Upper Willamette Transportation Line

{{Infobox company

| name = Upper Willamette Transportation Company

| logo = UWTCo ad 21 Jan 1860 Oregon Argus p3c3.jpg

| logo_size = 260px

| fate =

| founded = {{start date|1859|11|01}}

| defunct = {{end date|1860|06|30}}

| founder = Theodore Wygant (1831-1905)

| location = Oregon City, Oregon

| industry = river transport

| area_served = Upper Willamette River

| successor =

}}

The Upper Willamette Transportation Line was a line of four inland steamboats that operated from the fall of 1859 to the summer of 1860 on the upper Willamette River in the state of Oregon, United States.

Operations

As of November 1, 1859, businessman Theodore Wygant (1831-1905) was the agent in Portland, Oregon for the steamers Elk, Onward, Surprise, and Relief.{{Cite news

| title = UPPER WILLAMETTE Transportation Line

| type = advertisement

| url = http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83025129/1860-03-10/ed-1/seq-3/

| newspaper = The Oregon Argus

| publication-place = Oregon City, OR

| volume = 5

| issue = 48

| publication-date = Mar 10, 1860

| at = p.3, col.3

| publisher = D.W. Craig

}} Wygant formed these steamers into the Upper Willamette Transportation Company, and starting November 19, 1859, advertised, stage of water permitting, steamers of the line would depart for Corvallis twice a week, and, for Eugene City, once a week. This arrangement was advertised until June 30, 1860.{{Cite news

| title = UPPER WILLAMETTE Transportation Line

| type = advertisement

| url = http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83025129/1860-06-30/ed-1/seq-3/

| newspaper = The Oregon Argus

| publication-place = Oregon City, OR

| volume = 6

| issue = 12

| publication-date = Jun 30, 1860

| at = p.3, col.5

| publisher = D.W. Craig

}}

In 1860, the steamers of the line were competing against two powerful companies on the Willamette River, the Oregon Steam Navigation Company and the People's Transportation Company.{{cite book

| author1-last = Corning

| author1-first = Howard McKinley

| title = Willamette Landings -- Ghost Towns of the River

| chapter = Paddle-Wheels and Smoke Plumes

| isbn = 0875950426

| location = Portland, OR

| publisher = Oregon Historical Society

| publication-date = 1973

| edition = 2nd

| page = 122

}}

Steamers of the line

All vessels of the line were wooden-hulled sternwheelers, built in the 1850s at Canemah, Oregon.{{cite book

| author1-last = Affleck

| author1-first = Edward L.

| title = A Century of Paddlewheelers in the Pacific Northwest, the Yukon, and Alaska

| chapter = Part One: Chapter Two. Columbia River Waterways — List of Vessels

| isbn =0-920034-08-X

| location = Vancouver, BC

| publisher = Alexander Nicholls Press

| date = 2000

| pages = 12, 22, & 26

}}

Elk, built 1857, destroyed by boiler explosion at Davidson’s Landing, near present day Dundee, Oregon, on November 17, 1860.{{Cite news

| title = These Offices … THE STEAMER ELK BLOWN UP.— On Saturday afternoon last, the steamer Elk exploded her boiler …

| url = http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83025129/1860-11-24/ed-1/seq-2/

| newspaper = The Oregon Argus

| publication-place = Oregon City, OR

| volume = 6

| issue = 33

| publication-date = Nov 24, 1860

| at = p.2, col.3

| editor = William L. Adams

| publisher = D.W. Craig

}}{{cite book

| author1-last = Mills

| author1-first = Randall V.

| author-link1 = Randall V. Mills

| title = Sternwheelers up Columbia -- A Century of Steamboating in the Oregon Country | isbn = 0-8032-5874-7

| chapter = Chapter 9: As the Sparks Fly Upwards

| lccn = 77007161

| location = Lincoln NE

| publisher = University of Nebraska

| publication-date = 1947

| page = 117

}}

Onward, built 1858 for Archibald "Archie" Jamieson (d.1861), later came under control of the Oregon Steam Navigation Company, then transferred to the People's Transportation Company in 1864, dismantled 1865 at Canemah. Engines to Fannie Patton.{{Cite news

| title = Early Steamers on Willamette River described

| type = recollections of Edwin T. Hatch

| url = http://infoweb.newsbank.com/resources/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_dat=document_id%3Aimage%252Fv2%253A11A73E5827618330%2540EANX-NB-11C5E4E41CCCECC0%25402421439-11C590E4E0CF9110%254035-12E8B5C90C6BB3E8%2540Old%2520Days%2520Recalled%2520Early%2520Steamers%2520on%2520Willamette%2520River%2520Described.%2520Great%2520Flood%2520Was%2520In%25201861%2520Edwin&rft_id=info%3Asid%2Finfoweb.newsbank.com&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&svc_dat=AMNEWS&req_dat=0D10F2CADB4B24C0

| newspaper = The Oregonian

| volume = 36

| issue = 30

| publication-date = Jul 29, 1917

| at = Section Two, p.14, col.2

}} (Not to be confused with later Onward built 1867.)