I don't show the backs of postcards often, but this message is a fun one. We might imagine traveling the river by steamer to be an elegant affair, but this traveler offers evidence to the contrary:
"Am going down the Columbia on a boat. It shakes so much that it is a very difficult proposition to write so guess will quit."
I found another account describing how the steamers belched thick black smoke as they burned wood heavy in pitch. Those puffy clouds rising from the stacks apparently weren't just steam!
Category: [Downtown Hood River]
Tags: 1900s boat hotel postcard ship steamer sternwheeler Wau_Gwin_Gwin
I would expect a smooth ride on a larger boat with two engines but can imagine vibration on the smaller boats with a single. I believe the steamer Portland had two with one now removed but still operating.
Kenn on 30th November 2017 @ 7:22am
There was an 8 year old Marie A Anderson living in Palouse in 1900. Her father Ed, was an undertaker.
L.E. on 30th November 2017 @ 8:09pm