This restoration shows an abandoned residence & car, one of the last buildings that remained standing in the once-thriving company town of Bradwood, Oregon as seen in April 1981.
The town was the company town of the Bradley-Woodward Lumber Company, and was incorporated in July 1930. It’s name was a derivative of the company name. Shortly after the mill began operations, work began on creating the town.
Bradwood was a location on the Columbia River situated between the towns of Knappa & Wauna, Oregon, about 22 miles east of Astoria.
With a shipping port and served by the SP&S railroad, Bradwood became the terminus for the company’s private railroad bringing down logs felled on Nicolai Mountain, milling them at the company mill & shipping finished products out by ship & rail. Lumber from the mill was used to construct the houses & businesses that were built to accommodate the millworkers & their families.
The mill and town thrived during the depression years and throughout World War II but afterward the once abundant timber stands dwindled and the mill ceased operations of it’s privately owned logging railroad. The mill continued on in operations with logs brought in by trucks & purchased log rafts for awhile. At some point, the entire operation was sold to Pope & Talbot Co.
In June 1962 the decision was made to close down the mill and a year later, on June 25th, 1963 the mill & entire town was sold at auction into private hands. Some of the buildings were moved or deconstructed but the rest were simply abandoned.
A major fire in 1965 destroyed the mill & much of the remaining buildings, and another fire in 1984 took care of what buildings remained including the house pictured here.
Today, the property is privately held, no structures or roads remain, and there is no evidence that the little community of Bradwood ever existed. In the mid-2000s, the site was considered for a proposed terminal for receiving liquefied natural gas (LNG). Protests & bankruptcies however derailed that plan and today the site is unimproved with posted “No Trespassing” signs.
This restoration from my archive is showing the Western Transportation sternwheeler CLAIRE docked at the Western Transportation dock at Portland, Oregon as seen in May 1960.
The CLAIRE was built as a towboat in 1918 and was 157 feet long with a 34 ft. beam and a draft of 5 feet 6 inches. She was 563 tons and fitted with 16 x 84″ engines which delivered 716 hp. About 450 hp was utilized by her paddles.
The CLAIRE primarily worked as a tug & freight boat in her early years, hauling occasional passengers along with general merchandise on the upper Willamette & paper products from the Oregon City mills. Her later years saw her more in tugboat service along with other sternwheelers on both the Willamette & Columbia rivers. Because of her smaller length, she could fit where the other larger sternwheelers could not, in the government locks at Oregon City and as a result, was the last steamboat operating above Willamette Falls, a practice dating back to 1851.
In the 1948 flood that inundated Portland & destroyed the Vanport community, the CLAIRE was underway on the Columbia river when she struck a submerged object in the floodwaters of the Camas slough near Camas, Washington and sank immediately but her crew was safely recovered by the company sternwheeler JEAN. The ship was later raised & towed back to Portland for repairs.
The year 1951 saw the addition of the former river packet HASSALO’s unique 3 chime organ-like steam whistle mounted on the CLAIRE. The resonant sound making the boat identifiable everywhere on the river.
A year later, in June 1952, she made her annual trip up the upper Willamette to Champoeg Park with members of the Veteran Steamboatmen’s Assn for their annual meeting. It turned out to be her final voyage under her own power.
After her return to the Western Transportation dock in Portland she was laid up and made into a floating machine shop for the company as seen in this photo.
Her career as a floating shop did not serve her well as oils and other flammable liquids coated her wooden decks. About nine years later, the Portland Fire Bureau after an inspection declared the CLAIRE was a fire hazard. Western Transportation decided, due to her age, it was not cost effective to do repairs and cleanup so on October 10, 1961, the venerable & last steamboat to serve the upper Willamette was towed to a sandbar at Hayden Island & set afire setting loose a raging conflagration consuming the ship to the waterline & ending a legacy of wooden steamboating on the Willamette River.
This is a scan of an original menu from the San Francisco & Portland Steamship Co.’s SS COLUMBIA from Sunday, January 20, 1907. The ship was enroute from Portland to San Francisco when she became trapped in ice on the Columbia River from Jan. 16-20, 1907.
The Columbia was a cargo and passenger steamship, owned by the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company and later the San Francisco and Portland Steamship Company.
The ship was 332 ft long with a gross tonnage of 2,721 tons & a beam of 38.5 feet. She also drafted 23 feet & had a maximum capacity for 850 passengers in 1st & 3rd class.
