VOL. 3
16TH & EXCHANGE STREET, ASTORIA, OREGON 97103
NO. 3 GEORGIANA
Of all the passenger steamers that ran on the Lower River, few are better remembered than the lovely Georgmna. She began her career in the last flush years of passenger service between Portland and Astoria, and outlasted all her competitors on the run. A sleek, 135-foot propeller steamer, the Georgmna was launched at Joseph Supple's Portland shipyard in 1914. Built for the Harkins Transportation Company, she was named for Mrs. H. L. Pittock, wife of the Oregonmn publisher, and Mrs. Anna Hosford, wife of the vessel's first captain. Her narrow, white-painted hull and trim, yacht-like appearance caused considerable comment on the waterfront. Nor did her performance belie her looks. While she was not elegant, she was fast, and few boats could outrun her. Speed and economy had supplanted luxury as the keys to success on the river. During her early years, the Georgmna prospered. She made the downriver run daily, leaving Portland at 7:00 a.m., arriving at Astoria around one o'clock, and tying up in Portland sometime after 9:00 p.m. When the passenger trade dropped off with increased rail service, she became primarily a freight boat, making stops at landings all along the Lower River. She continued to carry passengers at low rates. Through the early Thirties, when all the other passenger boats had been driven from the river by automobiles and hard times, the Georgmna kept going. In 1936, however, operating at a heavy loss, she was withdrawn from service. She won a brief reprieve the following year, when she was renamed Lake Bonneville and put on an excursion run to Bonneville Dam. Finally, after several years of idleness and neglect, she was beached and abandoned at Sauvie Island.
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QUARTERDECK REVIEW The past few months have been significant ones for the Museum. Construction of the new building began in May, and is now well under way. Visitor attendance in 1975 has been greater than ever before. The number of requests for information handled by the staff has increased markedly, and media coverage has brought the Museum more and more into the limelight. These factors signal increased stature and an expanding role for the Museum as an important regional maritime history institution. With growing responsibilities, however, have come additional strains on our resources. The Museum's "cost of living", like everyone else's, has risen sharply. If we are to continue to improve and expand our services to the public, operating revenue must keep pace. During the past few years we have concentrated much of our efforts on securing funds for the new building. The results have been extremely gratifying, though support for that vital project is still needed. Meanwhile, the day to day operating expenses of a growing museum must be met. Memberships are a key source of operating revenue. We ask all who share our commitment to preserving a great maritime heritage to help us increase Museum membership by actively encouraging others to join. We hope that current members will consider a higher category of membership when they receive renewal notices. The Columbia River Maritime Museum is your museum. It needs your help to meet the challenge of the future.
PHIL BAINER AND DAN WEBSTER DISCUSS PLANS
NEW TRUSTEES, OFFICERS
Election of new trustees and officers highlighted the Annual Meeting, held at the Museum on September 15. Newly elected to four-year terms on the Board were Rear Admiral David L. Roscoe, Jr., U.S.N. (Ret.), and Captain James T. Clune, U.S.C.G. (Ret.). Both men have served on the Board in the past, Admiral Roscoe as a founding member, and Captain Clune in 1970-71. Re-elected to fouryear terms were Hayes Patrick Lavis, Clayton C. Morse, Fred L. Barnum and J. Dan Webster. Philip L. Bainer was elected President of the Museum, taking over from Dan Webster, who has served ably at the helm for the past two years. Ted Thompson was elected Vice President. Re-elected as Secretary and Treasurer, respectively, were Larry V. Snyder and Clayton Morse. An able educator and administrator (he is President of Clatsop Community College in Astoria), Phil Bainer brings to his Museum duties a perspective which will be invaluable in shaping the Museum's policy during the coming year. We all look forward to working with him.
-Rolf Klep, Director
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THE NEW BUILDING: A PROGRESS REPORT
Sidewalk supervisors are highly pleased with the progress of construction at the new building site. The huge concrete floor slab is complete, sills are in place, and roof-supporting concrete beam and columns have been poured. At this writing, the last of the structural steel is being erected. Next, following placement of the submarine periscopes and destroyer bridge within the building perimeter, the structure's distinctive roof line will take shape with the placing of massive laminated roof beams. Framing the walls and closing the roof will then proceed rapidly.
AUTZEN FOUNDATION CHALLENGE GRANT MATCHED
More than $100,000 has been added to the Museum building fund as a result of a $50,000 challenge gift made last June by the Autzen Foundation. The gift was offered conditionally, contingent on an equal amount being raised from other sources within a prescribed time period. Seven grants totaling $62,300 were received in response to the appeal for matching funds. Donors were
Mrs. Wenona Dyer Martin, The Collins Foundation, the Westland Foundation, the Wheeler Foundation, Mrs. Ruth McBride Powers, Mr. Ole Berge, and the Shaw Surgical Company. Thanks to their generosity, and that of all contributors to the fund, the amount raised for the new building now approaches $750,000. We are confident that these successes will urge others to help us reach our goal.
