STEAMERS OX THE WILLAMETTE. 255
legislators, nor did Lane lend himself to the scheme
o
farther than to present the memorial to congress. 11 On the contrary, he wrote to the Jacksonville malecon- tents that he could not approve of their action, which would, as he could easily discern, delay the admission of Oregon as a state, a consummation wished for by his supporters, to whom he essayed to add the demo crats of southern Oregon. Nothing further was thenceforward heard of the projected new territory. 12
Nothing was more indicative of the change taking place with the introduction of gold than the improve ment in the means of transportation on the Willamette and Columbia rivers, which was now performed by steamboats. 13
11 U. S. 77. Jour., 609, 33d cong. 1st sess.
la The Oregon men known to have been connected with this movement were Samuel Culver, T. McFaclden Patton, L. F. Mosher. D. M. Kenny, S. Ettlinger, Jesse Richardson, W. W. Fowler, C. Sims, Anthony Little, S. C. Craves, W. Burt, George Dart, A. Mclntire, G. L. Snelling, C. S. Drew, John E. Ross, Richard Dugan, Martin Angell, and J. A. Lupton. Those from the south side of the Siskiyou Mountains were E. Steele, H. G. Ferris, C. N. Thornbury, E. J. Curtis, E. Moore, 0. Wheelock, and J. Darrough. Or. Statesman, Feb. 7 and 28, 1854.
13 The first steamboat built to run upon these waters was called the Colum bia. She was an oddly shaped and clumsy craft, being a double-ender, like a ferry-boat. Her machinery was purchased in California by James Frost, one of the followers of the rifle regiment, who brought it to Astoria, where his boat was built. Frost was sutler to the regiment in which his brother was quartermaster. He returned to Missouri, and in the civil war held a com mand in the rebellious militia of that state. His home was afterward in St Louis. Dead}/, in Mc.Crackeiis Portland, MS., 7. It was a slo\r boat, taking 20 hours from Astoria to Oregon City, to which point she made her first voy age July 4, 1850. S. F. Pac. Ncivs, May 11, July 24, and Aug. 1, 1850; S. F. Herald, July 24, 1850; Portland Standard, July 8, 1879.
The second venture in steam navigation was the Lot Whitcomb of Oregon, named after her owner, built at Milwaukie, and launched with much cere mony on Christmas, 1850. She began running in March following. The name was selected by a committee nominated in a public meeting held for the purpose, W. K. Kilborn in the chair, and A. Bush secretary. The commit tee, A. L. Lovejoy, Hector Campbell, W. W. Buck, Capt. Kilborn, and Gov ernor Gaines, decided to give her the name of her owner, who was presented with a handsome suit of colors by Kilborn, Lovejoy, and N. Ford for the meeting. Or. Spectator, Dec. 12, 1850, and June 27, 1851. She was built by a regular ship-builder, named Hanscombe, her machinery being purchased in San Francisco. Dcady s Hist. Or., MS., 21; McCrackeris Portland, MS., 11; Lrtrjffit Port Townsend, MS., 22; Sacramento Transcript, June 29, 1850; O> < rkind Monthly, i. 37. In the summer of 1853 the Whitcomb was sold to a California company for $50,000, just $42.000 more than she cost. The Lot Whitcomb was greatly superior to the first steamer. Both obtained large prices for carrying passengers and freight, and for towing sailing vessels on