{{Short description|American steamboat}} {{for|the American soccer player|Jennie Clark (soccer)}} {{Infobox ship |display_title=ital |section1={{Infobox ship/image |image=Jenny Clark ad 1855.png |image_caption= }}
|section2={{Infobox ship/career |hide_header= |name=''Jenny Clark'' |owner= Jacob Kamm, John C. Ainsworth, George Abernethy and others |operator= |registry= |route= Willamette, Columbia and Lewis and Clark rivers |ordered= |builder= |original_cost= |yard_number= |way_number= |laid_down= |launched= |christened= |acquired= |maiden_voyage=February, 1855 |in_service= |out_of_service= 1863 |identification= |fate= Dismantled 1863; hull burned for scrap iron, 1865. |notes= }}
|section3={{Infobox ship/characteristics |hide_header= |header_caption= |type=inland shallow draft passenger/freighter/towboat |tonnage= |displacement= |length= {{convert|115|ft|m|0|abbr=on}} measured over hull |beam= {{convert|18.5|ft|m|0|abbr=on}} measured over hull |draft= |depth={{convert|4.0|ft|m|0|abbr=on}} depth of hold |decks= |deck_clearance= |ramps= |power= |propulsion=*twin steam engines *sternwheelwheels |speed= |capacity= |crew= |notes= Engines later installed on sternwheeler Forty-Nine, built in 1865. }} }} '''''Jennie Clark''''', also seen spelled ''Jenny Clark'', was the first sternwheel-driven steamboat to operate on the rivers of the Pacific Northwest, including British Columbia. This vessel was commonly known as the ''Jennie'' when it was in service. The design of the ''Jennie Clark'' set a pattern for all future sternwheel steamboats built in the Pacific Northwest and in British Columbia.
==Design and construction== Jacob Kamm and John C. Ainsworth built ''Jennie Clark'' at Milwaukie, Oregon in 1855.<ref name = Lewis50>{{cite book | editor1-last = Wright | editor1-first = E.W. | title = Lewis & Dryden's Marine History of the Pacific Northwest | year = 1895 | url = https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_seRDAAAAYAAJ | lccn = 28001147 | location = Portland, OR | publisher = Lewis and Dryden Printing Co. | publication-date = 1895 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_seRDAAAAYAAJ/page/n74 50], 61, 90–91, 109, 126, 139 }}</ref> ''Jennie Clark'' was the first sternwheeler built in the Pacific Northwest.<ref name = Lewis50/><ref name = Mills/><ref name = Timmen>{{cite book | author1-last = Timmen | author1-first = Fritz | title = Blow for the Landing -- A Hundred Years of Steam Navigation on the Waters of the West | isbn = 0-87004-221-1 | lccn = 73150815 | location = Caldwell, ID | publisher = Caxton Printers | publication-date = 1973 |pages=9–10, 61–62 }}</ref> The hull and upper works were built at Milwaukie, while her engines were built in Baltimore to Kamm's specifications, for a price of $1,663.16, and shipped around to the West Coast, which cost another $1,030.02.<ref name = Mills/>
Kamm and Ainsworth had settled on the sternwheeler as superior to propeller-driven and side-wheel boats.<ref name = Mills/> Propellers were too vulnerable to expensive damage to propellers and shafts from rocks and other obstructions in the river.<ref name = Mills/> Sidewheelers were too difficult to steer and needed expensive dock facilities.<ref name = Mills>{{Mills: Stern-wheelers up Columbia|pages=26–27, 38, 86, 157 }}</ref><ref name = Timmen/>
''Jennie Clark'' was 115 feet (or 118 feet<ref name = JennyNew>{{cite news | title = From Oregon … A new steamboat called the "Jenny Clark" … | url = http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=CF18550118.2.25&srpos=1&e=-------en--20--1-byDA-txt-txIN-%22Jenny+Clark%22------ | newspaper = California Farmer and Journal of Useful Sciences | location = San Francisco, CA | volume = III | number = 3 | publisher = Warren & Son | publication-date = January 18, 1855 |page=22 col. 2 }}</ref>), measured over the hull, which excluded the extension of the main deck over the stern, which mounted the sternwheel.<ref name = Lewis50/><ref name = Corning>{{cite book| author1-last = Corning| author1-first = Howard McKinley| title = Willamette Landings -- Ghost Towns of the River| isbn = 0875950426| location = Portland, OR| publisher = Oregon Historical Society| publication-date = 1973| edition = 2nd| at = p.118 }}</ref> The width of the vessel, called "beam" was 18.5 feet measured over the hull and excluding the extensions, called the "guards" running along the top of the hull.<ref name = Lewis50/> The depth of hold was 4 feet.<ref name = Lewis50/> The boat was built with a very light draft and was specifically designed for the route on the Willamette river from Portland to Oregon City.<ref name = JennyNew/>
