The Steamboat Race for the White River
As farmers in the White River valley struggle to move their produce to market, two rival steamboat captains rush to launch new, shallow-draft vessels to dominate the river trade.
The story, cleaned up
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Within a month, Mr. Gus Morrill will commence the construction of a light-draft, stern-wheel steamboat for the White River trade. Her dimensions are to be 65 feet in length, with a 25-foot beam, and she will have a draft of ten inches only. The new boat, it is claimed, will carry 100 tons of freight on two feet of water, and such a boat is just what is needed to meet the requirements of that trade. A few days ago we mentioned the construction of a similar boat by Captain Smith, of the steamer Comet, now employed in the White River trade. Both of these new boats, we understand, are to be completed and in full operation on the river early next fall, and in direct competition, probably. But this is said to be the life of trade, and in this case must work for the weal of the farming interests there. The White River country is rapidly growing into importance as a farming section, and each successive year shows a great increase in the aggregate of its productions. Such cheap means of transportation as are about to be established on that river will constitute it the most favored farming section of Western Washington. The farmers have generally been wont to complain of their inability to compete successfully with the farmers of the lower part of the Sound in disposing of their produce in this market, claiming that the latter enjoyed special advantages in the matter of cheap transportation. Henceforth, we apprehend, there will be no grounds for complaints of this kind.
“Both of these new boats, we understand, are to be completed and in full operation on the river early next fall, and in direct competition, probably. But this is said to be the life of trade.”
In 1877, White River farmers were desperate for reliable water transit to reach Seattle's growing market. Today, that same geography is defined by the massive infrastructure of the Duwamish industrial corridor and the unending struggle to manage the river's flood-prone, silt-heavy channel, echoing the 19th-century focus on 'shallow draft' vessels.
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