Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 25.djvu/73

 COLONEL HENRY ERNST DOSCH 63 ated $100,000 and a contract was let for the building of the mint. The rock was brought from Mill Creek, about five miles from The Dalles. After the first story was completed, Congress decided that the mint at San Fran- cisco was sufficient and sold the site and the building for'a song. In 1864 The Dalles was the trading center for a large part of Idaho, Montana, and eastern Wash- ington. Merchants came from Boise, Walla Walla, Mis- soula and many other points to secure their supplies from the merchants of The Dalles. While The Dalles had a permanent population at that time of over 2,500, its floating population frequently was two or three times that number. Among the well-known men in The Dalles in that day were Joseph Wilson, Z. F. Moody, Judge Humason, Judge Gates, Judge D. D. Hidden, Dr. Shack- leford, Dr. Bryan, Dr. Hoffman, Frank Dodge, agent of the O. S. N. Co., Nick Sinnott, who with Hanley kept the Umatilla House, and by the way, the Umatilla House in those days was a regular mint. They took in more money over their bar than all the other hotel in The Dalles put together. Those were the days when the Oregon Steam Navigation Company also made money hand-over-fist. They charged $60 a ton on freight from Portland to The Dalles. Fare was $20 and meals were $1.00. The boats were always crowded to capacity with passengers, so that meals were being served continuously, and, of course, the bar on the boat was .busy all day long. They don't serve meals anymore, such as were served in those days. They used to serve ham and eggs, tenderloin steak, fried potatoes, venison, hot cakes and coffee for breakfast. The Oregon Steam Navigation Company had a monopoly on the Columbia River. Frequently a steamer would make from $3,000 to $5,000 on a single trip. The record profit was made on May 13, 1862, when one boat made a profit of over $10,000. The principal stockholders of the Oregon Steam Navigation Company were W. S. Ladd, R. R. Thompson, Simeon G. Reed, Jacob Kamm, J. C. Ains-