Echo was built for the Willamette River Steam Navigation Company (WRSN)[4] at Canemah, Oregon, a small town just above Willamette Falls which is now part of Oregon City.

Echo's owners as shown on her licensing papers were A. P. Ankeny and John Gates.

[3] Other sternwheelers built and run by WRSN included Alert and Active.

[6] Echo ran between Portland and Eugene, Oregon, a city which until 1853 bore the name "Skinner's Mudhole".

[6] In 1871, People's line sold all its assets to Ben Holladay's Oregon Steamship Company.