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SOME RECENT ACQUISITIONS
Mr. Donald Lawrence of Portland recently donated to the Museum a collection of 345 tug and towboat photographs put together by him over the past thirty years. Most of the photos are of Puget Sound and Columbia River vessels, but East Coast and foreign tugs are also well represented. Shown at right is the 1899 steel tug Fearless of San Francisco. Her long career included service as a Columbia River bar tug and Arctic whaler.
In 1953 Harry Orr was chief electrician in the American Mail Line C-3 cargo vessel Java Mail, engaged in west coast service to the Orient. As a means of keeping occupied during off-duty hours at sea, he began construction of a model of the ship. Taking his measurements. directly from builders' plans available on board, he worked in a scale of 1/16"= 1 foot. He was encouraged in his efforts by Jack DeSassise, then Chief Mate in the Java Mail and later, until his death in 1967, a Columbia River bar pilot. Last month Mr. Orr, now retired in Astoria, presented the model to the Museum in memory of Captain DeSassise.
The superb triple expansion steam engine at right is one of six miniature marine engines recently given to the Museum by Mrs. Alex Johnston of Santa Rosa, California. Complete and in working order, they were made by Mrs. Johnston's late husband, a machinist and marine engineer whose lifelong fascination with machinery took him from paddle steamers in his youth in Britain, to Chief Engineer billets in New Zealand steamships, to a specialty machine and manufacturing business in San Francisco. In addition to the engines, Mrs. Johnston donated three fine sextants and a number of ship registers. We thank our friends at the San Francisco Maritime Museum, whose good offices made this gift possible.
WELCOME ABOARD!
Sincere thanks and a hearty "Welcome Aboard" to the members listed below, who have joined the Museum since publication of the Summer issue of Quarterdeck Review. Those whose names are followed by an asterisk (*) have increased their membership category from an earlier membership. STUDENT
COME ABOARD! -,- JOIN THE
COLUMBIA RIVER MARITIME MUSEUM ENCOURAGE YOUR FRIENDS TO BECOME MEMBERS
D Benefactor $10,000 or more D Patron $2,000 or more □
Life D Sustaining
$1,000 or more $100 per year
D D D D
Supporting
$50 Contributing $25 Annual $10 Student $2. 50
per year per year per year per year
My Check □
Money Order □ for $----·----------- is enclosed Memberships Start from Month of Receipt
Lise Folkman, Eugene Nancy Foster, Bellevue, Wa. Mark Hay, Tempe, Az. Reynold A. Paulson, Portland Patricia Wright, Eugene
NAME ADDRESS ---------------------- -------------- ·-·------· ·---·--·--···--·-··------·-· --·-··-•·-------·CITY ----- -- ------------------------ --··--··- ZIP -----------···-- STATE __ _____________ _
ANNUAL Mrs. Ragna 0. Baccrich, Portland Miss Teresa Baccrich, Portland Leonie Brooke, Portland BiKing of Astoria Mrs. Edward I. Broz, Tacoma Mr. and Mrs. Sam Churchill Mr. and Mrs. C.H. Davis III, Portland Mr. and Mrs. G.P. Ducich, Monroe, Wa. The Galleon of Astoria Green with Envy Plant Shop Ronald Grimm The Guild Men's Shop Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Haight Mr. and Mrs. Mike Hediger Barbara E . Hosier, Surf Pines Ronald P. Hoxie Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Johanson Dr. and Mrs. Duane V. Jue Lackey Real Estate Vernon A. Larson H. Patrick Lavis Mr. and Mrs. Howard Lovvold Mr. and Mrs. S. Martin, Sun City, Az. Mary's Tavern
Charles T. Mestrich Edwin K. Parker Gerhard E. Petersen Oscar Peterson Mr. and Mrs. David Ross, Albuquerque Fred C. Shaylor Mr. and Mrs. John V. Smoot, Milwaukie Union Steam Baths CONTRIBUTING ($25/year) Mr. and Mrs. G. Altstadt, Gearhart* Armin's Pastry Astoria Apparel Astoria Business Equipment Co.* Astoria Health Foods* Harry Claterbos Co. Danish Maid Bakery Drucker Company Mrs. Vera W. Gault Ronald J. Honeyman, Seaside* Jensen Communications Mr. and Mrs. Eino S. Juola Edwin L. Luoma
QUARTERDECK REVIEW OF THE
COLUMBIA RIVER MARITIME MUSEUM ASTORIA, OREGON 97103
Harry W. Orr Shakey's Pizza of Astoria SUPPORTING ($50/year) Richard F. Borgen, Portland Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence M. Dean Fiddler's Green Restaurant The Glass Shop* George R. Grove* Kay Lynn Shops Diane C. Kem, Portland* Lincoln Savings & Loan, Beaverton Richard C. Paulin, Eugene Wm. T.C. Stevens, Portland* Mr. and Mrs. Sion Wentworth Dr. and Mrs. David I. Williams SUSTAINING ($100/year) Fashionland of Astoria Franz Bakery, Portland LIFE ($1000) Herbert J. Darby, Portland
Non-Profit Organization U.S. POSTAGE
PA ID Astoria, Oregon Permit No. 209