Steamboats provided the basis of transportation for the Northwest for much of the latter part of the 19th century. Railroads and, later, truck traffic ended the golden age of river transport. In Oregon, the Willamette Valley was welded together for much of fifty plus years by little steamboats making their way up and down the river. They braved high waters and with designs allowing for small drafts, they puffed along their way in periods of low water, as well. One of the steamboat lines coming late to the game was one of the more dramatic, made so by the yellow smoke stacks sprouting off all of their boats. This was the Yellow Stack Line.
CANADIAN ROOTS
The Yellow Stack Line, or more officially known as the Oregon City Transportation Company, came relatively late in the game for steamboats on the Willamette. Starting in November 1885, the Graham family came together making their way from Hantsport, Nova Scotia on the west coast opposite Halifax. Alden B. Graham had pioneered the way to Oregon, moving out in 1879 at the young age of 19. By that act, he imitated his father, John, who ran away from home in Liverpool, England stowing away on a Halifax-bound sailing vessel at the age of nine. John worked his way as a cabin boy going on to become a ship captain in his twenties. Marrying the widow of another captain lost at sea, they went on to raise a family of six children – three boys and three girls – in Nova Scotia.
John owned and sailed a two-masted schooner, the Island Belle. The ship took part in the coastal trade between Canada and the US. During school vacations, his sons sailed as crew members gaining valuable experience. One son, Arthur, became a first mate on another sailing vessel gaining a Master’s Certificate along the way. Alden joined a small group of like-minded men and went west. The train trip from Halifax to San Francisco took 13 days.
NOVA SCOTIA TO OREGON
In San Francisco, Alden’s group encountered two steamship lines involved in a fare war. The choice of ships, the sidewheel Ancon, originally built for the Panama-California trade, leaving two days before the other, the faster propeller-driven Great Republic. Forgoing the cost of staying two days more in San Francisco, they chose the Ancon. This proved wise when the Great Republic grounded on the Columbia River bar.
Arriving in Portland, Alden worked various jobs before gaining steady employment as a clerk and salesman for Lipman & Wolfe. He gained valuable experience in running a business and saved money at the same time. True to his nautical background, Alden spent most of his free time sailing or paddling on the Willamette River. A three-and-a-half-day canoe journey from Portland to Ilwaco inspired him to change careers.
A NEW STEAMBOAT LINE
Joined by his father and brothers Arthur and Newton – Newt, in 1885, his mother and sisters came west, too, with the family settling in Oregon City. Altogether with another financial partner, they bought the 100-foot sternwheel Latona to begin operating on the Oregon City to Portland route taking both passengers and freight. After overhauling their new boat, they began operating on a daily schedule leaving Oregon City at 7 am and returning from Portland at 5 pm with plans of doubling the service soon afterwards. By staying on the lower river route, they faced lesser competition from the 12 other steamboats running through the locks between Portland and the upper Willamette and Yamhill ports. Alden and Arthur took turns serving as captain and purser with Newt joining later.
Oregon City enjoyed expanding businesses with electrical power stations and transmission lines built alongside growing paper mills. The Latona made two daily round trips stopping at six to eight stops along the way. Life for the Graham brothers became good enough to add a second boat, the Altona, in the summer of 1890. The new 123-foot boat handled passengers only making four non-stop round trips a day capable of 200 passengers on normal trips and allowed 365 passengers for special excursions such as weekend cruises from Portland to view Willamette Falls. The Latona continued making her two daily round trips carrying passengers and freight. Lengthened by 18 feet early in 1892 to increase her freight capacity, the Latona was re-named the Ramona.
COMPETITION
A year later, the Eastside Railway Company began service between Portland and Oregon City, taking away some of the passenger service. Even by reducing rates, there was not enough business for two boats on the run. Moving the Altona to run through the Willamette Falls locks, she began service upon the upper river leaving the lower river to the Ramona making three round trips a day between Portland and Oregon City.
The upper river meant more competition, especially from the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company – OR&N, the longtime steamboat leader on both the Willamette and the Columbia. Business remained plentiful for all concerned, however. The Altona made three round trips out of Portland a week, heading upstream from Portland at 6 am Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays with return trips Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
BUSINESS MATURES
Hops made up an important cargo for the boat. As well as thousands of bales of hops taken downstream to Portland, thousands of people involved in the yearly harvest traveled upstream to the landings so they could help pick.
Buying out their financial partner, the Grahams became sole owner of the Oregon City Transportation Company, better known by now as the Yellow Stack Line after Arthur had the smokestacks on the boats painted yellow. Father John ran the Oregon City operations; Newt served as captain of the Ramona; Arthur was marine superintendent for the Portland dock at the foot of Taylor Street with Alden serving as company president also in Portland.
In 1897, both Yellow Stack boats ran from Portland to the upper river with one boat going upriver and the other downstream opposite each other every day. This continued until the company closed at the end of 1918. A year later, the Ramona was sold to serve out her days on the Stikine River in Alaska. Taking her place was a new 134-foot-long Pomona designed for low water service able to carry 75 tons of freight downstream on only 30 inches of water. This boat gave a competitive advantage to the Grahams during the low water periods of summer and early fall.