Even before her maiden voyage, the little coastal steamer made history. Henry Villard, a long time financial backer of Thomas Edison and head of the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company which owned COLUMBIA, tried repeatedly to get the John Roach & Sons shipbuilding company, builder of the ship, to install Edison’s new fledgling electrical light system on board. Roach refused citing the fear of a fire hazard. Undaunted, Villard sailed the ship from the builder’s yard to New York City, where Edison himself & his assistants installed the system, The result was that COLUMBIA carried the first complete marine electric lighting system aboard any maritime vessel anywhere! COLUMBIA’s success with the lights paved the way for the first effective transatlantic liner installation aboard the Cunard Line greyhound SERVIA in 1881.
COLUMBIA was the first true electric ship, with more than 100 light bulbs gracing the iron hulled steamer. In fact, COLUMBIA was the first mass installation of an electric lighting system outside of Edison’s Menlo Park laboratories and the first true public use. COLUMBIA’s popularity and reliability along the San Francisco, California to Portland, Oregon run whilst showing off the Edison lamps was the publicity Edison needed to overcome his opponents and naysayers.
COLUMBIA made her maiden voyage from New York to Portland, OR via San Francisco in July 1880 with a cargo load of of 13 steam locomotives and 200 or more units of railroad rolling stock to be used in the rail network of COLUMBIA’s owners.
The ship remained in service on her San Francisco-Portland route with stops at Astoria, OR until 1907. Always a favorite ship by the travelling public for her reliability & timeliness & high regard for her Captain, Pete Doran for his safety record & courtesy, the ship nonetheless could not escape her oncoming cruel fate.
Six months to the day from the date on this menu, Columbia with 251 passengers & crew were outbound from San Francisco enroute to Portland. She was in rough seas & surrounded by dense fog about 12 miles out from Shelter Cove, California running at reduced speed when suddenly appearing put of the fog, she was rammed on the starboard bow by the lumber schooner SAN PEDRO at approximately 12:20am.
Badly holed, COLUMBIA rapidly started filling with water & sinking by the bow. COLUMBIA’s crew valiantly tried to get passengers to the lifeboats, Captain Doran standing on the bridge trying to maintain calm & issuing directions to his crew. Unfortunately, the ship developed a list to starboard & the boats were at the waterline before they could be launched. Crewmembers desperately tried to cut the lines and were partially successful but the ship’s stern rose up as the bow disappeared under the waves & COLUMBIA sank to the bottom in 8.5 minutes. Capt. Doran held onto the railing of his bridge as his ship went down, passengers recalling his last words “God bless you all! Goodbye” as he & his ship disappeared.
In all, 88 passengers & crew including all the children on board COLUMBIA lost their lives. Survivors were picked up by the SAN PEDRO & COLUMBIA’s running mates GEORGE ELDER, ROANOKE & POMONA.
The SAN PEDRO, though badly damaged, stayed afloat due to her deck load of lumber. Survivors taken onto the schooner were transferred to the ELDER which also towed the waterlogged SAN PEDRO into Shelter Cove. The schooner was later repaired & returned to service.
From the subsequent inquiry into the disaster, it was determined that both ships bore some responsibility for the accident though more blame was laid on the SAN PEDRO. Captain Doran of the COLUMBIA and First Officer Hendrickson of the SAN PEDRO were found to have the most responsibility for the collision. This led to Hendrickson’s license being revoked for five years. In addition, Captain Magnus Hanson of the San Pedro was found to have given insufficient orders to his crew. He also did not come to the schooner’s bridge when warned of the fog. Hanson’s license was revoked for one year but despite the errors made by both crews, the survivors and press gave praise to most of the crew members aboard COLUMBIA and SAN PEDRO for their courageous and lifesaving actions exhibited during the disaster.
The little coastal steamer who blazed a trail that forever changed maritime travel with her electric lights saw those lights extinguished on a foggy July night off the California coast.
This restoration shows a view of Astoria, OR from the top deck of the Astoria – Megler, WA ferry “TOURIST NO. 2” headed to Megler on July 18, 1957.
Tourist No. 2 is a 1924 wooden-hulled car & passenger ferry. Today, it is 98 feet long with a 36 ft. beam.
Originally, in 1920, Cpt. Fritz Elfving decided to capitalize on the dilemma of travelers needing to cross the mouth of the Columbia River to get from Astoria to Washington.
He developed the Astoria-McGowan Ferry Company, starting with a scow that could carry nine cars and then added a new ferry called the Tourist that could carry 15 cars and 30 passengers. As rail service increased on both sides of the river, summer tourism also increased. Elfving once again seized the opportunity to meet the demand by building the Tourist No. 2, taking passengers & cars across the Columbia River, from its dock in Astoria, Oregon to a dock on the Washington side of the river at Megler.
