V12 N3 Summer 1985 The Northern Pacific's Car Ferry 'Tacoma'

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SHIP -coLUMBIA 17'32 CAPT. ROBERT GRAY

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SUMMER 1985

roR1A·o VOL. 12

1792 MARINE DRIVE, ASTORIA, OREGON 97103

NO. 3

THE NORTHERN PACIFIC'S CAR FERRY TACOMA A strange-looking brute of a vessel, the Tacoma, appeared on the waters of the Columbia back in 1884. The spankingnew craft was a big, iron, side-wheel car ferry (railroad cars, that is), destined to transport Northern Pacific trains across the great river. She had been fabricated in New York and shipped out in 57,159 separate pieces aboard the sailing ship Tillie E. Starbuck for assembly by Smith Brothers and Watson at Portland. Originally christened the Kalama, her name had soon been changed to Tacoma . Trials were run in July and she entered regular service on October 9th, commanded by Captain George Gore. The Northern Pacific Railroad had built a line from Tacoma to the Columbia at Kalama, Washington in 1873. After transcontinental rail connections to Portland were completed in 1883, additional track was laid to Hunters, Oregon, where

the Tacoma completed the link to Puget Sound (no railroad, by the way, reached Astoria until 1898). The new rail service quickly ended profitable operations for a number of steamers which had previously run between Portland and the Cowlitz Valley. The rail line along the Oregon shore was extended in 1890 to Goble, which then became the Tacoma's southern landing. The Tacoma was of impressive size, in order to accommodate up to 21 cars and a locomotive at once. Her registered dimensions were 334 feet in length, 42 feet in breadth, and 11. 7 feet in depth, producing a gross tonnage of 1,362. Power was supplied by steam engines of 36-inch bore and 108-inch stroke. The Tacoma required a crew of 31 . Floods used to regularly plague the river communities, (continued on page 6}


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V12 N3 Summer 1985 The Northern Pacific's Car Ferry 'Tacoma' by maritimemuseum - Issuu