Gordon Newell and Joe Williamson Pacific Coastal Liners, Superior Publishing Co.: Seattle, WA, (Bonanza Books, Crown Publishing: NY), 1959, 192 pp.
p. 15 The Pioneers
"Scheduled coastwise steamship service came to the Pacific Coast of the United States with the California Gold Rush, but for the first couple of years-from 1849 to 1851-it was strictly limited to the shuttling of treasure seekers between the Isthmus of Panama and San Francisco. Most of the 49'ers preferred the overland route across the Isthmus to the long, hazardous voyage around Cape Horn. There were plenty of East Coast ships to transport them to the Atlantic side of the isthmus. but only a few plying the waters of the Pacific. Consequently anything that gave the slightest promise of remaining afloat for the voyage to San Francisco was besieged by eager passengers at Panama City.
"This set an unfortunate pattern for the Pacific Coast steamship service for the next half century. Shipowners who made fortunes running decrepit, overloaded old tubs up and down the coast during gold rush days saw no reason to change their tactics when gold rush hysteria gave way to solid growth and development along the new frontier. The custom of making the Pacific Coast a dumping ground for tender old hulks which had already lived out their normal life-spans on the Atlantic was to cost a great many human lives.
" . . .
p. 16 "In 1853 the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, its coffers bulging with gold rush profits form the San Francisco-Panama trade brought out the interests of the pioneer northwest line, Holland & Aspinwall . . .
p. 17 "The entry of the Pacific Mail line in the northern shipping business was a blow to the citizens of Portland, which was well on its way toward becoming the metropolis of the Pacific Northwest. Like other transportation companies before and since, Pacific Mail was determined to build a new city of its own to serve as its terminal port, thus adding the profits of land speculation to those of shipping . . .
"In true pioneer spirit, the aroused Portlanders brought in the opposition steamer, Peytonia, to run between their town and San Francisco . . .
"More competition came to the northern sea route when, in 1857, John T. Wright placed the big side-wheeler Commodore in opposition to the Pacific Mail steamers under the house flag of the Merchants' Accommodation Line. This resulted in another rate war . . .
p. 18 "The California Steam Navigation Company, which had hitherto confined its operations largely to bay and river runs in the San Francisco area, entered the coastal service in 1858 as the result of another gold rush, this one in the north. Gold had been discovered on the Fraser River of British Columbia and there was a rush of freight and passenger traffic to the ports nearest the gold fields . . .
p. 20 "Having drained the profits of two major gold rushes, the Pacific Mail Steamship Company withdrew from the coastwise trade in 1861, concentrating on its trans-Pacific service. The pioneer company's northern route was sold to a new shipping firm, The California, Oregon & Mexican Steamship Company. This was the salt water link in the Western transportation network of Ben Holladay, designed to connect with his river steamers on the Columbia and his Overland Stage Line at Wallulla. Holladay took over from the Pacific Mail the steamers, Cortez, Oregon, Sierra Nevada, Republic, and Panama and operated them amiably with the California Steam Navigation Company's. Both Holladay and the leading lights of California Steam were cold-blooded realists who were fully aware that rate wars and races wee more spectacular than profitable. They preferred a good, old-fashioned conspiracy to fix rates . . .
"This happy arrangement continued for several years, but in 1866 a Maine Yankee named Patton upset the corporate apple carts of California Steam and California, Oregon & Mexico Steamship Company . . . Bringing out the big side-wheeler Montana from New England, he hoisted the house flag of the Anchor Line and set about making life miserable for the big companies . . .
p. 21 "The new company was somewhat handicapped by its one-ship status . . . There was a great deal of travel along the Pacific Coast during this era, but no profit for any of the steamship companies. Unable to scare the stubborn Patton off, Holladay offered financial terms which no self-respecting New Englander could turn down. The eventual result was the North Pacific Transportation Company, a combination . . . Rates needless to say went up to their previous level and by 1869 the North Pacific Transportation Company was operating ten side-wheelers and six propeller steamers north from San Francisco. Its fleet included the Active, John L. Stephens, Moses Taylor (known to her passengers as Rolling Moses), Oriflamme, Orizaba, Pacific, Panama, Senator . . .
p. 22 "California Steam, noted for its blithe disregard of human life where profits were involved, was doing a handsome business between San Francisco, Victoria and Puget Sound in 1865 . . . Ftnote 3: A total of 31 Pacific Mail steamships were wrecked between 1853 and 1915, all but two in the Pacific. Nearly two thousand lives were lost in these disasters . . .
p. 24 "In that same year of 1875, the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, having earlier reclaimed its ships from the bankrupt Holladay, sold out to Goodall, Nelson & Perkins Steamship Company . . .
"In 1877 Goodall and Perkins reorganized their company as the Pacific Coast Steamship Company . . .
Pacific Coast Steam
p. 25 "With the strong restraining hand of Ben Holladay gone from the West Coast transportation scene, the two dominant steamship companies, the Oregon Steamship Company and Goodall & Perkins' Pacific Coast Company, started fighting for the coastal trade in an old-fashioned, knock-down-and-drag-out transportation war.
"In 1877, the Pacific Coast Steamship Company had the larger fleet, composed of the sidewheelers Ancon, Senator, Orizaba and Mahongo and the propellers, Los Angeles, San Luis, Santa Cruz, Monterey, Gypsy, Donald, Salinas, Idaho, San Vincent and Constantine . . .
p. 27 "During the period between 1870 and 1890 most seacoast communities, from San Diego and Santa Barbara to Gray's Harbor, depended (p. 33) largely on the steamships for their transportation needs. Numerous independent lines, many of them one-ship companies, were formed to serve these secondary ports, but few of them flourished for long. They were in competition with the ubiquitous steam schooners, that breed of small wooden lumber carrier peculiar to the West Coast. These little craft poked their blunt noses into every port and dog hole along the coast and most of them carried passengers, usually in doghouse-sized staterooms with three bunks piled one above the other . . .
"As late as 1914, however, eleven companies were competing for the coastwise passenger and freight business, although the Pacific Coast Steamship Company was doing more business than the rest of them combined. It was the coming of highway and air competition after World War I that put the coastal liners in the boneyard."