Steam boat captains – rock stars of the upper Columbia

THOSE WERE THE DAYS

- ROD MOLZAHN

They were a brotherhood of fearless, skilled and well-paid men who knew the river — all its rocks, snags, rapids, whirlpools and channels.

They knew how to maneuver a 300 ton, 130-foot long, four-deck, steam powered rear paddle wheel ship up and down the wild river of the west. No easy feat.

The captains were respected and idolized by the people they served along the river. They brought needed goods to the towns and took the production of the north-country back to the railroad at Wenatchee. No passenger on any of the riverboats ever forgot the experience.

J.A. Whiting worked as a deckhand on the ships and in Bruce Wilson’s book, Late Frontier, he described a trip up river.

“The steamer fought its way up the Columbia in a cacophony of sounds, paddle wheel slapping tirelessly at the water, the steam engine chuff-chuffing, a creaking of the long connecting rods, bow plowing through the Columbia’s relentless current, clanging of the ship’s bell, the softer dinner gong, a deep throated whistle messaging a landing just ahead, All these sounds changing from one mile to the next, and when cliffs closed in, all of them and their echoes becoming a single sound.’”

Most said it could never be done until Captain William P. Gray brought the first steamship, the City of Ellensburgh, to the upper Columbia.