Topic starter
18/04/2011 9:05 pm
I was in Richland, Washington this week for a LaCrosse tournament. The sternwheeler Columbia Gorge was in the Tri Cities for a week before returning to the Cascade Locks. During the winter this pretty boat spends the holidays in Portland giving Christmas cruises. At her home port she is very busy in the summer.
The Columbia Gorge is fashioned after the famous sternwheeler Bailey Gatzert. I have included a couple of pictures. The Bailey was know around by a couple of unflattering names. One of which was the Daily Gasbag. It was rather loud apparently and upsetting to homes in passed. Also it was called the Bailey Bastard. With it high bow and long hull is threw quite a wake and smaller craft did not appreciate her.
There are many features on the Columbia Gorge that match the Bailey, but the western stylings of the Delta Queen and King.
Topic starter
18/04/2011 9:07 pm
More Pictures
Here are some pictures. I included a picture of the Bailey for comparison.
18/04/2011 9:34 pm
Thanks, Mark, for those great photos. The COLUMBIA GORGE certainly is a handsome sternwheeler and I remember seeing her when I was in the area for a convention in 1997. I have relatives in Portland and they took me to see the Oregon Maritime Museum and the Str. PORTLAND, moored downtown on the Willamette. The very hospitable crew had her out the day before and the sweet smell of hot oil and steam was still very prevalent in the engine room. It wasn't long after the movie "Maverick" was filmed aboard the boat, starring Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster and James Garner. There were still many theatrical props on display and I later purchased a small brass bell from those items. The PORTLAND is a fine and well maintained boat and I greatly enjoyed touring her and seeing the excellent models of Columbia River steamboats exhibited in the museum. Beautiful country, and the Columbia River Gorge at sunset literally look my breath away!
Images: Oregon Maritime Museum Displays - 1997
(1) BAILEY GATZERT model
(2) Various models
(3) PORTLAND model
Topic starter
18/04/2011 10:10 pm
Steamer Portland
Keith, I might have a meeting in Portland in the Spring and I will get fresh pictures of the Portland. She is very well maintained. When I stand in here engine room and close my eyes it reminds me of the Julia Belle and the Belle of Louisville. Ah, the smell of steam and oil. There is nothing in this world quite like it.
18/04/2011 11:05 pm
Looking forward to those photos! In the meantime, I hope you can come over over here on the Ohio River to again enjoy, while you still can, the delicious odor of hot oil and steam in the engine room of the Str. BELLE OF LOUISVILLE. And, also be sure to come visit with us at the Howard Steamboat Museum. You're always welcome!
18/04/2011 11:31 pm
COLUMBIA GORGE
I rode the CG several years ago when she was in Portland. I had some NATCHEZ attire on so I was invited up to the pilothouse. While up there, a horrible grinding sound happened, and I made a quick exit, not wanting to be in the way as they figured out the problem. Later the captain found me on deck and said he had never seen anyone move so quickly out of the pilothouse. I told him I knew when to disappear, from riding in various pilothouses on the Mississippi/Ohio. We got a good laugh from that. It was a pleasant trip, especially going into the smaller Willamette area. I've seen the PORTLAND but never been aboard. The interstate traffic between Eugene and Portland is so bad I rarely venture up there on my Oregon trips, opting for the coast instead.
Topic starter
18/04/2011 11:42 pm
Judy, if you are rolling in $$$
You should come for another visit to the Pacific Northwest. You can ride the Queen of the West for 5 of 6 thousand per person. I am also told the Empress of the North is tied up in Seattle, but I don't know where she is hiding.
Mark
19/04/2011 1:40 am
Rolling in dough
I'd love to take a trip on the Columbia - we drove along it on 84 when my sister moved to Oregon in 1988, and I've taken the Amtrak on both sides. Unfortunately the only dough I'm rolling in is Betty Crocker's chocolate chip cookie mix...
19/04/2011 2:46 am
Hmmm. A "Betty Crocker Chocolate Chip Cookie" bake sale for Steamboat preservation??? (j/k) I'll take a dozen.
19/04/2011 12:24 pm
Countless Cookies
Judy's legendary "Steamboat Chocolate Chip Cookies" will be available at upcoming Howard Steamboat Museum events (RIVER RAMBLINGS - July 16th and STEAMBOAT BICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION September 23-24-25) and undoubtedly elsewhere along the UMR. Countless amounts of those cookies have been distributed to appreciative recipients throughout the years to all the steamboats as they passed through Lock and Dam #15.
And, Bob Reynolds and I can attest to "feasting" on a fresh batch of those cookies one very early morning in October when the DQ landed at Muscatine to take on water and Judy carefully walked an extension ladder to come aboard with a cargo of cookies. I seem to recall that Bob and I somehow managed to "knock off" the can of cookies that was designated for the purser's office (sorry Ted Guillaum!) and were working on a second can up in the pilothouse (with hot coffee) as we steamed up the Mississippi that chilly autumn night!
19/04/2011 1:03 pm
Risktaking for steamboats...
If only I had the balance now that I had then when I walked across that ladder at 2AM...I shudder to think of some of the things we did without thinking because a steamboat was involved - fear of litigation and more safety consciousness in later days probably deprived later generations of these 'thrills'. One great example was our lockhopping - this was a common occurrence, a courtesy extended by the captain to many friends along the river. But this did often include a l o n g stretch to reach from boat to lockwall or vice versa. It always seemed longer leaving the boat than boarding it... I can remember telling curious passengers why we were getting put off the boat at a lock that it was because we didn't pay our bar bill!