R. R. Thompson (sternwheeler)

R.R. Thompson and two of her officers
History
Name:	R.R. Thompson
Owner:	Oregon Steam Navigation Company
Route:	Columbia River
Builder:	J.J. Holland, at The Dalles, Oregon
Launched:	June 1878
Maiden voyage:	September 28, 1878
In service:	1878
Out of service:	1904
Fate:	Dismantled
Notes:	Ran on middle Columbia 1878-1882, thereafter on lower Columbia, wrecked 1892, raised and repaired
General characteristics
Displacement:	1158 gross tons 912 net tons
Length:	212 ft (65 m)
Beam:	38.0 ft (12 m)
Depth:	9.5 ft (3 m) depth of hold
Decks:	three (freight, passenger, hurricane)
Installed power:	steam
Propulsion:	twin steam engines, 28" bore by 96" stroke, horizontally mounted
Speed:	23 miles per hour over extended downstream run
Notes:	Near sistership to Wide West. Reconstructed 1888

R. R. Thompson was a large sternwheel steamboat designed in the classic Columbia River style. She was named after Robert R. Thompson, one of the shareholders of the Oregon Steam Navigation Company, the firm that built the vessel.

Somewhat exceptionally, R.R. Thompson's passenger deck as built, extended the full length of her hull, this was typical only of the very largest and most prestigious vessels on the Columbia river system, such as Daisy Ainsworth, Bailey Gatzert, and Wide West, the later two being built by Capt. J.J. Holland (1843-1893) as was R.R. Thompson.

She was said to be "capable of making rapid time with a big cargo" with "passenger accommodations unsurpassed by any steamer in the Northwest.":

R.R. Thompson was launched on the middle Columbia river, that is, the reach from the top of the Cascades of the Columbia eastward to The Dalles where a second and longer stretch of rapids began. She was said to be "in every respect the equal of the Wide West", another similar but more well-known steamer operating on the lower Columbia and Willamette rivers at the time. Her trial run was on September 28, 1878, under Capt. George Ainsworth and Engineer Peter De Huff. Immediately afterwards she was placed in service running between the Cascades and The Dalles.

Captain John McNulty was the first master of R.R. Thompson on the middle river run. The vessel was part of a much larger transportation mechanism, designed to use the Columbia River as a highway to reach the mines of Idaho and Eastern Oregon, and the newly established farms and ranchlands of the Inland Empire. R.R. Thompson would operate in conjunction with the Wide West, which would carry the traffic up to the Cascades from Portland and points on the lower river. Once at the Cascades, all passengers would disembark, and all freight would unloaded. There was a short railway alongside the rapids. The passengers would board the portage railway's cars, and roustabouts would load on the cargo, and the train would run along the rapids to the upper Cascades, where passengers would board the R.R. Thompson, the freight would loaded on, then R.R. Thompson would run up the river to The Dalles, where the entire process would be repeated again to surmount Celilo Falls.