_lining_Guthrie_Rapids.JPG) North Star lining Guthrie Rapids on theOkanogan River | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name | North Star' |
| Route | Columbia River,Okanogan River |
| In service | 1902 |
| Out of service | 1915 |
| Identification | US #130967; after reconstruction: US #204761 |
| Fate | Burned July 8, 1915 atWenatchee, Washington |
| Notes | reconstructed and enlarged 1907 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | inland steamship (passenger/freight) |
| Tonnage | 129 gross/92 registered tons (after reconstruction: 198 gross/125 registered tons) |
| Length | 84.5 ft (26 m) after reconstruction: 99.7 ft (30 m)[1] |
| Beam | 17.1 ft (5 m) after reconstruction:21.4 ft (7 m) |
| Depth | 3.6 ft (1 m) depth of hold after reconstruction: 4.1 ft (1 m) |
| Installed power | twin steam engines, horizontally mounted (after reconstruction: 9" bore x 42" stroke 5.4 nominal horsepower, 130 indicated horsepower) |
| Propulsion | sternwheel |
North Star was a sternwheel steamboat that operated in easternWashington from 1902 to 1904. This vessel should not be confused with the other vessels, some of similar design, also namedNorth Star.
TheNorth Star was built atWenatchee, Washington in 1902 by George Cotterell for theColumbia & Okanogan Steamboat Company, which CaptainAlexander Griggs (1828–1903) was the principal owner.[2]
_passing_under_bridge_ca_1910.JPG)
North Star operated out of Wenatchee on theColumbia andOkanogan rivers. On September 3, 1902,North Star was wrecked inEntiat Rapids. The company was able to salvage the vessel. In 1907 at Wenatchee,North Star was rebuilt and enlarged by the veteran shipwrightAlexander Watson.[2] (Another source states that the vessel was sold to H.S. DePuy & Will Lake and renamedEnterprise, and a new vessel, also calledNorth Star was built in 1907.[1] A third source states the vessel was rebuilt.[3])
Settlement in the Okanogan region decreased starting in about 1910.[3] As a result, business declined so much that by 1915, the Columbia & Okanogan Steamboat Co. was forced to take all of its boats out of service. The company had made arrangements to sellNorth Star to Captain Fred McDermott, who was considering taking the vessel further up the Columbia, to run betweenPateros andBridgeport.[2]
The sale ofNorth Star had not been finalized when on July 8, 1915, fire broke out onNorth Star when she was rafted up at Wenatchee with the rest of the company's remaining boats, theColumbia,Okanogan, andChelan.North Star was the outermost vessel, but the fire soon spread to the other three. All the vessels were rapidly and completely destroyed, and although the hull of the innermost vessel,Chelan remained afloat, the damage to that vessel was beyond repair. There was no insurance. The Columbia & Okanogan Steamboat Co. had so little money that they were planning to use some of the proceeds of the anticipated sale ofNorth Star to pay the insurance premiums on the remaining three vessels. The cause of the fire was never determined.[2][3][4]
