The ability of this small vessel to reach remote locations on the river system was cited many years later as evidence in support of the important legal concept of navigability.

[1] This steamboat should not be confused with a somewhat larger vessel, also named Myrtle, which was built in 1908 at Prosper, Oregon, but which was home-ported much further north, at Astoria.

[1] The south fork of the Coquille River begins just below Myrtle Point and then continues in a general direction east.

[5] In the 1970s and early 1980s, the operations of Myrtle were analyzed in terms of whether they, in conjunction with other evidence, rendered the tributaries of the Coquille River navigable and thus by law making them subject to the ownership of the State of Oregon.

[1] Myrtle's single trip to the creamery at Broadbent was found, by the report submitted to the state legislature, not itself sufficient evidence that the south fork of the Coquille was navigable.

[6] Myrtle Point Transportation Company, the owner of the two vessels, sued the Port of Coquille for damages, alleging that slashings left up river had backed up the flow of water, so with the first rain a surge had come downriver, washing away the boom to which the boats had been moored, and depositing them on a jetty far downriver.

[6] The jury however on June 11, 1915, returned a verdict in favor of the boat company, and awarded damages against the Port of Coquille in the amount of $1,750.

[7] The port appealed, but the Supreme Court of Oregon ruled against them, finding that the evidence, evaluated in the light most favorable to the prevailing party, that is, the boat company, was sufficient to sustain the verdict.

[6] In September 1915, as part of a widespread effort by the steamboat inspection service to crack down on safety violations in the Coos Bay area, the owners of the steamer Myrtle (W.R. Panter, T.W.