[2] The McCullys, who were heavy shippers in the Willamette Valley, had invested $3,000 into a steamer, the James Clinton to assure access to river shipping free of monopoly control.

[2] In the spring of 1863, development of mines east of the Cascades Mountains created a demand for shipping on the Columbia River.

Company, wishing to take advantage of this, built the sidewheeler Iris at The Dalles, Oregon, to run in competition with the O.S.N.

Company made arrangements with the owners of two steamers built the previous year, Spray and Kiyus, to carry passengers and freight further up the Columbia and then the Snake rivers, to Lewiston, Idaho, which was the jump-off point for the mines.

[5] At the same time, the steamer Reliance was said to be in a position to begin running on the Willamette River upstream from the falls.

line, and one of the fastest yet placed on the Columbia, was often able to outrun Wilson G. Hunt, an older sidewheeler which had been brought around Cape Horn from the east coast.

[8] Enterprise, the second steamer of this name to operate on the Willamette, was launched in November 1863, and ran independently for a short time under George Pease.

Company was seeking to raise funds to resolve the debt issue, O.S.N., through its banker, William S. Ladd, initiated negotiations which led to O.S.N.

[9] One of the more serious challenges arose in October 1865, when the Willamette Steam Navigation Company was incorporated, with D.W. Burnside as president, Asa L. Lovejoy, vice-president, and John T. Apperson, secretary.

[13] Willamette Steam built the steamer Alert at Oswego and placed it on the run from Portland to Oregon City.

[13] The speed contests between Reliance and Active were remembered many years later by one old steamboat man as the “most exciting boat racing I have ever seen.”[14] By March 1866, the competition had grown too much for both companies, and they decided to merge.

Joseph Kellogg merged his operations into the company, bringing in the steamer Senator which ran between Portland and Oregon City.

Company was running Senator out of Portland, departing daily except Sundays at 6:00 a.m. for Oregon City, where connections were made with Enterprise, Echo, and Active, which ran on Mondays and Thursdays for Salem, Albany, and Corvallis.

[22] Other officers, elected at the December 6, 1866 stockholders meeting in Salem, were Edwin N. Cooke, vice-president, Joseph Kelly, George A. Pease, and L.E.

[22] By late December 1866, The People's Transportation Company achieved a monopoly over transport on the Willamette River, for which it was criticized in the State Rights Democrat, of Albany, Oregon, as a “heartless, soulless, monied monopoly, and true to the ancestral fame of all monopolies, they pluck the public goose while they can, because just now they have the power.”[25] A week later, Martin H. Abbott, editor of the State Rights Democrat wrote that the freight and passenger rates ought to be reduced by at least one-half.

[26] According to the State Rights Democrat, one-way passage from Albany to Portland cost $5.50, with meals and lodging included.

Company had charged only $4.00 per ton for freight shipped from Portland to Albany, and repeated a report that Ankeny had still run at a profit.

Company, or its close affiliates, the Kellogg brothers (Joseph and Edward), operated steamboats, including the Yamhill and Onward on the Tualatin River, running to Hillsboro and even further, to a landing about 2.5 miles from Forest Grove.

Merryman, organized the Tualatin River Navigation and Manufacturing Company, which, in 1869, built the small sternwheeler Henrietta at Colfax for the trade on Oswego or Sucker Lake, as it was then called.

[29] In the week before December 19, 1868, the steamer Onward was able to proceed from Colfax up the Tualatin River to Forest Grove and back.

[33] Reportedly a large amount of grain had been accumulated at points along the river, waiting for higher water so it could be shipped.

Company began a project of building barges, called “lighters” to be lashed alongside its steamers on the shallow upper Willamette during the summer period of low water on the river.

[36] Also in September 1867, the steamers Enterprise and Echo were reported to be able to make regular trips to Albany because navigation obstacles in the river had been removed.

Company let a building contract to Joseph Paquet to build, at Canemah, a new steamer to run between Oregon City and McMinnville, Oregon on the Yamhill River, to be completed in time for the fall trade when the rivers would rise sufficiently to allow navigation.

[43] For some time, the People's Transportation Company had considered whether to build a shipping canal and lock at Oregon City.

Company did not plan to build the locks immediately, and was waiting for a time when business demand would be sufficient to support the project.

Company to prevent its steamboats from completing with a railroad he was building south through the Willamette Valley, with the objective of reaching California.

[10] On September 6, 1871, the People's Transportation Company, apprehensive that the pending completion of the locks at Oregon City would bring a new challenge to its near-ten year monopoly, voted to dissolve the corporation and sell all its assets to Hollday's company, the Oregon and California Railroad, for $200,000.

[47] These included the following steamers: Albany, Alert, Alice, Dayton, Fanny Patton, Reliance, Senator, Shoo Fly, and Success.

Shipping bills and cargo manifests of the People's Transportation Company are held at the archives of the University of Oregon.