There was a single cabin built on the hull, with the boiler in the middle<ref name = Mills/> The passenger cabin was located forward of the boiler, even though Kamm would have preferred the cabin to have been placed somewhere else.<ref name = Mills/> On top of the main cabin was the pilot house, from which the vessel was steered. The smokestack was behind the pilot house.<ref name = Mills/>
==Engineering== ''Jennie Clark'' was driven by a sternwheel turned by two horizontally mounted steam engines, which had been manufactured in Baltimore, Maryland.<ref name = Lewis50/> The engines were connected so that one man could operate both.<ref name = Mills/>
Each engine had a single piston which measured 12 inches on the inside bore, and drove a piston rod with a stroke of 48 inches.<ref name = Lewis50/> Each piston rod in turn drove a 16-foot-long iron rod called a pitman arm which turned a crank pin on the sternwheel.<ref name = Mills/> The sternwheel itself was 15 feet in diameter.<ref name = Mills/>
==Ownership== Jacob Kamm owned a one-half interest in the steamer, with John C. Ainsworth holding a one-quarter interest, and the firm of Ainsworth & Clark holding the other one-quarter interest.<ref name = Lewis50/> According to another source, the last one-quarter interest was held by two Oregon City merchants, George Abernethy and Ransom Clark.<ref name = Corning/> Abernethy, who had been governor of Oregon under the provisional government in the late 1840s, had experience in the steamboat business, having been the Oregon City agent for the ''Lot Whitcomb'', a boat then recently transferred to California from the Willamette river.<ref name = Winter>{{cite news | title = Winter Arrangements: The New Steamer Lot Whitcomb | url = https://www.sos.wa.gov/legacy/images/newspapers/SL_dir_olympiacolu/pdf/SL_dir_olympiacolu_01291853.pdf | newspaper = The Columbian | location = Olympia, W.T. | volume = I | number = 21 | publisher = Wiley & McElroy | publication-date = January 29, 1853 |page=4 col. 1 }}</ref>
Later Kamm sold a three-sixteenths interest to Josiah Myrick, who then took command of the vessel.<ref name = Lewis50/> Ainsworth’s share was then purchased by Theodore Wygant.<ref name = Lewis50/>
==Placed in service on the Willamette== Although compared to later steamers, ''Jennie Clark'' was a primitive design, the essential features proved to be the model for almost all other steamers later built in the Northwest.<ref name = Lewis50/><ref name = Timmen/> The sternwheel design was recognized in March 1855 as superior to the side-wheelers which up until then had been the dominant craft.<ref name = Premium>{{cite news | title = The new steamer "Jennie Clark" takes the premium. | url = https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn84022662/1855-03-03/ed-1/seq-2/ | newspaper = Oregon Spectator | location = Oregon City, O.T. | volume = 8 | number = 1 | publisher = Goodrich, C.L. | publication-date = March 3, 1855 |page=2 col. 1 }}</ref> ''Jennie Clark'' could steam up the rapids driven by the sternwheel alone, when the side-wheelers were forced to line through, that is, stop the boat below the rapids, run out a line or a cable to a tree or rock alongside the river, wrap the line around a windlass and crank in the line, drawing the vessel up through the rapids.<ref name = Premium/>
In February 1855, two steamboats were running daily between Oregon City, and Portland, the ''Jennie Clark'' and the ''Portland''.<ref>{{cite news | title = Again the citizens of Oregon City are favored with two boats, daily … | url = https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn84022662/1855-02-17/ed-1/seq-2/ | newspaper = Oregon Spectator | location = Oregon City, O.T. | volume = 7 | number = 51 | publisher = Goodrich, C.L. | publication-date = February 17, 1855 |page=2 col. 1 }}</ref> John C. Ainsworth commanded Jennie Clark at that time.<ref name = Advert1855>{{cite news | title = U.S. Mail Line … Daily Packet Jennie Clark | type = advertisement | url = https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn84022662/1855-02-24/ed-1/seq-2/ | newspaper = Oregon Spectator | location = Oregon City, O.T. | volume = 7 | number = 52 | publisher = Goodrich, C.L. | publication-date = February 24, 1855 |page=2 col. 4 }}</ref> ''Jennie Clark'' departed Oregon City for Portland at 8:00 a.m. every day except Sunday, and departed Portland at 2:00 p.m., stopping at intermediate landings.<ref name = Advert1855/> The steamer held a contract to carry the U.S. mail.<ref name = Advert1855/> Persons seeking passage or to ship freight were to apply on board.<ref name = Advert1855/>
