Mascot was operated a route that ran between Portland, Oregon and the Lewis and Lake rivers in Cowlitz and Clark counties in southwestern Washington.

[10] In early March 1892 Mascot was expected to start making daily trips from Rainier, Oregon to Portland in opposition to the steamer Joseph Kellogg.

Gray (b.1850), of the Mascot, quoted in the Daily Morning Astorian: Down along our route the people of the lowlands have deserted their homes and fled to the hills for safety.

[18] Victor Davis later became a steamboat captain himself, and when he died on Sunday, May 29, 1910, in Portland, following funeral services at Holman's undertaking, his body was taken back to La Center aboard Mascot.

[21] Steamboat operations on the Lewis River were made difficult by the presence of numerous sunken trees and logs, called "snags.

[22] According to a January 1900 Morning Oregonian report, "the north fork of the Lewis river just below Woodland is a perfect next of snags, enough to make a steamboatman’s hair stand on end, and the only wonder is that more boats are not sunk there.

[26] There were about 50 passengers on board at the time, and a newspaper report stated that "for a moment considerable excitement prevailed, but as soon as they realized that the boat was resting on the bottom, order was restored.

Charles Tilton Kamm (1860–1906), superintendent of the Lewis River Transportation Company, stated that the wreck was caused by the steamer getting out of the channel and running into a hard clay bank, out of which projected a huge snag which tore a large hole in the hull, much worse than had been originally thought.

[28] Allen foresaw no particular danger to Mascot, unless rains should cause a freshet in the river, in which case the hull might fill with sand and the superstructure could wash away.

[31] According to one newspaper account, at about 5:00 p.m. a river steamer came by, creating a heavy swell, which caused Mascot to roll over to the right, crushing some of the superstructure against the wharf.

[10] Meanwhile, Woodland Transportation, owners of Toledo, Mascot's chief competitor at the time, were building another boat to run on the Lewis River.

[36] The new boat, under construction at Woodland in August 1891, would be 80 feet, and would run above tidewater only on the Lewis river, gathering freight and transferring it to Toledo.

[39] Low water blocked navigation for about three months of the year, and the only other way of accessing the river towns was over rough mountain roads using wagons pulled by teams.

[40] Dix was owned by Thomas Byers, who had been operating the launch in Portland harbor since the opening of the Lewis and Clark Exposition on June 1, 1905.

[41] Mascot’s associated steamer, Etna, had been running for the previous week on the upper Lewis, providing service to the lumber mills and logging camps.

[44] In late October 1904, the farmers in the area of La Center were reported to be negotiating with the Oregon City Transportation Co. for the purchase of the sternwheeler Leona, to run in opposition to Mascot.

Newt Graham, William Marshall, and Fred Brauer, who intended to place Leona on the Lewis river route on December 1, 1904, operating from the Oak Street dock in Portland.

[46]In February 1905, Mascot was returned to the Lewis River route, taking the place of another chartered Oregon City Transportation Company steamer, the sternwheeler Altona.

[48] The same morning that Mascot returned to regular service, Leona was reported to have arrived in Portland from the Lewis River with "a big cargo of freight and a full passenger list.

[51] Mascot left Portland on February 4, 1905 transporting cattle for the Lewis and Lake rivers, became the first boat to make that trip for about 10 days.

[52] The alarm was only raised when a few minutes later one of the young women spoke to another passenger, who alerted the purser who in turn informed Captain Davis.

[53] They were built entirely of wood, covered with paint and other flammable materials, and then left outside where they either dried out, rotted, or both, becoming the equivalent of a vast pile of kindling.

There were many instances throughout the country of inland steamers being destroyed by fire, with tremendous loss of life, such as Sultana, in 1865, with 1,196 people killed, and General Slocum, in 1904, with 1,021 dead.

Theoretically regulations existed to require steamboat operators to have fire safety equipment on board, but these were often poorly enforced, and compliance was by no means uniform.

[57] In late February 1907, Mascot failed to pass a government safety inspection and was reportedly condemned as unsafe for any kind of traffic.

[71] According to the Morning Oregonian there were also "a crowd along the beach, regarded as transients, who seldom work more than a few days on any steamer, their aim being to get a small amount of money for immediate needs and then rest.

[69][67] Mascot had not been able to reach Woodland for several months, but Captain Archie McNeill believed the water would be deep enough to make a run to the city on Saturday, March 18, 1911.

[67] The Morning Oregonian was quick to blame Gene Olsen, Mascot's night watchman, mentioning him by name in its initial report.

[74] On March 25, 1911, Clarence Illidge son of the deceased steward, hired Fritz De Rock, a local diver, to search for his father's body.

[78] On October 10, 1911, a jury in Multnomah County Circuit court awarded $5,000 to the estate of Sydney Illidge, for negligence in causing the death of the steward.