Page:Portland, Oregon, its History and Builders volume 1.djvu/384

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may require of the owner or shipper, such agreement in writing with surety or otherwise which shall provide that if the terminus of the water carriage of the shipment or of any portion of the same shall be falsely represented in the ship- ping receipt or otherwise, and the freight shall, by direction of the owner in said shipping receipt or otherwise, be landed before arriving at such terminus and shall be further carried upon steamboat or boats or vessels not belonging to this company, then the party to such an agreement shall be held for and bound to pay to this company, full freight for such further water carriage at local rates, and in the same manner as if this company had carried the same to the terminus of its water carriage, and that such re-shipment on another than a company boat or vessel, within thirty days after a landing of the same as herein above stated, from the company's boat or boats, shall be taken and held to be conclusive evidence that the terminus of water transportation of said freight was falsely represented and that the true terminus was the point to which it was finally carried. And said agreement shall contain a further stipu- lation in case action is brought thereon and a recovery by the company had, the judge, justice of the peace or court before whom or which the action is tried, shall include in the amount of the judgment as disbursements, such sum over and above the taxable cost as he or they shall determine to be reasonable attorney's fees for the prosecuting said action.

(2) All down freight from points on the Columbia or Snake rivers which is brought to Wallula, Umatilla or Celilo, on any steamboat or other water craft not belonging to this company, and is re-shipped for further carriage by this company, will be charged the usual rates of the company, from the point of shipment upon such other steamboat or water craft, which freight shall be paid in advance at the time of shipment. This rule shall not apply to produce brought by the farmer or producer in his own boat to the said shipping points of Wallula, Umatilla or Celilo.

(Signed) S. G. REED,

Vice-President Oregon Steam Navigation Company.

Owing to their obtaining high rates, opposition boats were started, more or less spasmodically, on the Columbia and Willamette rivers. A line known as the Willamette Steam Navigation Company operated between Portland and Oregon City, and from that point to Corvallis and Eugene City for several years. In 1862, the People's Transportation Company was organized with a capital stock of $2,000,000. This company had steamers on the upper and lower Willamette for over eleven years, and then sold out to Ben Holliday. The directors were: C. S. Kingsley, David McCully, Leonard White, S. Coffin and S. D. Church. The officers were : President, S. Coffin ; vice-president, C. S. Kingsley ; treasurer, A. C. R. Shaw.

When the locks at Oregon City were completed, the parties controlling them, Goldsmith and Teal, constructed several steamboats and began the navigation of the Willamette river between Portland and Eugene City; later they put boats on between Portland and Astoria in opposition to the Oregon Steam Navigation Company's boats. This opposition continued for two years. The Oregon Steam Navigation Company put a couple of boats on the Oregon City run, and the out- come of it was that they purchased a controlling interest in the Locks and the Goldsmith steamers, and organized a new company under the name of the Willamette Transportation & Locks Company, and J. C. Ainsworth was elected president. The new company purchased the basin and warehouse at Oregon City, together with the six steamers that had been rivals of the Goldsmith party.

About this time the Grangers were in the zenith of their glory and power. They resolved to ignore all other interests but their own, and were particularly hostile to all other transportation companies. They were led to believe that nearly all receipts of steamboats were profit, and notwithstanding the Willa- mette Transportation & Locks Company was transporting freight at a loss.