Georgiana (steamboat)

The "Georgiana" was a propeller-driven steamboat that operated on the Columbia River from 1914 to 1940. "Georgiana" was built of wood, and specially designed for the Harkins Transportation Company, a steamboat line in which the wealthy Henry L. Pittock was a shareholder.

Construction and Launching

She was built at Joseph Supple's yard in Portland, Oregon just as railroads and highways would end the days of steamboats on the Columbia river and all other inland waterways of the Pacific Northwest. Her name honored three women, Georgiana Pittock, wife of Henry L., and her granddaughters, Georgiana Leadbetter and Georgiana Gantenbein. [Timmen, Fritz, "Blow for the Landing", at pages 160-161, Caxton Printers, Caldwell, Idaho 1973 ISBN 0-87004-221-1] L.O. Hosford was the first captain of the Georgiana, and his daughter Cora christened the vessel at her launching on June 20, 1914.

The "Georgiana" was small (242 tons, 145' long and 22.5' beam) compared to some of the other much larger boats that ran on the river in those days, such as the aging "T.J. Potter" and the magnificent (and recently rebuilt) "Bailey Gatzert". Those larger boats had reached the end of their time, as river travel fell off. "Georgiana" was considered a "day boat" on which passengers were encouraged to carry their own lunch. Still she was popular with passengers and her fare of one dollar for the Portland to Astoria was cheaper than the railway.

Operations on Columbia River

"Georgiana" was considered speedy, and in 1920, made the 110 mile Portland-Astoria run in five hours and forty-five minutes, with five landings. Her principal competitor in the very early 1920s was a similarly designed steam propeller "Astorian" (ex "Nisqually"), built in 1911 to serve the Tacoma-Olympia route, and brought around to the Columbia River in 1918. The big paddle-wheelers had all disappeared by then, but the smaller "Georgiana" and "Astorian" up the service to the small towns along the Columbia that had no road or rail access, like Cathlamet, Pillar Rock, Eureka, Skamokawa, and Brookfield, often racing each other on the same schedule from Portland to Astoria and back.

In 1921, "Astorian" broke her shaft at full speed, sustaining serious damage which took her out of service until she was returned to Puget Sound. [Newell, Gordon R., ed., "H.W. McCurdy Marine History of the Pacific Northwest", at page 296, Superior Publishing, Seattle, WA 1966] This left "Georgiana" and the other Harkins Transportation Company boats ("Undine", "Lurline", and "Madeline" (ex "Joseph Kellogg") as the only major operator of steamboats on the Columbia River, although "Iralda", a lighter steam propeller, was placed on the Astoria run in 1921 in an effort to compete with "Georgiana". From 1918 to 1932, "Georgiana"'s captain was John L. Starr, who logged over 650,000 miles on board. [McCurdy, at 308, 324 and 617]

Late revival of business

In 1935, a Portland businessman, Ralph J. Staehli, organized a small revival of the steamboat business, buying the old sternwheeler "Cascades of the Columbia" from Shaver Transportation Company and organizing popular weekend excursions from Portland up the Columbia to the construction site of the Bonneville Dam. Tickets were one dollar a head, and the trip was so popular that the next summer, 1936, Staehli was able to buy the old sternwheeler Northwestern which he likewise filled to capacity weekend. In 1937, Staehli bought "Georgiana" (Harkins Transportation had gone bankrupt in that year [Affleck, Edward L., "A Century of Paddlewheelers in the Pacific Northwest, the Yukon, and Alaska", at page 42, Alexander Nicholls Press, Vancouver, BC (2000) ISBN 0-920034-08-X]

Last route and abandonment

When Bonneville Dam was complete, and the tamed river filled into a lake, Staehli took "Georgiana" off the lower river, renamed her "Lake Bonneville", and placed on excursions from Portland to The Dalles on the lake through the new lock at the Bonneville Dam. The Second World War ended the excursion business, and "Georgiana" ended up abandoned near Post Office Bar on Sauvie Island and her hull sank into the sand.

Legacy

"Georgiana" was one of the last steamboats on the historic Portland-Astoria run. [Newell, Gordon, and Williamson, Jim, "Pacific Steamboats", at page 98, Superior Publishing, Seattle, WA 1958] Her last captain on the run was Arthur Riggs, (1870-1941) whose own life spanned the great days of steamboating on the Columbia and Willamette rivers. Captain Riggs had began in steamboating in 1887 on the "Isabel" on the Willamette and Yamhill rivers, and later served on many famous boats throughout the Pacific Northwest, including "Multnomah", "Telegraph" and "Telephone". [McCurdy, at 492] "Georgiana" had been an interim boat between the flamboyant old paddlewheelers and the modern steel excursion boats, and her trade might have continued had war not disrupted it.

ee also

Steamboats of the Columbia River

External links

Photographs

* [http://photos.salemhistory.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/max&CISOPTR=2922&REC=1 "Lurline" and "Georgiana", 1925]
* [http://photos.salemhistory.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/max&CISOPTR=2906&REC=1 "Georgiana", August 5, 1929]

References