Operations
Soon after she was launched, Idaho was acquired by the Oregon Steam Navigation Company, and ran on the middle Columbia. This was a stretch of the river that ran between the rapids at the Cascades and The Dalles, where another longer stretch of rapids began. Because the rapids were not generally navigable, all traffic had to be routed around the rapids on portages, first paths and roads, then on railways. This meant that no single steamboat could run up the whole river. The Idaho's role was to transport people and freight on the middle Columbia, bracketed by the rapids at the Cascades and by Celilo Falls to the east. She ran on this route with the small sidewheeler Dalles and the larger Iris.
Idaho made a lot of money on the middle Columbia, when she was generally under the command of Captain John McNulty (steamboat captain). The profits from Idaho's work allowed the Oregon Steam Navigation Company to build more and bigger steamers, including the Oneonta and Daisy Ainsworth. One of the most important positions on any steamboat was the purser, who was in charge of collecting fares, paying debts and wages, and in general running the business affairs of the vessel. During the times when steamboats were the center of commerce, the position of purser was a sought-after and lucrative post. One of the early pursers on the Idaho was George H. Knaggs, who also served on many other steamboats in the Pacific Northwest. Idaho was rebuilt in 1869.
In 1880, the shareholders of the Oregon Steam Navigation Company sold out to the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company. As railroads were constructed through from Portland to The Dalles, the steamboats of the middle river, including the Idaho could not compete and they were taken down through the Cascades Rapids one by one. Idaho was taken through on July 11, 1881 under the command of master steamboat captain James W. Troup.
Following her run through the Cascades, Idaho was taken down to Portland, Oregon where she was hauled out of the water and completely rebuilt on a new hull. Her paddle wheels were replaced, and new cabin space and a new pilot house were added. The total cost of the reconstruction was $20,000.
Read more about this topic: Idaho (sidewheeler)
Famous quotes containing the word operations:
“You can’t have operations without screams. Pain and the knife—they’re inseparable.”
—Jean Scott Rogers. Robert Day. Mr. Blount (Frank Pettingell)
“It may seem strange that any road through such a wilderness should be passable, even in winter, when the snow is three or four feet deep, but at that season, wherever lumbering operations are actively carried on, teams are continually passing on the single track, and it becomes as smooth almost as a railway.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Plot, rules, nor even poetry, are not half so great beauties in tragedy or comedy as a just imitation of nature, of character, of the passions and their operations in diversified situations.”
—Horace Walpole (1717–1797)