The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1894-01-12
EARLY STEAMBOATING.
A Review of the Many Features
of the Old Willamette
River.

Since the steamers Elwood anG
Modoc have begun running on the
upper Willamette, shippers are
now making arrangements to store
the coming grain crop On the river.
The river above Corvallis has been
neglected to a certain extent in the
last ten or twelve years with the
exception of few boats this year
which run nearly to Eugene.
Bonneville, situated about five
miles above Corvallis On one of
the tributaries. of the Willamette
called Bonneville slough, is still a
shipping point which the boats
have not overlooked. Most of the
grain stored there is shipped to
Corvallis to be ground by the two
FIGURING mills in that city. Peoria
comes next. 1t is sixteen miles
above Corvallis and was once a
thriving little burg, but since the
steamboats, have discontinued
touching her shipping interests,
the grain is hauled to the railroad.
the warehouses have been neglect
ed and the ravages of time and the
ever shifting Willamette have re-
moved all but single warehouse,
in which the Corvallis mills have a
large amount of grain stored. Pc
oria is not far above what is called
the turn-table. In early steam
boating this was in reality a turn
table. 1t is at the head of Cen
tennial chute. 1t deriued its name
from the high water of 1875, the
centennial year, changing the
channel of the Willamette at this
point and diverging It's course
several miles to the east, the old
river being diverted from there to
Boonville; hardly enough water
in it to run a sklff successfully. At
the point where the Centennial
channel leaves the old river,
through the action of the current,
immense stumps and srees have
piled ue in the channel, causing
the bepts in coming frorf the,
lover river to iasake near q com
plete tnrn before going ahead
again, hence the name.
In the old deserted river miles
from the present channel lies the
wreck of the old steamer Echo,
one of the fine old boats of 1860.
A few miles higher up is another
relic Of olden times. An old de-
serted warehouse that the river
has in its constant change left
three -fourths of mile inland. 1t
can be seen through the thick
foliage OF balm trees which have
grown up since then. All that
can be seen is the roof and a large
sign that still bears the name in
large letters, Sam Daw, the origi-
nal owner. In the 7O's this was a
large shipping point, but since
the advent of the iron horse and
the neglect of the steamboat men,
the grain which was shipped from
this point, now is hauled to Cor
wallis by wagons. 1t is a point
that will never be used for ship
ping purposes again as the river
keeps leaving it farther inland
each year.
Some nine or ten miles above
Peoria is Finly's landing. At this
point large amount of grain is
stored. Just above this is another
warehouse called by old steamboat
men the ''Irish Bros Landing"
Three miles further up is Cum
ming's warehouse. 1t is situated
on a high bank of the river. The
grain in this house has not been
moved this year, waiting for higher
prices. Still further is the mouth
of the world famed Long Tom.
An anecdote is told of this region
in this wise: A traveller in the
early COS was riding by a farm
house on this noted stream on
horseback, and during one of the
periodical overfiows to which this
stream is subject, he espied an old
lady wading through the water
with a pole. Occasionally she
would stick the pole down in the
water. On being questioned as to
what she was doing, she replied
that they "were out of water and
she was hunting for the WELL"
(This is gwen with the understand
ing that the writer was not a wit
ness to the fact.)
The river is accessible some
three or four miles up, where an
other warehouse is situated, but
like many more ON the William
|ette, is deserted.
A short distance above is what
is called Oley's slough, on which a
large warehouse is built called
Nickel's or Monroe landing. AS
the town of Monroe is the nearest
village to the river at this point, it
orlv a short Distance If ic a