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 (1831-1905).[1][3] Other partners in the boat were Absalom F. Hedges (1817-1890)[4], Oregon City merchant, William. C. Dement (1823-1865)[1][5] & 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.[6]

As of November 1, 1859, Surprise was running under the control of the Upper Willamette Transportation Line.[7] Other boats controlled by the line were Onward, Elk, and Relief.[7] 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.”[7] Theodore Wygant (b.1831) was the Oregon City agent for the line.[7]

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. "Theodore T Wygant". Find a Grave. Retrieved April 28, 2020.
  4. "Absalom Fouts Hedges". Find a Grave. Retrieved April 13, 2020.
  5. "William Clement Dement". Find a Grave. Retrieved April 28, 2020.,
  6. 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
  7. "Upper Willamette Transportation Line!", Oregon Argus, Oregon City, OR, 3, col.1, December 3, 1859
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References

Printed sources
  • Affleck, Edward L. (2000). A Century of Paddlewheelers in the Pacific Northwest, the Yukon, and Alaska. Vancouver, BC: Alexander Nicholls Press. ISBN 0-920034-08-X.
  • Corning, Howard McKinley (1973). Willamette Landings -- Ghost Towns of the River (2nd ed.). Portland, OR: Oregon Historical Society. ISBN 0875950426.
  • Mills, Randall V. (1947). Sternwheelers up Columbia -- A Century of Steamboating in the Oregon Country. Lincoln NE: University of Nebraska. ISBN 0-8032-5874-7. LCCN 77007161.
  • Timmen, Fritz (1973). Blow for the Landing -- A Hundred Years of Steam Navigation on the Waters of the West. Caldwell, ID: Caxton Printers. ISBN 0-87004-221-1. LCCN 73150815.
  • Wright, E.W., ed. (1895). Lewis & Dryden's Marine History of the Pacific Northwest. Portland, OR: Lewis and Dryden Printing Co. LCCN 28001147.

Newspaper collections
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