The ferry was in service on that route from 1924-1966 except when she was purchased by the US Army in 1941, painted gray, renamed “Octopus” & used to lay mines at the mouth of the Columbia River. After the war, she was purchased from the government by Elfving, rechristened “Tourist No. 2” & returned to her regular route between Astoria & Megler until the interstate Megler Bridge was opened in 1967.
A short time after Elfving reclaimed his ferry, the Oregon State Highway Commission acquired all of Elfving’s inventory & began operations as the “Astoria-North Coast Ferry System.” Operating until the completion of the bridge, the ferry was then sold to Pierce County, Washington & renamed “Islander of Pierce County” operating in Washinton’s Puget Sound Ferry system for 30 years.
Seattle-based Argosy Cruises purchased the boat in 1996, remaking the ferry into a dinner cruise vessel & renaming her “MV KIRKLAND.” She operated in that capacity until about 2010 when an engine room fire put an end to that venture.
The boat was purchased for $10,000 by Christian Lint who used it to rent out for parties & events. Several years later, Robert “Jake” Jacobs, owner of the Cannery Pier Hotel in Astoria initiated an effort to bring the ferry back to Astoria, which was agreed upon by Lint.
The boat returned to her original cruising area in Astoria on Aug. 1, 2016. For several more years, efforts were initiated to renovate the boat but after an evaluation by the Coast Guard, it was estimated that it would cost over one million dollars to get the boat in certifiable condition to again carry passengers which had the effect of putting a halt to any future plans.
Today the boat remains in moorage at Astoria and is currently offered for sale for $225,000.
This restoration shows the Ward’s Saloon and Trading Post on the movie set at Old Tucson, Arizona in 1952.
Old Tucson was built in 1939 by Columbia Pictures as a prop town for the western film “ARIZONA” (1940). After that & setting dormant for several years, it was used as a set for movies & TV programs thru the 1950’s.
In 1959, entrepreneur Robert Shelton leased the property from Pima County and began to restore the aging facility which was reopened in 1960 as a movie set & theme park. Movies & television shows continued using the property into the early 1990’s until an arson-set fire destroyed 2/3 of the location on April 25, 1995 destroying buildings, costumes & memorabilia. Ward’s Saloon, as seen in this photo did not survive that fire.
After 20 months of reconstruction, Old Tucson re-opened its doors on January 2, 1997. The sets that were lost were not recreated; instead, entirely new buildings were constructed, and the streets were widened.
The studio & theme park continue to serve as a set & tourist attraction today although Ward’s Saloon is now committed to memory and photos.
In this restoration from a heavily-damaged master negative, the Italia Line’s passenger/cargo ship FELTRE is shown sitting on the bottom of the Columbia River near Prescott, Oregon after a collision with the freighter EDWARD LUCKENBACH on February 17, 1937. This photo was taken in early March 1937.
The 7,057 ton, 450 ft long FELTRE was built for Navigazione Libera Triestina, in Trieste, Italy, in 1927 for combined limited passenger & cargo service. She was transferred to the Italia Line in 1937.
She was outbound from Portland in a rain-swept gale in the early morning of Feb. 17, 1937 when she suddenly picked up the starboard light of the EDWARD LUCKENBACH bearing on her. Although both ships took action to evade each other, the LUCKENBACH sideswiped the FELTRE about 3/4 of the entire starboard length of the ship. The LUCKENBACH suffered significant bow damage but remained afloat
The FELTRE was not so lucky. She had received severe damage & sank, fortunately, on an even keel, in 35 feet of river, settling on the bottom.
There were no casualties on either ship. The LUCKENBACH proceeded to Portland under her own power for repairs. A $185,000 shipment of silver bars was removed from the FELTRE’s holds on the following day & on March 18, she was finally raised from the bottom by Pacific Salvage Co. However, the satisfaction of seeing the ship raised sank when the ship almost immediately sank again. Four days later, she was raised again & this time stayed afloat for the trip back to Portland for repairs.
The FELTRE was libeled by the salvagers & sold for $55,000 to the Pacific American Fisheries & Co. After a $300,000 rebuilding at Portland, the largest maritime repair job in Portland’s history at that time, she was renamed CLEVEDON & returned to service.
As the CLEVEDON, the ship could not shake the black cloud that seemed to follow her.
In late 1941, the CLEVEDON was taken over by the US military and renovated for service as an ARMY transport vessel adding approximately 3300 tons to her tonnage.
