cowlitz in 1917.[6] Milton Smith moved the company’s headquarters from Kelso to Rainier, Oregon.[6]

In early March 1919, Captain Milton Smith, of Rainier, Oregon, took over the Collins and Ostrander shares of the Columbia & Cowlitz River Transportation Company.[6]

Steamer Nestor, upper works destroyed by fire, with steamer Service in background alongside.

On November 7, 1920, Nestor, while moored at Rainier, Nestor caught fire and was nearly destroyed.[11] Nestor had been tied up to the dock owned by Capt. Milton Smith.[11] The fire was not discovered until 4:00 a.m., and when it was, Nestor was set adrift to keep the blaze from spreading to two other vessels at the same dock.[11] The fire was eventually extinguished and the Nestor was beached.[11] The hull was not damaged, and Nestor was rebuilt and placed back in service on April 10, 1921.[12]

By March 1922, the Milton Smith flotilla consisted of Nestor, Cowlitz, Service (ex-Inland Empire, built in 1908), and the Olympian (ex-Telegraph), built in 1903 and once one of the fastest steamers on Puget Sound.[13]

Nestor was abandoned in 1929.[14]