The Tragedy on the Columbia River
Two men and a ferry boat are lost to the raging rapids and white mist of the Columbia River after an oar breaks in the current.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
John G. Thompson and John Kilter, a saloon keeper, attempted to cross the river a short distance above the Cascades. The object was to sail from the north to the south side of the Columbia River in order to catch the train on the Oregon Railway and Navigation Railroad. They were soon in the middle of the river when the wind suddenly gave out. Recognizing the awful danger that threatened to move them without steering, owing to the narrowing of the banks, the men realized their extreme peril. When they saw that death was nearer than in the face, the only pair of oars in the boat were put into active use, and they might have saved themselves, but unfortunately, an oar lock broke and the boat shot like an arrow into the boiling waters. For a while, it kept an even keel, while the terrified parties sat in terror and prayed loudly, until it struck a submerged rock. Where a few moments before there was a boatload of happy people, nothing was to be seen but the angry rapids with the white mist rising around them. The government lifeboat was manned and attempted to rescue the unfortunate people, but their efforts were abortive. The boat was picked up in a badly damaged condition four miles below the Cascades, and it was found of course empty of the drowned. Quite a number of persons have been swept over these falls to their death.
“For a while, it kept an even keel, while the terrified parties sat in terror and prayed loudly, until it struck a submerged rock.”
This 1885 tragedy occurred near the Cascades rapids, long before the construction of the Bonneville Dam transformed the Columbia River into a series of slack-water reservoirs. Today, the area is a popular recreational corridor, but the story serves as a reminder of the raw, unpredictable power the river held over 19th-century travelers and the constant danger inherent in Pacific Northwest transit before modern infrastructure.
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