On January 12, 1942 the ship was docked at the military pier in Yakutat, Alaska completely loaded with ammunition when, in a worse-case scenario, a fire broke out in her engine room. As the fire grew in intensity, the commander of the pier ordered the tug TAKU to get a line on the burning ship and tow her out of the harbor. The tug towed the blazing ship across the bay & beached her but high tide set the ship free & she drifted for five hours until her cargo finally exploded completely obliterating the ship and turning it into small pieces of shrapnel.
Thus ended the hard-luck life of the FELTRE/CLEVEDON.
Shown in this restoration from the original negative is the Puget Sound sternwheeler SKAGIT CHIEF underway in Seattle, WA in 1949.
In 1950, SKAGIT CHIEF was one of the last two Puget Sound commercial sternwheelers in service.
Built for the Skagit River Navigation Company by Lake Union Drydock & Machine Works, she was launched on February 18, 1935. She was 165 feet with a beam of 40 feet and a draft of only 18 inches.
The ship was 502 gross tons & propelled by a 400 hp single-cylinder engine that was removed from the turn-of-the-century Columbia River steamer G.K. WENTWORTH. The ship was also built with “spuds” (heavy upright beams that could be lowered to the river bed) to enable her hoist herself over shoals & make difficult turns in the river.
The SKAGIT CHIEF continued in Puget Sound service until 1956 when she was sold to Portland Harbor Marina who planned to convert her into a floating restaurant on the Willamette River.
The little sternwheeler was towed in late October leaving Seattle bound for Portland, OR. In the early morning of October 29, while proceeding through calm seas off the Grays Harbor, WA entrance, the SKAGIT CHIEF quietly began sinking, so quietly in fact that the crew on the tug towing her didn’t realize it until they felt the drag on the towline.
They quickly disengaged the towline and watched the sternwheeler quickly disappear beneath the waves. No one was aboard the SKAGIT CHIEF when she sank & no attempt at salvage was made. The ship now lies on the bottom of the Pacific where she sank.
Undeterred by the loss of the SKAGIT CHIEF, the City of Portland acquired a running mate from the Puget Sound Navigation fleet, the SHASTA which was retired from the fleet in 1958.
It was operated along the Columbia River during Oregon’s 1959 Centennial celebration & was renamed CENTENNIAL QUEEN. Later laid-up, the ship in 1962 became the floating restaurant first envisioned for the SKAGIT CHIEF. She was renamed RIVER QUEEN & was moored along the Portland waterfront on the Willamette River serving as a floating restaurant for the next thirty years.
(This is a restoration that met every criteria of being a challenge! It is restored from a glass plate negative, broken in 7 pieces with ragged & torn emulsion, very overexposed, dirty & extensively scratched! I’m going to need a vacation after this one!!)
This restored image provides a view of the Columbia River, Tongue Point in the distance & part of downtown Astoria Oregon as seen looking eastward from the area of Coxcomb Hill circa 1890-1900.
The oldest city in Oregon, Astoria was founded in 1811. It was named for John Jacob Astor whose company AMERICAN FUR COMPANY founded Fort Astoria at the site of the town. The first post office west of the Rocky Mountains was established here in 1847.
The Columbia River Bar Pilot’s ASTORIA is shown underway near Astoria, OR, on the Columbia River on October 9, 2018.
The 75 foot long self-righting vessel was built in 2013 by Kvichak Marine Industries in Seattle, WA and is all aluminum construction.
The powerplant for the ASTORIA is provided by twin MTU 16V2000 M70 marine diesel engines rated for 1410 BHP @ 2100 RPM and twin ZF 3050 electric shift transmissions.
The engines are coupled to a pair of Hamilton 651 waterjets. Top speed is 29 knots, (33 mph); cruise speed is 25 knots, (28.7 mph).
Pilots operate the vessel over the bar at the mouth of the Columbia River taking ships from the Pacific Ocean, across the Columbia River bar, then upriver 15 miles to Astoria, Oregon.
This image shows Royal Caribbean Cruise’s EXPLORER OF THE SEAS departing Astoria, Oregon on the evening of Sept. 22, 2018 with the Columbia River Pilot boat COLUMBIA crossing her bow.
The 1,020 foot long ship was built in 1999-200 by Kværner Masa-Yards Turku New Shipyard, Finland & made her maiden voyage on October 28, 2000.
She has a beam of 127 feet & drafts 27 feet. Her gross tonnage is 138,194 tons and can maintain a steady speed of 23 knots (27 mph).
The ship has 15 decks & a capacity of 4, 029 passengers & 1,180 crew.
The COLUMBIA is a 72 foot boat owned by the Columbia River Bar Pilots, who take the ships from the Pacific Ocean, across the Columbia River bar, then upriver 15 miles to Astoria, Oregon.
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