Cowlitz

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Cowlitz (sternwheeler)

Cowlitz was a shallow-draft sternwheeler built for service on the Cowlitz River in southwestern Washington State. The vessel also served on the Columbia River. Cowlitz was in service from 1917 until September 1931, when, not far from The Dalles, Oregon, it sank in the Columbia river in a storm.

Construction

Cowlitz was built at Portland, Oregon in 1917.Cowlitz was constructed by the Portland Shipbuilding Company for Milton Smith (1874–1951) doing business as the Columbia & Cowlitz River Transportation Company.

During construction, there was a strike at the Portland Shipbuilding company 24 men walked off the job when the company manager, Charles Nelson, refused to reinstate an employee who had been recently discharged. There was talk that the men would also demand an increase of pay from $4 per day to $5 days per day. Marine carpenters were then in demand because of a boom in wooden shipping construction.

Work on the vessel was completed by March 8, 1917, and on that date the steamer was issued an inspection certificate.

Wenat (sternwheeler)

Wenat was a stern-wheel steamboat that, under the name Swan, was built and operated, briefly, on the Tualatin River, in the state of Oregon. In 1858, Swan was sold, moved to the lower Willamette River, renamed Cowlitz, and placed on a route between Portland, Oregon the Cowlitz River.

In 1868, Cowlitz was rebuilt, renamed Wenat, which was operated from 1868 to 1875 on the Willamette and Cowlitz rivers. In 1875, was transferred to Puget Sound, where it operated on several rivers flowing into the sound, including the Duwamish, the Puyallup, and the Skagit, before being converted into an unpowered barge in 1878.

Construction

Wenat was built, as Swan, on the Tualatin River by Silus E. "Si" Smith and George A. Pease in 1857, at a police called Moore’s Mills, where a dam on the Tualatin was planned to be built.

Moore’s Mill, named after James M. Moore, was about three miles up the Tualatin River from Linn City, Oregon, which was on the west side of Willamette Falls.

In July 1858, Swan was purchased by Charles Holman (d.1886), H.D. Huntington, and Oliff Olson of Monticello W.T. (now Longview), for a price of $7,500. According to one source, the sale occurred on completion of the Swan.