Steamboats of Yaquina Bay and Yaquina River - Rise of Tourist Business

Rise of Tourist Business

Once the Oregon Pacific Railroad reached Toledo, on the east end of Yaquina Bay, tourists started coming to the bay from the Willamette Valley. The roads were bad or nonexistent at the time, so the only way to the seaside hotels at Newport was to cross the Yaquina Bay by steamer.

On March 7, 1896, the propeller steamer Volante, which had been built at Oneatta in 1892 for the Yaquina Bay service, burned at her mooring at the Newport waterfront. In 1908, the propeller steamer Newport (81) tons was built at Yaquina for Capt. James Chatterton as a replacement for the T.M. Richardson on the Yaquina-Newport run. Later, Jack Fogarty and Capt. Oscar Jacobson bought Newport and the run from Capt. Chatterson.

As now, the summer was the high tourist season in Newport, and the steamers and small craft on the bay played a major role. It became the custom for everyone in Newport to turn out for the daily landing of the boat from Yaquina City. At the landing, wagons and draymen assembled to transport the passengers to points in the Newport area. For example, in the summer of 1902, the Salem Military Band came to Newport for a few weeks. Pleasure cruises were organized, with the T.M. Richardson carrying the band and pulling crowds of people on two barges. In the evening, the band played for the arrival of the Yaquina boat and also to entertain crowds waiting for the mail at the post office on Front Street. Eventually Newport organized a band of its own, in 1906 or so, which performed similar functions. Eventually Newport was converted to gasoline power, and put to tow duties for the unpowered barges Elk and Julia.