 Advertisement for Clara Parker, published in the Daily Morning Astorian, April 14, 1888. | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name | Clara Parker, later,Astorian |
| Owner | Hiram Bliss Parker;Jacob Kamm; others |
| Route | Youngs River, lowerColumbia and lowerWillamette rivers |
| Launched | May 14, 1881, atAstoria, Oregon |
| Completed | June 2, 1881 |
| In service | 1881 |
| Out of service | 1903 |
| Identification | Clara Parker: US #125915;Astorian: US #106798 |
| Fate | Sank at mooring while out of service, April 1908; hull raised, machinery removed. |
| Notes | Rebuilt in 1890 atPortland, Oregon and renamedAstorian. |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | riverine passenger/freight |
| Length | Clara Parker: 107.2 ft (32.67 m) exclusive of fantail;Astorian: 142 ft (43.28 m) |
| Beam | Clara Parker: 24.5 ft (7.47 m);Astorian: 26.5 ft (8.08 m) |
| Depth | 5.8 ft (1.77 m) depth of hold |
| Installed power | twin steam engines, horizontally mounted: AsClara Parker: cylinder bore 12.5 in (32 cm); stroke 4 ft 6 in (137 cm); AsAstorian: bore 14.5 in (37 cm); stroke 3.5 ft 6 in (122 cm) |
| Propulsion | stern-wheel |
Clara Parker was a sternwheel-driven steamboat which was operated on the lowerColumbia and lowerWillamette rivers in the 1880s. The steamer ran for about ten years out ofAstoria, Oregon in towing and jobbing work.[1][2] In 1890Clara Parker was rebuilt and renamedAstorian.[3][4]
Astorian was operated intermittently from 1891 to 1903, when it was tied up to a levee inPortland, Oregon, where in April 1908 it sank.[5]Astoria spent much of its time out of service drawing a "subsidy" from competitors who wanted to keep their fares and freight rates high by keeping out a potential competing steamer.
Clara Parker was built in 1881 atAstoria, Oregon for local businessman and politician Hiram Bliss Parker.[6][1] Parker was a well-known Astoria merchant and political figure who dealt in "hay, oats, and straw, lime, brick, cement, sand and plaster."[7][8][9] Parker advertised wood delivered to order, and a draying, teaming, and express business.[7]
Clara Parker's hull was 107.2 ft (32.67 m) exclusive of the overhang of the main deck over the stern, called the "fantail" on which thestern-wheel was mounted.[6] The steamer had a beam of 24.5 ft (7.47 m) exclusive of the wide protective timbers, calledguards running along the upper outside of the hull.[6] The boat had a depth of hold of 5.8 ft (1.77 m).[6] The overall size of the boat was 257.68 gross tons and 194.91 registered tons.[6] Tonnage for these purposes was a measure of volume and not weight. The official merchant vessel registry number was 125915.[6]
Clara Parker was launched at the high tide on May 14, 1881, in Astoria.[1] The boat was named after the youngest daughter of H.B. Parker.[1] On June 1, 1881,Clara Parker was reported to have steam up in the boiler in preparation for departure upriver toPortland, Oregon for inspection.[10] The trip did not take place until Saturday, June 4, whenClara Parker departed Astoria at 3:00 a.m., with Capt. C. Brock as master, John Ferrell as engineer, Eben P. Parker as first officer, and Eben's father, H.B. Parker as purser.[11]
On Sunday, August 7, 1881,Clara Parker, carrying an excursion party, navigatedYoungs River to about two miles from theYoungs River Falls.[12] There were many snags in the river, one of which was struck by the boat's wheel, but caused the boat no damage.[12] In June 1883,Clara Parker made runs from Astoria to any and all points on the Columbia river.[13] In 1885 H.B. Parker advertised the steamerClara Parker for towing, freight, or charter.[7]Clara Parker was in operation in April 1890, running from Portland to Astoria.[14]
At 1:00 a.m. on June 12, 1883, Hazen Alex Parker, age 44, fireman of theClara Parker, drowned when he lost his footing while boarding the vessel and fell into the river between the dock and the boat.[15] The body was not immediately recovered.[15] H.B. Parker offered $25 for recovery of the body.[15]
On the afternoon of Friday, June 6, 1890, as Clara Parker was coming down Youngs River with a heavy deck load, Charles Hamlin a deck hand aged about 23, fell overboard and drowned.[16] Hamlin had been walking around the deckload on the outside rail of the boat, when he lost his balance and fell into the river.[16] The steamer was stopped, but Hamlin went under before a boat could be launched and was not seen again.[16] Attempts on the day of the drowning to recover Hamlin's body by grappling were unsuccessful.[16]
On July 4, 1892, at 3:00 a.m. whenAstorian was lying at Parker's dock in Astoria, deckhand Henry Leinenweber fell overboard from the steamer.[17] Leinenweber was reported to have been intoxicated.[18]
On June 29, 1890Clara Parker was condemned by theSteamboat Inspection Service on the grounds that its hull was weak and defective.[19]Clara Parker was rebuilt atPortland, Oregon and renamedAstorian.[3][4]Astorian was scheduled to make its trial trip on December 29, 1890.[20]
The engines ofAstorian had a cylinder bore of 14.5 in (37 cm); and a piston stroke 3.5 ft 6 in (122 cm).[4] They developed 1300 nominalhorsepower.[21]
Astorian was 142 ft (43.28 m) long on the main deck, exclusive of the fantail.[21] The beam was 26.5 ft (8.08 m), and the depth of hold was 7.5 ft (2.29 m).[21]Astorian's overall size was 361 gross and 234 registered tons.[21] The official merchant vessel registry number was 106798.[21]
Eben P. Parker, captain, Al Church, pilot, and John Phillips, engineer, operatedAstorian in the early 1890s.[4] According to one report,Astorian was reputed to be one of the faster boats on the river, and also to have been involved in frequent rate wars.[5] Another source states thatAstorian was "too slow to be much of a success anywhere."[4]
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On January 23, 1892, Astorian took off 35 passengers from the sternwheelerHarvest Queen, which had grounded at Warrior Rock, nearSt. Helens, Oregon.[22]Astorian carried the passengers to Portland.[22]Harvest Queen was refloated with only minor damage.[22]
On February 2, 1892,Astorian itself ran aground on the Columbia River near Three Tree Point.[23] The steamer had been en route from Portland to Astoria when at 3:00 a.m. the rudder was struck by a floating timber.[23] The boat then ran on a rock which made a large hole in the right side of the hull.[23] Captain Parker was then in command.[23] He went into the hold, stuffed sixteen pairs of blankets into the hole, set up timbers to hold them in the hole, and steamed on to Astoria, where the vessel arrived safely.[23]
In February 1892Astorian was being run on the route from Portland to Astoria in competition with the steamers of theUnion Pacific Railroad, which included the large sternwheelerR.R. Thompson.[24] Supported by Astoria businessmen,Astorian was running in connection with the steamersDalles City andRegulator as an opposition line.[25]
On February 16, 1892, Astorian collided with the stern-wheel steamerIone in Portland, Oregon in a fog.[18] Astorian sustained $50 damage.[18] The case was investigated and as a result the license of Kane Olney, master and pilot of Astorian, was suspended for 10 days for violation of Section 8 of Rule V of the General Rules and Regulations, that is, failure to have a crewman, in addition to the regular pilot on watch, also standing watch in or near the pilot house.[18][26]
On the night of Wednesday, February 10, 1892,R.R. Thompson collided withAstorian atCoffin Point, on the Columbia River.[24] The collision tore out the left deck and knocking in theguard.[24] No leak in the hull was caused, and both vessels were able to proceed.[24] The competition was said to have engendered bitter feelings between the two companies.[24]
The officers ofAstorian were reported to have claimed that the collision was not an accident, but rather an attempt to sink their boat, and rid the Union Pacific of a dangerous rival.[24] A similar accusation was made byThe Dalles Daily Chronicle.[27]
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By March 11, 1892, the Union Pacific was conducting a rate war on the Columbia with its rivals, theAstorian and the fast sternwheelerTelephone,[28] By March 26, 1892, Union Pacific had reduced its fare to $1, and this had been met byAstoria andTelephone.[29]
In June 1892 it was reported that the prominent businessmanJacob Kamm and theNorthern Pacific Railway Company intended to "make things lively for the 'system'" on the lower Columbia river.[30] Kamm, with all the business that the Northern Pacific could afford, had reached an agreement with H.B. Bliss to haveAstorian carry passengers at a fare of $2 for the roundtrip Portland-Astoria, and freight at a rate of $1 per ton.[30]
In August 1894Astorian was tied up inYoungs Bay, west of Astoria, and been so for some time, since the last rate war, when fares had been driven down to 50 cents.[31] H.B. Parker had been paid off by the competition to takeAstorian out of service.[31]
Astorian is reported to have been chartered to the OR&N sometime before 1895, with OR&N placing the steamer on the Portland to Cascades route.[4] On April 8, 1895Astorian was used to inspect the proposedright of way for the Astoria and Columbia River railway, to be built from Astoria toGoble, Oregon.[32]Astorian had been brought around from Young's Bay for the task, where it appears the boat had been laid up.[33]
Around August 1, 1894, H.B. Parker announced thatAstorian had been repaired and newly painted, and would soon return to service on the Portland-Astoria route.[31] Fares on that route $2 per round trip, at least as charged by the sternwheelerSarah Dixon, which was just then being placed on the route.[31] The rumor was that Parker's competitors had grown tired of paying him the subsidy to keepAstorian out of service, and had decided to take their chances in direct competition with Parker's boat.[31]
On September 26, 1895, H.B. Parker "surprised the public" by announcing thatAstorian would go on the Portland route on the first of October.[34] Painters, carpenters, and machinists were at work on the boat, and the U.S. steamboat inspectors were scheduled to examine the vessel on September 28, 1895.[34]Astorian was still being operated in late December 1896, when at Smith's point it picked up a small boat which had apparently been lost by the tender of the Young's Bay bridge.[35]
On Saturday, June 26, 1897, steamboat inspectors Edwards and McDermott examined the boilers ofAstorian, finding them in good condition.[36] It was not clear whether the steamer was in operation at the time of the inspection.
Some time around December 1896,Astorian was laid up at Smith Point, downriver from Astoria, under an agreement between the companies operating steamers between Portland and Astoria.[37] All the formerly competing companies had entered into a combine, and the owners of Astorian were paid $250 a month to keep their boat out of service.[37]
In December 1898 the agreement to keep Astorian out of service expired.[37] In August 1899 it was reported thatAstorian, then still owned by Captain Parker, had been undergoing extensive repair work while the vessel was moored inYoungs River, and the boat was ready for service.[38] It was reported at the time that railroads had made steamboating unprofitable on the lower Columbia.[39] There was talk thatAstorian would be put again on the Astoria route as an opposition boat.[39]
Astorian had not been operated much, spending most its time lying idle on a subsidy, which probably made as much money for the steamer as other boats did by running.[39]On June 24, 1901,Astorian arrived in Portland from downriver, where the boat loaded railroad iron to be used on a logging rail line on theLewis and Clark River.[39]
In July 1901Astorian, reportedly nearly ready to begin running, was described by theMorning Oregonian as a boat "whose mission in life seems to be that of a subsidy seeker."[40]
Astorian received no subsidy, nor were the steamer's owners willing to put it on as an opposition boat.[41] InsteadAstorian was tied up, again, in Young's Bay.[41] According to a report of the time, the movement to putAstorian in service had reached the point where pledges were being secured to guarantee a certain amount of freight, when a representative of the steamer lines already running on the river informedAstorian's promoters that if they putAstorian on, the competing lines would immediately reduce fares to 10 cents and freight carriage to 25 cents a ton.[41]
On April 14, 1902Astorian was being refitted and in a few days would be ready to run between Astoria and Portland, which would, it was thought, reduce the current freight and passenger rates.[42]
By January 1903,Astorian had been sold to or otherwise come under the control of the White Collar steamboat line.[5][43] In January 1903, the White Collar line planned to equipAstorian with a new boiler and heavy machinery to increase the steamer's speed and competitiveness.[43] The White Collar Line ran the boat in opposition to theOregon Railway and Navigation Company's steamers.[5]
For the five years leading up to April 1908,Astorian lay at the Portland city levee, at the foot of Jefferson Street.[44] On Friday, April 3, 1908, the boilers were being removed.[44] Early on the next Saturday morning, the boat sprang a leak, the hull quickly filled with water, and the vessel quickly same to the bottom.[44] The machinery to be removed had been left temporarily on the bow of the boat;[44] its added weight on the bow contributed to the sinking.[44] At the time of the sinkingAstorian was owned byJacob Kamm, who had bought the steamer from the White Collar line just before taking the vessel out of active service in 1903.[44]
In October 1908 the hull ofAstorian (which by then had apparently been raised), was assessed for tax purposes to the prominent steamboatman Uriah Bonser Scott at a value ofUS$15,000.[45] J. Allen Harrison, assistant superintendent of the Vancouver Transportation Company acknowledged ownership, but complained to Multnomah County Board of Equalization that the machinery had been removed from the steamer and that the hull was rotten and of no value, and should be removed from the assessment rolls.[45]