 | |
| Founded | 1860 |
|---|---|
| Defunct | 1879 |
| Fate | stock bought byOregon Railway and Navigation Company |
| Successor | Oregon Railway and Navigation Company |
| Headquarters | Portland, Oregon |
TheOregon Steam Navigation Company (O.S.N.) was an American companyincorporated in 1860 inWashington with partnersJ. S. Ruckle,Henry Olmstead, andJ. O. Van Bergen. It was incorporated in Washington because of a lack of corporate laws in Oregon, though it paid Oregon taxes.[1]
The company operated steamships betweenSan Francisco and ports along theColumbia River atAstoria,Portland andThe Dalles, serving the lumber and salmon fishing industries.[2] A railroad was built to serve the steamship industry.
The company was incorporated on December 29, 1860, atVancouver, Washington, with 22 shareholders. Principal shareholders included D. F. Bradford (one of the owners of the north bank portage railway at theCascades),Jacob Kamm, Harrison Olmstead,Simeon G. Reed,R. R. Thompson, and steamboat captainsJohn C. Ainsworth and L. W. Coe. The company then gained control over most of the boats on theColumbia andSnake rivers.
Timmen described the Oregon Steam Navigation Company as "the many-tentacled monopoly of river transportation."
From 1858 to 1863, theOregon Portage Railroad operated 4.5 miles of track betweenBonneville andCascade.[2] The railroad hauled primarily military and immigrant traffic.[2] In 1862, the railroad was sold to the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company for $155,000.[2]
Soon afterwards, the company acquired most of the steamboats on the Columbia and Snake Rivers.[2] TheOregon Railway and Navigation Company purchased the Oregon Steam Navigation Company in 1879.[1][2]
In 1862, river transport concerns not involved with the Oregon Steam Navigation Company formed thePeople's Transportation Company.[3] The new competitor put theE.D. Baker on the lower Columbia, theIris on the middle, and theKiyus on the upper Cascades.[4] These boats posed serious competition to the monopoly, so much so that in about 1864,[4] the Oregon Steam Navigation Company paid its rival $10,000 a year to confine its operations to theWillamette River.[3] Oregon Steam Navigation Company also picked up People's Transportation's boatsIris andKiyus, in exchange for three OSN boats on the Willamette River,Onward,Rival, andSurprise.[4]
Traffic increased in the early 1860s, so in 1863 and 1864, OSN added theNez Perce Chief, theWebfoot, theOwyhee and theYakima, all built at Celilo on the upper Columbia, and the Mississippi-style side-wheelerOneonta on the middle river. OSN also purchased the side-wheelerNew World to work the lower Columbia.[3] By 1878, OSN had added to its fleet the sternwheelersHarvest Queen,John Gates,Spokane,Annie Faxon,Mountain Queen,R.R. Thompson, andWide West.[3]
Control of the portages was critical to control of the river. OSN controlled all the portages, including both the north and the south portage railways around the Cascades (which had once been in competition with each other) as well as a portage system that had been built aroundCelilo Falls by one Orlando Humason. In 1863, the company replaced the mule-drawn portage railway on the north side of the Cascades with a steam locomotive. The company also built a 13-mile (21 km) steam railway from the Dalles around Celilo Falls, which opened on April 23, 1863, and cost $1 million to build.[3]
ThePeople's Transportation Company was organized in 1862 to compete with the Oregon Steam Navigation Company.[3] The company then began a rate war with the O.S.N.[3] People's Transportation was so successful that O.S.N. bought them off with an agreement to pay them $10,000 a year for ten years if People's Transportation would restrict its operations to theWillamette River.[3]
