Navigating the Columbia River - Transcript.

Abstract

"Previous to 1859 the Columbia from The Dalles upward had been navigated only by Indian canoes, the Hudson's Bay company's bateaux and for a shorttime immediately before this date by a few flat bottomed sailing craft freighting onto Wallula which was then old Fort Walla Walla. Successful steam navigation was established that year by the building of the Col. Wright, a stern wheel boat, at the mouth of the Deschutes by Lawrence W. Coe and R. R. Thompson."