In March, ''Jennie Clark''’s competitor, the sidewheeler ''Portland'', was the evening boat from Oregon City to Portland, running under Capt. Alexander S. Murray.<ref>{{cite news | title = The favorite "Portland", Captain Murray, is still the evening boat … | url = https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn84022662/1855-03-03/ed-1/seq-2/ | newspaper = Oregon Spectator | location = Oregon City, O.T. | volume = 8 | number = 1 | publisher = Goodrich, C.L. | publication-date = March 3, 1855 |page=2 col. 1 }}</ref> By April, 1855, both ''Jennie Clark'' and ''Portland'' were running on the same schedule, departing Oregon City at 8:00 a.m., and Portland at 2:00 p.m.<ref>{{cite news | title = Steamer Portland: Capt. A.S. Murray | type = advertisement | url = https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83025129/1855-04-21/ed-1/seq-2/ | newspaper = Oregon Argus | location = Oregon City, O.T. | volume = 1 | number = 1 | publisher = Adams, William L. | publication-date = April 21, 1855 |page=3 col. 6 }}</ref>
== Role during the Yakima War== On March 26, 1856, during the Yakima War, the settlements at the Cascades were attacked by Native Americans.<ref name = Attack> {{cite web | url = http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=5190 | title = Native Americans attack Americans at the Cascades of the Columbia on March 26, 1856 | last = Wilma | first = David | date = February 7, 2003 | website = historylink.org | access-date = May 30, 2015 }}</ref> The territorial government called up volunteers, and ''Jennie Clark'', under Capt. John C. Ainsworth, carried a company of them from Portland up to the Cascades.<ref name = Volunteers>{{cite news | title = Further from Oregon … | url = http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SDU18560416.2.8&srpos=1&e=-------en--20--1-byDA-txt-txIN-%22Jennie+Clark%22------# | newspaper = Sacramento Daily Union | volume = XI | number = 1578 | type = sourcing Oregon Times | publisher = J. Anthony & Co | publication-date = April 16, 1856 |page=2 }}</ref><ref name = Sheridan>{{cite news | title = Sheridan's First Battle: An Encounter with Indians on the Columbia River — A Recent Visit to the Scene | url = https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84022135/1875-10-05/ed-1/seq-1/ | newspaper = Idaho Semi-Weekly World | location = Idaho City, I.T. | type = reprint from Portland Oregonian dated September 2, 1875 | volume = 1 | number = 76 | publisher = Boyakin, A.J. | publication-date = October 5, 1875 |page=1 col. 5 }}</ref> Overly apprehensive about ambush, the party sought to protect the captain by lining the interior of the pilot house with three-inch-thick oak planks, and then piling sacks of flour stacked up against the walls.<ref name = Volunteers/>
The ''Jennie'' arrived on March 28, 1856.<ref name = Attack/> By that time, 350 soldiers and volunteers already on the scene under the command of Lt. Philip Sheridan had defeated and dispersed the Native Americans.<ref name = Volunteers/> ''Jenny Clark''’s company of late-arriving volunteers were greeted with jeers from the troops who had done the fighting.<ref name = Mills/>
''Jennie Clark'' then returned to Portland in four hours and 45 minutes, considered remarkable time for the period, with the news, and the volunteer company, whose services were thought to be in need in Portland due to exaggerated fears of a potential attack on that city.<ref name = Volunteers/><ref name = Lewis50/><ref name = Mills/>
==Difficulties in low water== In November 1857 a dry warm spell caused a fall in the level of the Willamette River so that ''Jennie Clark'' had to stop at the foot of the Clackamas Rapids.<ref>{{cite news | title = The rainy season has again set in after a dry spell … | url = https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83025129/1857-11-28/ed-1/seq-2/ | newspaper = The Oregon Argus | location = Oregon City, O.T. | volume = III | number = 33 | publisher = Adams, William L. | publication-date = November 28, 1857 |page=2 col. 3 }}</ref> In January 1858, there was talk that the owners of ''Jennie Clark'' intended to put a shallow draft boat on the Willamette River that could negotiate the Clackamas Rapids at all times of the year.