Surprise (sternwheeler)
Surprise was a steamboat which operated on the upper Willamette River from 1857 to 1864.
 Advertisement for Surprise and other steamers of the Upper Willamette Transportation Line, published December 3, 1859. | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Surprise |
| Route: | Willamette River |
| Builder: | Cochrane, Cassidy & Gibson |
| In service: | 1857 |
| Fate: | Dismantled |
| Notes: | Engines went to the steamer Senator. |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | inland steamship |
| Tonnage: | 120 gross tons |
| Length: | 130 ft (40 m), and after reconstruction, 191 ft (58 m) |
| Beam: | 22 ft (6.7 m) |
| Depth: | 4.6 ft (1.4 m) depth of hold |
| Decks: | three (freight, passenger, boat) |
| Installed power: | twin steam engines, horizontally mounted, each with bore of 14 in (36 cm) and stroke of 60 in (1.5 m). |
| Propulsion: | stern-wheel |
Construction
Surprise was built in 1857 at Canemah, Oregon by Cochrane, Cassidy & Gibson, who had built the James Clinton the year before.[1] Surprise, reportedly a well-built boat, was 130 ft (40 m), feet long, probably exclusive of the extension of the main deck over the stern, called the fantail, on which the stern-wheel was mounted.[1] The beam was 22 ft (6.7 m) feet and the depth of hold was 4.6 ft (1.4 m) feet.[2] The steamer’s registered size was 120 tons, a measure of size, not weight.[1]
Engineering
Surprise was a sternwheeler, and the wheel was turned by twin steam engines, horizontally mounted, each with bore of 14 in (36 cm) and stroke of 60 in (1.5 m).[2]
Operations
Surprise was operated on the upper Willamette River by Capt. Theodore T. Wygant.[1] Other partners in the boat were Absalom F. Hedges, Oregon City merchant, William. C. Dement[1] & Co., Charles C. Felton, J. Harding, and Robert Patton.[1] In April 1858, Surprise transported the native American leader Tecumtum, also known as Old John, to Fort Vancouver where he was to be held in custody.[3]
As of November 1, 1859, Surprise was running under the control of the Upper Willamette Transportation Line.[4] Other boats controlled by the line were Onward, Elk, and Relief.[4] In December 1859, the line advertised that one of its four boats would leave Canemeh for Corvallis, Oregon twice a week, and for Eugene City once a week, with freight and passage “at the usual rates.”[4] Theodore Wygant (b.1831) was the Oregon City agent for the line.[4]
Disposition
Surprise operated on the upper Willamette until 1864 when it was dismantled and the engines installed in a new steamer, Senator.[1]
Notes
- Wright, E.W., ed. (1895). "Chapter 4: Puget Sound Steamboats, Golden Days of Fraser River Navigation". Lewis & Dryden's Marine History of the Pacific Northwest. Portland, OR: Lewis and Dryden Printing Co. 64. LCCN 28001147.
- Affleck, Edward L. (2000). A Century of Paddlewheelers in the Pacific Northwest, the Yukon, and Alaska. Vancouver, BC: Alexander Nicholls Press. 26. ISBN 0-920034-08-X.
- William G. T'Vault, ed. (May 15, 1858), "From the North — The Indians", Oregon Sentinel (reprinted from the Occidental Messenger, April 24, 1858), Jacksonville, OR: William G. T'Vault, 3 (18), 2, col.6
- "Upper Willamette Transportation Line!", Oregon Argus, Oregon City, OR, 3, col.1, December 3, 1859
References
Printed sources
- 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.