Elwood (sternwheeler)
Elwood at Portland, Oregon.
|
|
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Elwood |
| Owner: | Elldredge & Abernethy Bros. |
| Operator: | Lewis River Transportation Co. |
| Route: | Willamette, Lewis, Stikine rivers; Puget Sound |
| Completed: | 1891, at Portland, Oregon |
| Identification: | U.S. Steamboat registry #136181 |
| Fate: | Burned, 1904 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | riverine passenger/freight |
| Tonnage: | 510.44 gross; 413 net tonnage. |
| Length: | 154.0 ft (46.9 m) measured over hull. |
| Beam: | 30 ft 0 in (9.1 m) measured over hull. |
| Draft: | 4 ft 0 in (1.2 m) when fully loaded; 16 in (406.4 mm) with no cargo |
| Depth: | 7.0 ft 0 in (2.13 m) |
| Installed power: | twin steam engines, horizontally mounted, each with a bore of 13 in (330.2 mm) and stroke of 6 ft (1.83 m) |
| Propulsion: | sternwheel |
Elwood was a sternwheel steamboat which was built to operate on the Willamette River, in Oregon, but which later operated on the Lewis River in Washington, the Stikine River in Canada, and on Puget Sound. The name of this vessel is sometimes seen spelled "Ellwood". Elwood is probably best known for an incident in 1893, when it was approaching the Madison Street Bridge over the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon. The bridge swung open to allow the steamer to pass. However, a streetcar coming in from the east end of the bridge failed to notice the bridge was open, and ran off into the river in the Madison Street Bridge disaster.
Elwood was built in 1891 at Portland, Oregon by Johnston & Oleson, for the concern of Jason Eldridge and the three brothers Guy V. Abernethy, Charles H. Abernethy, and George Abernethy, of Champoeg, Oregon. Another source gives the builder as Joseph Pacquart. The Abernethy brothers were descendants of George Abernethy (c1807-1877), provisional governor of Oregon.
The owners placed Elwood on the Willamette River, operating first with Capt. J.L. Smith, who was followed by Capt. R. Young and then by Captain James Lee, who as of 1895 had been in charge of the vessel for about 3 years.
Elwood was intended to operate in opposition to the O.R.&N., and another line, the Oregon Pacific.
Elwood was intended to be a shallow-draft boat capable of passing the Clackamas Rapids on the lower Willamette and of operating on the upper Willamette river when water levels were down. It was said that Elwood was "built to run on a heavy dew".Elwood was so lightly built that it could not operate on longer runs on the Columbia such as to the Cascades or Astoria, Oregon.
The official steamboat registry number was 136181.
Elwood's official registered dimensions were 154.0 ft (46.9 m) measured over hull (not counting the rather long extension of the main deck which housed the sternwheel), 30.0 ft (9.1 m) beam, again measured over the hull, and not counting the guards, which were low strakes of timbers placed along the outboard top of the hull as a protective measure. Depth of hold was 7 ft (2.1 m). The vessel’s tonnage, a measure of capacity and not weight, was 510.44 gross tons and 420.54 net tons. The boat drew only 13 in (330.2 mm) of water when light (empty of cargo and passengers). With 100 tons of freight loaded, the vessel was expected to draw only about 25–26 in (635.0–660.4 mm) of water.
...
Wikipedia