Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 16.djvu/181



THE DALLES-CELILO CANAL 163

New Years, 1852, and did service between river points and Portland; was sunk on a rock near Cape Horn on September 22nd, 1852 ; was afterwards raised and rebuilt and named "The Fashion" and operated for many years.

The next steamboat to appear was the ALLAN, owned by the firm of Allan, McKinlay & Co., H. B. Co. agents at Oregon City, and who are said to have operated the store at The Dalles for a time. She was a small boat of the propeller type, brought into the River on the deck of some sailing vessel, and used rather for freighting and towing than for passenger service. Thomas Gladwell was her captain and she was hauled up over the Cascade portage from the lower river early in 1853. This boat towed scows carrying Maj. Rains and his command to Fort Dalles when they arrived in the fall of 1853 after a trip around the Horn from New York by sailing vessel.

The steamer MARY was built in the late summer of 1854 at the Cascades by the Bradfords (Dan. and Put.) and L. W. Coe ; and that same year the WASCO by Isaac McFarland and his brother, pioneers of 1852. These were small side wheelers and came into important notice during the Indian wars of 1856, and later. Next, in 1857, the HASSALO was built by the Bradfords, the first stern wheeler on the middle river, and did service for many years. The captain of the Hassalo was Eph. W. Baughman, who had also been in command of the MARY, and who is still an honored resident of the Columbia river basin following many years of service upon its waters.

Turning now to the upper river, during the years 1856-7-8, the only transportation was by bateaux or barges of the pattern already described by Gov. Stevens, but rigged with masts and sails and called "sail schooners ;" the prevailing wind being inland permitted of very good time upstream, and the current brought them back. The freight carried was almost entirely government supplies under contract with the then quarter- master at Fort Dalles, Capt. Thos. Jordan, who was afterward courtmartialed for suspected participation in these contracts.