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

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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
  4. "Upper Willamette Transportation Line!", Oregon Argus, Oregon City, OR, 3, col.1, December 3, 1859

References

Printed sources

Newspaper collections

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