Multnomah's hull was barrel-shaped, and held in shape with iron hoops which made caulking unnecessary.

On this trip, Multnomah reached Cressman's Bar, a point about 20 miles (32 km) downriver from Salem, Oregon.

At Cressman's, the water was so shallow that even Multnomah, which needed only 18 inches to run in, could only cross the bar with difficulty.

Multnomah was able to proceed 5 miles (8.0 km) further upstream to Matheny's landing, (now the site of the Wheatland Ferry where the water was so shallow that no passage was possible.

[4] Under political pressure, the territorial legislature authorized funds to excavate the bars, so that by September, 1851, a channel four feet deep extended all the way to Salem.

[5] Canemah, where Multnomah had been built, was the upriver terminus of a portage road that ran around Willamette Falls.

Multnomah ran regularly from Canemah south to Salem, with side trips up the Yamhill River to Dayton.

There comes the Multnomah shout fifty glad voices; Each heart beats with rapture, each bosom rejoices, Her structure so firm, yet buoyant and airy She skims o'er the waves like a sylph or a fairy.

Randall V. Mills, an historian of the early steamboats in Oregon, and a folklore expert, found these poems to be lacking in skill, but expressive of the attitudes of the population.

[3] During Hoyt's ownership, Multnomah was used mainly on the lower Columbia, that is, the stretch of the river running from Astoria to the Cascades, and also up the Willamette Portland.