Historic Hood River
Bailey Gatzert
11-26-2013
Notes
This beautiful portrait of the Bailey Gatzert looks like it was shot east of Hood River, up towards the Dalles. You can see the slab wood piled high to feed the boilers. Based on the clothing I’m placing this right around 1900.
The Bailey Gatzert could make it from the Dalles to Portland in just over 5 hours, burning many cords of wood and leaving plenty of black smoke behind.
l.e.
Beautiful photo.
A lot of timber was cut to feed those boats and trains. It also provided an income for many of the people along the river.
Five hours sounds like a pretty good time.
Was that using the locks at Cascade?
Buzz
Never realized sternwheelers could motate like that. Read where it was reputedly given the nickname of "Daily Bastard" for the wake it created.
l.e.
I know anyone can look this up, but I thought I would put a little information here.
The Bailey Gatzert was built in Seattle in 1890 and named for Seattle’s first Jewish mayor.
It was 177’3" long. 560 ton.
It plied the Puget Sound waters then moved to the Columbia River in 1892.
It was famous for its racing abilities, often racing the Charles R. Spencer steamboat.
The Spencer family built a beautiful summer home in Husum.
In 1918 the BG returned to Puget Sound and was retired in 1926.
"The Bailey Gatzert’s whistle, name board, and pilot wheel are on permanent display at the Columbia Gorge Interpretive Center Museum in Stevenson, Washington. In 1996, the U.S. Postal Service issued a Bailey Gatzert stamp."
Probably the railroad was the death knell for these passenger boats on the Columbia.
My mother in law grew up on an island in the Columbia River and spoke with fondness about the steam boats.
OrMtnMaid
Well maybe this is the maiden voyage up the river in 1892 then.
db
No black smoke on this run, though. But looks like a fairly moderate speed.
spinsur
Just amazes me to read about transporting vessels like this, and the ferries of Puget Sound, up and down the coast. Shallow, relatively flat bottoms, and long for their draft, an ocean passage would have been not only uncomfortable, but very stressful on the hull.
On another note, and I will expose my naivety, the diagonal boards, really fenders, now make sense to me. This is the first pic that shows them loosely bolted at top end, and it’s their length that causes them to lay diagonal against the cabin. At dock then, they would be swung over the side of the gunwales to protect the boat from the dock as it moved w/ loading or passing wakes.
Buzz
Agree Spinsur, and with no more freeboard than it had,you wouldn’t have got me on the ocean in that thing. Wonder how many sternwheelers like this were lost at sea, or in any rough water.
charlott
The first time my Dad saw the town of Hood River was when he was about 6 and was allowed to ride on a wagon load of peaches that went aboard the Bailey Gatzert, which was docked in the cottonwoods.
Did anyone know there was a song composed about this boat. I think the copy I had we donated to the museum??????
Arthur
That song would be the Bailey Gatzert March.
Longshot2
I was guessing the the diagonal boards along the sides were fenders and are there to protect the side of the cabin when she sits against a wharf or a ship. Not sure why they lean at an angle, but there must be some good reason.
l.e.
I wondered what those slanted boards were for. I wonder how many deck hands slipped and fell off in rough water? Not much to stop them on the lower deck.
The hats that the ladies up on the top deck are wearing are huge. I thought maybe they were the Davidson ladies from photo #251 but the clothes don’t match.
Mike
This photo was taken in the very early 1900s. The maiden trip was taken after the Cascade Locks opened, and after the BG was placed on this section of the river after running between Portland and Astoria for a few years.
The photo was taken from the steamboat landing at The Dalles in the very late afternoon.
LMH
Charlotte made a reference to a song. It can be heard on YouTube at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAkeJujlNwI.