Wide West was placed on the run from Portland to the Cascades of the Columbia, which at that time, was the head of navigation.

[9] Wide West could carry about 550 tons of wheat and still have the guards (large wooden rails around the upper edge of the hull) not awash.

[6] Power for Wide West was supplied by two horizontal high-pressure steam engines built by Pusey, Jones & Co., of Wilmington, Delaware.

[11] Wide West was expected to run at 18 miles (29 km) per hour, on a route between the Cascades and Astoria, Oregon.

[12] However, by October, 1877, the steamer had not been placed on the Astoria route, but was running solely between Portland and the Cascades, prompting criticism from the Daily Astorian of the decision.

[6] This kept the upper decks clean from soot which would otherwise have been exhausted through the smokestack and reduced the amount of paint needed for the cabins.

[6] