James D. Miller
| Captain James D. Miller | |
|---|---|
.jpg) |
|
| Born | 1830 New York State or New Jersey |
| Died | 1914 Oregon |
| Occupation | Steamboat captain |
| Children | James D. Miller, possibly others |
James D. Miller was a steamboat captain in the Pacific Northwest from 1851 to 1903. He became well known for his long length of service, the large number of vessels he commanded, and the many different geographical areas in which he served.
Capt.. James D. Miller was born in New York or New Jersey in 1830, and arrived on the Pacific Coast in 1848. Arriving in Oregon Miller traded his horses and mules for an acre of land just north of Oregon City, Oregon at a place called Clackamas City.
In the spring of 1850, Miller began running a flatboat between Canemah just above Willamette Falls on the Willamette River and Dayton, on the Yamhill River. Miller built a flatboat 65 feet long, which was capable of hauling 350 bushels of wheat. He hired four members of the Klickitat First Nation as crew and poled and rowed the boat up the Yamhill River to Dayton and Lafayette. It took two days to go up from Canemah, and one day to return. Miller charged $35 a ton to haul cargo to upriver farmers, mostly consignments from merchants on the lower Willamette (the part of the river below Willamette Falls). Coming down river Miller charged 50 cents a bushel to carry out the farmers' wheat. His chief expenses were the salaries of his First Nations crew, which were $16 per man for each trip.
Miller had been in the flatboat business for about a year when on May 19, 1851, the first steamboat appeared on the upper Willamette. This was the small sidewheeler Hoosier. Although small and crude, Hoosier was capable of hauling much more cargo and wheat than any flatboat. Miller was soon out of business, however he did manage to be hired by Hoosier's owner, John Zumwalt. On board Hoosier, Miller worked as the bookkeeper, purser, pilot, deckhand and roustabout. In the fall of 1856 with his brother-in-law Silas R. Smith, Miller bought Hoosier and the next year built another steamboat Hoosier No. 2 and operated the vessel on the Willamette between Champoeg and Butteville and up the Yamhill River. Later, they rebuilt Hoosier' No. 2 and called her Hoosier No. 3.
...
Wikipedia