The Nancy Came to Town on a Sled—and Ended Up Keel-Up in the Riverbank
Newport's finest new motor launch was meant to link the town with Metaline. Then the unloading crew lost control on an icy grade and sent $300 worth of brass, oak, and electric lights over the bank.
The gasoline motor boat, the Nancy, arrived from Portland on Monday. She was unloaded from the cars on Tuesday, and was to have been launched into the placid waters of the Pend d'Oreille on Wednesday, and The Miner outfit was to have had a ride in her on Sunday, but now they will not, and thereby hangs a tale.
The Nancy was unloaded on Lindsley Bros.' spur on the Great Northern and loaded onto large sleds. From the end of the spur to the Stevens docks the road is very steep and covered with ice. The rig on which the boat was loaded proceeded very well down the grade until about the steepest point was reached. A block and tackle had been arranged to hold the rig back at this point. Just as the driver was trying to stop his team he fell into a hole alongside the road and the team went on. The heavily loaded sleds crowded on the team, and they swerved just at the edge of the river bank, and the boat slid from the rig and pitched over the brink, a distance of ten feet, and landed keel up. Her upperworks and a snowbank saved the boat from being entirely wrecked. The canopy top and frame work of the boat were badly smashed, electric connections and apparatus were put out of commission, brass railings and mountings twisted out of shape, but her hull was but slightly injured. The glass windows were in crates and packed inside the cabin and were not injured in the least. The machinery is also in good shape.
She was righted and hauled to the water's edge, where she is undergoing repairs, and will probably be in commission within the next two weeks. The damage to the craft will probably not exceed $300.
The Nancy is the finest looking boat on the river, both as to speed, lines and finish. All the fittings are brass mounted and her cabin is furnished with rattan easy chairs and moquette carpets. She has electric lights operated by both dynamo and storage batteries. Her upperworks are of oak and she has a glass enclosed quarterdeck.
As soon as the repairs are finished the Nancy will be placed on the Newport and Metaline run. While the schedule has not been arranged as yet, it is probable that she will leave Metaline in the morning and make the round trip in a day, running opposite the steamer Metaline. She will run Box Canyon.
The Nancy is owned by the Metaline Rapid Transit Co., of which W. W. Warner is the president and general manager.
“Just as the driver was trying to stop his team he fell into a hole alongside the road and the team went on.”
In 1908, a boat was a lifeline for a river town, and a single icy grade could delay a whole route. Today, Newport's connection to the Pend d'Oreille is still shaped by transportation bottlenecks and the cost of moving goods—though we're more likely to blame a supply chain than a runaway sled. The Nancy's mishap is a reminder that infrastructure failures are often small, local, and very human.
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