Gazelle (sidewheeler 1854)
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| History | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Gazelle |
| Builder: | Willamette Falls Milling and Transport Co., Linn City, Oregon |
| Maiden voyage: | March 14, 1854 |
| Fate: | Boiler exploded April 8, 1854 at Canemah, upper works destroyed. |
| Notes: | Hull salvaged, upper works rebuilt, and renamed (briefly) Sarah Hoyt and later Señorita. |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | inland shallow draft passenger/freighter/towboat |
| Length: | 145 ft (44 m) |
| Beam: | 23 ft (7 m) |
| Depth: | 5.0 ft (2 m) depth of hold |
| Installed power: | twin steam engines, high-pressure, one cylinder each, 14.5" bore by 48" stroke |
| Propulsion: | sidewheels |
| Notes: | Engines later installed on sternwheeler Okanogan, built in 1861. |
Gazelle was an early sidewheeler on the Willamette River in what is now the U.S. state of Oregon. She did not operate long, suffering a catastrophic boiler explosion on April 8, 1854, less than a month after her trial voyage. This was the worst such explosion ever to occur in the Pacific Northwest states. The wrecked Gazelle was rebuilt and operated for a few years, first briefly as the unpowered barge Sarah Hoyt and then, with boilers installed, as the steamer Señorita.
Gazelle was built by the Willamette Falls Milling and Transportation Company at the now vanished town of Linn City, which was located on the west side of the Willamette River across from Oregon City. The Willamette Falls Company was supported financially by the California banking firm of Page, Bacon & Co.
Gazelle was 145 ft (44 m) with a beam of 23 ft (7 m) and depth of hold of 5.0 ft (2 m).
Gazelle was driven by two high-pressure steam engines, each one turning one of her sidewheels. Each engine had a single cylinder with a bore diameter of 14.5 inches and a piston stroke of 48 inches.Gazelle's builders were doing business as the Willamette Falls Canal, Milling and Transportation Company, referred to at the time as the “Willamette Falls Company.”
The choice of a side-wheel design, adopted by all the early steamers on the Columbia and Willamette rivers, was an error, as the sternwheel design was much better suited to the conditions.
Built below Willamette Falls, Gazelle was intended to run on the Willamette River above the falls, to serve the growing population in the Willamette Valley. To reach the upper river, Gazelle was lifted above the falls and launched on the upper Willamette at Canemah.
Gazelle made its trial run above the falls on March 18, 1854. The steamer was scheduled to run to Salem and Corvallis, Oregon. The first commander of Gazelle was Robert Hereford, a Calfiornian.
As of March 17, 1854 Gazelle was engaged in regular service running upriver from Oregon City.Gazelle departed at 7:00 a.m. on Tuesdays and Friday of each week, bound for upriver points, including Butteville, Champoeg, Crawford’s Landing, Weston, Fairfield, Salem, Cincinnati, Independence, Washington, Albany, and Corvallis, Oregon.Gazelle operated with another steamer owned by the same company, the Belle, Capt. William Wells commanding, to carry passengers and freight from Portland to Oregon City, below Willamette Falls.
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Wikipedia