ACCOMMODATION
The new schedule cut back on the Portland-Oregon City passenger service though that remained steady after the Eastside line raised their ticket fare to 45 cents versus the steamboat price of 25 cents. The rail line discovered passengers liked to go by boat in one direction and rail in the other. They suggested the Yellow Stack Line join them in increasing fares so tickets could be interchangeable. The Grahams did not increase their fares, but they did accept rail tickets in exchange for a $300 a month stipend from the railroad.
THREE YELLOW STACK BOATS ON THE RIVER
A third boat was added in 1901 with the Leona. Shorter in length at 105 feet, the Leona served the Portland-Oregon City run with occasional foray upriver to help in busy times. The Leona only served for three years before being sold to serve on the Lewis River until she burned in 1912 near La Center. Replacing Leona was the Oregona. This steamboat measured 134 feet and carried 100 tons with a draft of only 24 inches. She could carry 100 passengers with 300 for special excursions.
Father John retired about this time with the brothers buying his stock. Newt continued his run as a steamboat captain serving until 1906 when he left to captain the Army Corps of Engineers’ Mathloma. Clyde Raabe came over from the Or&N to captain the Altona for a summer in 1903. He proved a successful addition such that he bought Newt’s share in the company becoming a partner with Newt’s departure.
DECLINE AND END OF THE YELLOW STACK LINE
Business began to lose steam by 1911 with electric railroads extending down both sides of the Willamette all the way to Eugene. OR&N began reducing their steamboat service giving too much freight business to the Yellow Stack Line. In order to help take up some of the load, a seventh steamboat was launched from Portland, the Grahamona, in 1912. Able to carry 250 tons on 36 inches of water, the Grahamona was the largest – 150 feet long – and most expensive of the Yellow Stack Line.
Eventually, the Yellow Stack Line remained the only steamboat service on the Willamette. Having held off challenges from the rail lines, the OCT Company could not deal with the challenge of trucks and improved highways. Those major challenges combined with World War One’s depletion of the job market with higher wages than the Yellow Stack Line could match. The last run for the Yellow Stack was the Grahamona running from Corvallis in May 1918.
The fleet was sold off. The Grahamona became the Northwestern and moved to serve on the Kuskokwim River in Alaska until 1949. Closer to home, the Pomona towed logs on the Cowlitz River while the Oregona was scrapped.
The Yellow Stack Line ran for about half the length of steamboat’s golden era on the Willamette. Their boats entered the fray just at or slightly past the peak of water navigation on the river. They stayed until almost the bitter end leaving memories of a bygone time.
LINKS
Steamboats.com Online Museum – Dave Thomson Wing
Leona (sternwheeler) – Wikipedia
Pomona (sternwheeler) – Wikipedia
Ramona (1892 sternwheeler) – Wikipedia
Altona (sternwheeler) – Wikipedia
Oregona (sternwheeler) – Wikipedia
The Rise and Fall of Traffic on the Willamette River: Above Portland, Oregon on JSTOR
Oregon City Transportation Company | ArchivesSpace Public Interface (libraryhost.com)
John M. Graham (1833-1911) – Find a Grave Memorial – mountain view
Capt Alden Bradford Graham (1859-1944) – Find a Grave Memorial – river view
Ernest Lambert Graham (1889-1958) – Find a Grave Memorial – alden son worked for American-hawaiian steamship co for 29 years; river view
Katharine McLean Graham Barbey (1893-1990) – Find a Grave Memorial -daughter of alden; married Daniel Edward barbey a USN admiral in the Pacific in ww2 – lived in Olympia after 1951 usn retirement – wilhelm’s
VADM Daniel Edward Barbey (1889-1969) – Find a Grave Memorial
Alden Gerald Graham (1897-1991) – Find a Grave Memorial – son of alden; merchant marine ship master – royal oak burial park cem Victoria
Arthur William Graham (1862-1928) – Find a Grave Memorial – brother – wilhelm’s
Clyde Coalfleet Graham (1890-1934) – Find a Grave Memorial – son of Arthur; secretary of Columbia River pilots; d heart attack 44y/o; served on tjpotter in her last years
Fascinating history.
Thank you for this window on my Graham ancestors. Their ancestors were ship captains out of Hantsport, Nova Scotia when sailing was powered by wind. They voyaged between Canada and Europe and Asia. Steam powered sailing on the Willamette kept the family afloat, so to speak, for another generation. Life on the water skipped two generations until my son became a commercial salmon troller in Southeast Alaska. Coincidentally, his current wooden troller is FV Aloma, a name that would fit right in with the Yellow Stack fleet. Thanks again for this history.
Jane Langley
daughter of Janice Graham Langley and great grand daughter of Arthur and Annie Coalfleet Graham
Cheers to the ancestors of the Yellow Stack Line. Great to keep the mariner spirit alive today!