Lot Whitcomb (sidewheeler) - Launch at Milwaukie, Oregon

Launch At Milwaukie, Oregon

By act of the Territorial Legislature, the vessel's official name was to be Lot Whitcomb of Oregon. She was launched on December 25, 1850 with a general celebration. Present for speeches and vote-getting were Oregon's territorial governor, John P Gaines and Mayor Kilbourne of Milwaukie. The U.S. Army brass band from Fort Vancouver played patriotic tunes, and at 3:00 p.m. that day, the props were knocked out and she slid down the ways into the Willamette River. Unfortunately a tragic accident marred the celebration. Frederick Morse, captain of the schooner Merchantman, then loading lumber from Whitcomb's sawmill, had unloaded an old saluting cannon from his vessel, and was in the process of firing it when it burst. Shrapnel from the destroyed barrel flew through the air and hit Captain Morse in the neck, killing him instantly. No one else was hurt, and the celebration continued unabated for several days.

Lot Whitcomb was hailed as the advent of modernity in Oregon. She flew a big pennant from her bow that read "Independence." Elizabeth Markham, mother of the poet Edwin Markham watched Lot Whitcomb ascending the Clackamas Rapids, then a significant obstacle on the route to Oregon City and wrote her own poem in the style of the times that was promptly published in the Oregon Spectator: