[1] It was named after Bailey Gatzert, an early businessman and mayor of Seattle, who was one of the closest friends and business associates of John Leary – the person who financed the ship.

[8] Work was still ongoing on August 11, 1890, when a carload of machinery, including the sternwheel shaft, cylinders, donkey-pumps, and part of the smokestack arrived over the Northern Pacific Railway.

[12] Bailey Gatzert was driven by two twin horizontally mounted single cylinder poppet valve steam engines, each with a 22-inch interior bore diameter and an 84-inch stroke on the piston rod.

George Hill was in the pilot house and he ordered the engines to be started, and the vessel began its first trip, out towards the mouth of Salmon Bay and then south to Seattle.

[20] On January 19, 1891, Bailey Gatzert took an excursion of nearly 300 people to Olympia, Washington, making what was reported to have been the shortest running time then on record between the two cities, about three hours and 25 minutes.

[6] Bailey Gatzert made only a few runs for its original owners before being sold to the Columbia River and Puget Sound Navigation Company (CR&PSN), which was also called the White Collar Line.

[10] A few days later, after Troup had returned to Portland, he received a telegram from Archie Pease, captain of the Potter, who had been informed of the wager: "Passed the Gatzert this morning and led her into Seattle.

[30][31] Bailey Gatzert was intended to make a voyage south from the mouth of the Columbia River to San Francisco, which, if it had been accomplished, would have been one of the longest trips ever made by a sternwheeler on the Pacific coast.

[30] The only previous time this had been done was when the Annie Steward had come from San Francisco to be run in opposition to the Oregon Steam Navigation Company's Dixie Thompson.

[31] In 1895, the chief competition for the Bailey Gatzert on the Astoria route were a pair of fast steamers owned by the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company, the T.J. Potter, which had been brought around from Puget Sound back to the Columbia River, and the R.R.

[39] Bailey Gatzert departed Portland at 7:00 a.m., carrying the officers of the steamer's owners, the Columbia River and Puget Sound Navigation Company, and a large number of other passengers.

[54] The officers on the steamer at that time were Captain Fred Sherman, pilot Sydney Scammon, mate John Schiller, chief engineer Ruben Smith, and Dan O'Neil, purser.

[57] This gave rise to "the most spectacular period of rivalry on the lower river" between Captain Scott's boats, the Gatzert and Telephone, the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company's Hassalo and T.J. Potter, and the independent steamer Charles R. Spencer, owned by Capt.

[57][58] By the end of July 1903, the steamers of the Regulator Line were making a connection with the Columbia River & Northern Railway, at Lyle, Washington, which would then carry passengers and freight to Wahkeans, Daly, Centerville, Goldendale and all Klickitat Valley points.

[2] During the Lewis and Clark Exposition of 1905, Bailey Gatzert made two excursions a day to Cascades Locks, in the Columbia Gorge, departing Portland at 8:30 a.m. and at 5:30 p.m., with a fare of $1.50, including meals served on board.

[64] In the spring of 1908, both the Gatzert and its competitor, the Charles R. Spencer, began their summer operations on the same day, May 4, 1908, with talk of a pending rate war between the management of the two steamers, both of which had been recently rehabilitated and were reported to be in top mechanical shape.

[66] Bailey Gatzert departed The Dalles at 2:50 p.m., even before the Spencer had arrived, returning to Portland, where the steamer tied up at 8:05 p.m., making the total running time for the round trip as 13 hours and 5 minutes.

[67] In May 1908, both the Regulator Line and its competitor, the independent steamer Charles R. Spencer, cut their passenger ticket prices to $1 per person one-way from Portland to either Astoria or The Dalles.

[64]In mid-May 1908, there was talk that Bailey Gatzert might be placed on the run from Portland to Megler, Washington, where the Union Pacific Railroad had recently completed a big new dock to allow better river steamer connections, chiefly by the U.P.

[49] A new dock at Megler, possibly the largest on the Columbia, was built out far enough into the river that steamers could call there at any time without having to wait for a favorable high tide, as had been the case with the previous landing at Ilwaco.

[79] The Bailey Gatzert arrived at the town during the fire, and turned the steamer's firehose on the water front area, which was credited with saving the dock, warehouses, and other buildings in that vicinity.

[79] On Friday, June 26, 1903, the cook of the Bailey Gatzert, a Chinese-American, was reported to have slipped from the gangplank of the steamer while docked at Portland, fell into the river, and drowned, within sight of 50 persons.

[80] On November 1, 1907, at about 10:15 a.m. en route to The Dalles, at about Washougal, Washington, the Gatzert struck the upper end of Ough Reef, breaking some of the hull planking.

[81] Steamboat inspectors conducted an investigation on November 4, 1907, and found that the pilot on watch, J.C. Hastings was at fault, suspending his license for 30 days for negligence and unskillfulness.

[81] On recovery of his license, Captain Hastings was assigned to be senior deck officer on the Regulator Line's chartered freight carrying steamer, Weown, then running under Capt.

[84] In response, the Regulator Line stated that it would match superior service and speed, and moved to a faster schedule with its two boats, Gatzert and Dalles City.

[84] By the summer of 1915, the major part of the passenger steamer service out of Portland was being provided by only four vessels: the Georgiana to Astoria, Bailey Gatzert on excursions to Columbia River Gorge, Grahamona to Oregon City, and, to St. Helens via Willamette Slough, the smaller propeller-driven steamer America[85][86] On the night of May 17, 1917, Bailey Gatzert, which had been out of service for some time, returned to the Portland-The Dalles Route.

[87] On June 20, 1917, when high water forced the closing of the Cascade Locks, the Gatzert, under veteran Captain Archie Geer (1859-1919), ran through the rapids with 125 passengers on board.

[93] On February 26, 1918, the Regulator Line, owners of the Bailey Gatzert, announced through Drake C. O'Reilly, head of the corporation, that it would not be resuming service from Portland to The Dalles.

[94] On April 10, 1918, the Gatzert was purchased by a shipping line known as The Navy Yard Route, an affiliate of the dominant Puget Sound Navigation Company, and placed on the run between Seattle and Bremerton, Washington.