<ref>{{cite news | title = We learn that the present owners of the Jennie Clark … | url = https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83025129/1858-01-09/ed-1/seq-2/ | newspaper = The Oregon Argus | location = Oregon City, O.T. | volume = III | number = 39 | publisher = Adams, William L. | publication-date = January 9, 1858 |page=2 col. 3 }}</ref> In the August 1858 low water season, ''Jennie Clark''’s owners placed into service a steam-powered flat boat to transport the ''Jennie''’s freight over the Clackamas Rapids.<ref>{{cite news | title = The steam flatboat belonging to the Jennie Clark … | url = https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83025129/1858-08-14/ed-1/seq-2/ | newspaper = The Oregon Argus | location = Oregon City, O.T. | volume = IV | number = 18 | publisher = Adams, William L. | publication-date = August 14, 1858 |page=2 col. 6 }}</ref>
In August 1860, low water in the Willamette River forced ''Jennie Clark'', then running under Captain Myrick, to be laid up.<ref name = Layup1860>{{cite news | title = Laid Up. — The steamer Jennie Clark … | url = https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83025129/1860-08-11/ed-1/seq-2/ | newspaper = The Oregon Argus | location = Oregon City, OR | volume = VI | number = 18 | publisher = Adams, William L. | publication-date = August 11, 1860 |page=2 col. 2 }}</ref> The route between Portland and Oregon City was carried on by the steamers ''Rival'' and ''Express''.<ref name = Layup1860/>
==Towing newly built ''Carrie Ladd''== In October 1858, a new sternwheel steamer, the ''Carrie Ladd'', was completed at Oregon City for Jacob Kamm, John C. Ainsworth, and their associates. On Thursday October 28, 1858, ''Jennie Clark'' towed the new steamer downriver to Portland to have the machinery installed.<ref name = Machinery>{{cite news | title = New Steamer | url = http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=DAC18581103.2.2&srpos=5&e=-------en--20--1-byDA-txt-txIN-%22Jennie+Clark%22------# | newspaper = Daily Alta California | location = San Francisco, CA | type = sourcing from Portland Oregonian | volume = X | number = 302 | publisher = Frederick MacCrellish & Co. | publication-date = November 3, 1858 |page=1 col. 1 }}</ref>
==Collision with ''Express''== On Friday evening, November 16, 1860, at about 6:00 p.m., when running upriver from Portland, at a narrow spot in the river just upstream from Oswego, ''Jennie Clark'' collided with the steamer ''Express''.<ref name = Collide>{{cite news | title = The Express Sunk | url = https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83025129/1860-11-24/ed-1/seq-2/ | newspaper = The Oregon Argus | location = Oregon City, OR | volume = VI | number = 33 | publisher = Adams, William L. | publication-date = November 24, 1860 |page=2 col. 3 }}</ref> The bow of the ''Jennie'' struck right in the middle of the ''Express'' cutting halfway through the hull of the ''Express''.<ref name = Collide/> The ''Express'' was run into the shore, but sank shortly thereafter.<ref name = Collide/> The passengers from ''Express'' were taken on board the ''Jennie'', which returned to Portland.<ref name = Collide/> As of November 24, 1860, efforts to raise ''Express'' were underway, and were expected to be successful.<ref name = Collide/> Total loss to ''Express'' reported to have been estimated at $3,000.<ref name = Collide/> ''Jennie Clark'' sustained only minor damage.<ref name = Collide/>
==Service with the Oregon Steam Navigation Company== In 1860, ''Jennie Clark'' became one of the initial steamers of the combined firm of Ainsworth, Kamm, and others.<ref name = Lewis50/> This combination was first known as the Union Transportation company.<ref name = Timmen/> Within a short time, the concern was incorporated as the Oregon Steam Navigation Company which came to have a near-monopoly on river transport on the Columbia, and, for a time the Willamette rivers.<ref name = Lewis50/><ref name = Timmen/>
===Placement on Longview mail run=== [[File:Jennie Clark ad 1861.png|thumb|Advertisement for Jennie Clark, placed in Washington Standard (Olympia, O.T., June 8, 1861.]] In May 1861, ''Jennie Clark'' was running on a route from Portland to Longview, Washington, which was then known as Monticello.<ref name = Monticello1>{{cite news | title = The Mails — We are pleased to learn … | url = https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84022770/1861-05-18/ed-1/seq-2/ | newspaper = Washington Standard | location = Olympia, W.T. | volume = I | number = 27 | publisher = Murphy, John M. | publication-date = May 18, 1861 |page=2 col. 2 }}</ref> The ''Express'' had been originally intended to run on this route, but was prevented from doing so by an accident, apparently the sinking the previous fall.<ref name = Monticello1/> The owners of ''Jennie Clark'' held a contract to carry the mails from Portland to Monticello, where they went overland to Olympia.<ref name = Monticello1/> Once ''Jennie Clark'' was on the route, mail took 36 hours to reach Olympia from Portland.<ref name = Monticello1/>
In June 1861, ''Jennie Clark'', under Capt. R. Hoyt, left Hoyt’s wharf boat in Portland every morning, except Sundays, at 6:00 a.m. for Longview, carrying the U.S. mail, and stopping at Vancouver along the way.<ref name = Monticello2>{{cite news | title = U.S. Mail. Ho! For the Mines! Portland Monticello and Astoria | url = https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84022770/1861-06-08/ed-1/seq-3/ | newspaper = Washington Standard | location = Olympia, W.T. | volume = I | number = 30 | type = advertisement | publisher = Murphy, John M. | publication-date = June 8, 1861 |page=3 col. 4 }}</ref> Returning to Portland, ''Jennie Clark'' departed Longview at 1:00 p.m.<ref name = Monticello2/> A connection was made every Monday and Thursday at Longview with the sidewheeler ''Multnomah'', under Capt. Ed Giddings, with the mails for Astoria and intermediate points.<ref name = Monticello2/>
===Seaside route=== In July 1862, ''Jennie Clark'' was transferred to a route running to Clatsop Landing on the Lewis and Clark River, and thus became the first of many boats making regular seaside runs from Portland.<ref name = Lewis50/><ref name = Timmen/> When the ''Jenny'' came downriver from Portland, the boat did not stop at Astoria, as this was already served by daily steamers.<ref name = Mills/> Instead, the boat proceeded into Young’s Bay and then up the Lewis and Clark river to Fort Clatsop, where the passengers disembarked.<ref name = Mills/> From there, the passengers could walk or hire horses or carriages the short distance to the beach at Seaside.<ref name = Mills/> Round trip fare for the seaside run was fifteen dollars.<ref name = Lewis50/><ref name = Mills/>
==Removed from service== In 1863, ''Jennie Clark'' was removed from service.<ref name = Lewis50/> The engines were removed and sent far up the Columbia River near the Canada-U.S. border, at the 49th parallel, to be placed in the steamer ''Forty-Nine''.<ref name = Lewis50/><ref name =Mills/><ref name = Timmen/> In 1865 the hulk of the ''Jennie Clark'' was dismantled and the hull burned for the iron.<ref name = Lewis50/>
==Notes== {{reflist|2}}
==References== ===Books=== * {{cite book | author1-last = Affleck | author1-first = Edward L. | title = A Century of Paddlewheelers in the Pacific Northwest, the Yukon, and Alaska | isbn =0-920034-08-X | location = Vancouver, BC | publisher = Alexander Nicholls Press | date = 2000 }} * {{cite book| author1-last = Corning| author1-first = Howard McKinley| title = Willamette Landings -- Ghost Towns of the River| isbn = 0875950426| location = Portland, OR| publisher = Oregon Historical Society| publication-date = 1973| edition = 2nd}} * {{Mills: Stern-wheelers up Columbia}} * {{cite book | author1-last = Timmen | author1-first = Fritz | title = Blow for the Landing -- A Hundred Years of Steam Navigation on the Waters of the West | isbn = 0-87004-221-1 | lccn = 73150815 | location = Caldwell, ID | publisher = Caxton Printers | publication-date = 1973}} * {{cite book | editor1-last = Wright | editor1-first = E.W. | title = Lewis & Dryden's Marine History of the Pacific Northwest | year = 1895 | url = https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_seRDAAAAYAAJ | lccn = 28001147 | location = Portland, OR | publisher = Lewis and Dryden Printing Co. | publication-date = 1895}}
===On line historic newspaper collections=== * {{cite web | url = http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu | title = Historic Oregon Newspapers | publisher = University of Oregon }} * {{cite web | url = http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc | title = California Digital Newspaper Collection | publisher = University of California, Riverside }} * {{cite web | url = http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov | title = Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers | publisher = Library of Congress }} * {{cite web | url = https://www.sos.wa.gov/legacy/newspapers.aspx | title = Historic Newspapers | publisher = Washington Secretary of State }} {{Willamette River Steamboats}} {{Oregon Steam Navigation Company}} {{Columbia River Steamboats}}
Category:Steamboats of Oregon Category:Steamboats of the Willamette River Category:Oregon Steam Navigation Company