page_title: Multnomah (sidewheeler 1851)
section_title: Operations
hierarchical_section_title: Multnomah (sidewheeler 1851) / Operations
caption_attribution_description: Newspaper advertisement for Willamette and Columbia river sidewheeler Multnomah, circa 1852
context_page_description: The Multnomah was one of the first steamboats to operate on the Willamette and Yamhill rivers. This vessel should not be confused with the Multnomah, a steamboat built in Portland, Oregon in 1885, which was larger and of a much different design.
context_section_description: Multnomah 's engines were first tested in June 1851, and in August 1851 the vessel was taken on the first run upriver.  On this trip, Multnomah reached Cressman's Bar, a point about 20 miles (32 km) downriver from Salem, Oregon.  At Cressman's, the water was so shallow that even Multnomah, which needed only 18 inches to run in, could only cross the bar with difficulty.  Multnomah was able to proceed 5 miles (8.0 km) further upstream to Matheny's landing, (now the site of the Wheatland Ferry where the water was so shallow that no passage was possible.   Under political pressure, the territorial legislature authorized funds to excavate the bars, so that by September, 1851, a channel four feet deep extended all the way to Salem.  Multnomah was able to work further upriver from Salem, reaching the mouth of Rickreall Creek, according to Mills.  Historian Corning states that Multnomah went even further that fall, and became the first steamboat to reach Corvallis, then known as Marysville.
  Canemah, where Multnomah had been built, was the upriver terminus of a portage road that ran around Willamette Falls.  Multnomah ran regularly from Canemah south to Salem, with side trips up the Yamhill River to Dayton.  Running downriver, Multnomah often carried 1000 to 1500 bushels of wheat grown in the Willamette Valley.
caption: Advertisement for Multnomah on run from Portland to Oregon City, published December 2, 1852.
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