The Steamer Vancouver introduced a band and a crowd to observe Captain James Turnbull launch the latest Columbia River steamer, the Fannie Troup, on Sept. 30, 1864. In-built east Portland by James and W.H. Troup, his son-in-law, the riverboat measured 123 toes lengthy with a 20-foot beam. Its stern paddlewheel measured 17 toes in diameter and 14 toes vast. Captain Turnbull navigated the Fannie Troup till 1874, when he turned it over to the Oregon Navigation Firm simply earlier than his dying.
Born in 1811 in England, James Turnbull owned a St. Louis foundry and machine store earlier than crossing the plains along with his nephew, William Turnbull, in 1852. He labored in a Portland machine store in 1858. By about 1860, James turned related to two steamers, the Eagle and the Vancouver, transporting farm items, supplies and troops between Fort Vancouver and Portland. About 1867, he employed his nephew, possible as first mate, to work with him on the Fannie Troup. William began a diary and wrote in a Might entry that the sternwheeler “brought over 10 tons of freight and 29 mules to Vancouver.”
Alongside along with his duties as first mate, William Turnbull additionally labored because the bookkeeper, invoice collector and common supervisor for his uncle. At completely different occasions, every skippered the Fannie Troup. William sported a full beard, whereas his uncle wore chin whiskers and a mustache. Whereas William typically recorded complaints of sickness, he was wholesome sufficient to accompany engineers to the height of Mount Hood to find out its precise peak, making the climb in underneath seven hours. Often, he performed baseball when the steamer docked on the Alta Home, the Vancouver resort run by Amos and Esther Brief.
Popular with native troopers and the group, William’s diary drops names of notable Portland and Vancouver enterprise leaders. The Vancouver volunteer fireplace group elected the sociable fellow as a lieutenant. He possible socialized with Clark County’s higher crust— the Proebstels, VanVleets, Slocums, Crawfords, Fletchers and Durgans. Typically, he mentions that after a night of eating or ingesting, he and his companions conversed late into the night time. His organizational expertise had been sharp, for he efficiently executed a Fourth of July celebration with the Vancouver Barracks, boosting the Fannie Troup’s paid passengers to a report 475 that day.
After six months, the diary stops. In 1870, his journal returned as a ledger of accounts concerning actual property transactions, payments collected, a tough will, and feedback about politics and politicians, indicating curiosity in Washington Territorial politics.