Oregon Steam Navigation Company - Formation of The Monopoly

Formation of The Monopoly

The company was incorporated on December 29, 1860, at Vancouver, Washington, with 22 shareholders. Principal shareholders included D. F. Bradford (one of the owners of the north bank portage railway at the Cascades), Jacob Kamm, Harrison Olmstead, Simeon G. Reed, R. R. Thompson, and steamboat captains John C. Ainsworth and L. W. Coe. The company then gained control over most of the boats on the Columbia and Snake rivers.

Timmen described the Oregon Steam Navigation Company as "the many-tentacled monopoly of river transportation."

From 1858 to 1863, the Oregon Portage Railroad operated 4.5 miles of track between Bonneville and Cascade. The railroad hauled primarily military and immigrant traffic. In 1862, the railroad was sold to the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company for $155,000.

Soon afterwards, the company acquired most of the steamboats on the Columbia and Snake Rivers. The Oregon Railway and Navigation Company purchased the Oregon Steam Navigation Company in 1879.

  • On the lower Columbia, the company's boats included Senorita, Fashion (ex-Venture), Julia (Barclay), Belle (of Oregon City), Mountain Buck, and Carrie Ladd.
  • On the middle Columbia, boats were Mary, Hassaloe, Wasco, and Idaho.
  • On the upper Columbia, the company ran the Tenino and the Colonel Wright.

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