V5 N2 Summer 1977 Steamer 'City of Salem' taking on Freight at a River Landing

Page 1

VOL. 5

16TH & EXCHANGE STREET, ASTORIA, OREGON 97103

NO. 2

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STEAMER CITY OF SALEM TAKING ON FREIGHT AT A RIVER LANDING, CIRCA 1880

One of the most successful steamers ever to operate on the upper Willamette River was the sternwheeler City of Salem, built at Portland by U.B. Scott in 1875. There long had been regular steamboat service between Salem and Portland, and irregular service to Corvallis. But a large boat could reach Eugene only when the water stage permitted, and never in the late summer and early fall, when transportation was most needed for the valley's wheat crop. Scott changed all that in 1874, when he

launched the Ohio, first large shallow-draft sternwheeler on the Willamette. A year later he followed with the City of Salem. Over 150 feet in length, she drew barely more than 18 inches with 100 tons of passengers and freight on board. Her design was soon copied by other steamboatmen, but not before she had made a fortune for Scott and his partners by seeking freight where deeper boats could not go. Finally, after thirty years on the Willamette, the venerable City of Salem was laid up and dismantled.


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V5 N2 Summer 1977 Steamer 'City of Salem' taking on Freight at a River Landing by maritimemuseum - Issuu