Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 5.djvu/133

Rh Soon after building the Mary the Bradfords built the Hassalo to run on the Cascades and Dalles route. In the meantime R. R. Thompson. L. W. Coe and others built a small boat at the Upper Cascades to be taken to the Upper Columbia beyond Celilo. When she was about ready to start out on her first trip, by some mistake her lines were east off before she had steam enough to stem the current of the river and she drifted over the falls. She received so little injury that she;is taken to Portland, fitted up and sold to go to Fraser River. The same parties then built the Wright at Celilo in 1859. She was the first steamboat that ever disturbed the waters of the Columbia beyond Celilo. The Wright made a bushel of money for her owners.

The old steamer Belle, built by Captain Dick Williams, S. G. Reed and others, was the first boat to run regularly between Portland and the Cascades. In those early days there were no settlers east of the mountains, therefore nearly all of the transportation business on the river was for the Government, transporting soldiers, guns, military supplies, etc.

Transportation between Portland and The Dalles was $40 per ton by measurement, and passenger fare proportionately high.

The Government bought a quantity of hay at San Francisco for the military post at Fort Dalles. By the time it reached its destination it had cost "Uncle Sam" $77 per ton.

Buckle and Olmstead built the steamer Mountain Buck and put her on the route between Portland and the Cascades, and soon after built the little steamer Wasco, to run between the Cascades and The Dalles, which, with their portage road. gave them a through line to The Dalles; this was near 1859 or 1860. Their line, of course, took away much of the business from the portage' road on the north side of the river and the boats running in connection with it.

Benjamin Stark, S. G. Reed, R. Williams, Hoyt and Wells, owned the steamers Belle, Senorita, and Multnomah, one of which ran from Portland to Astoria; the others, in connec-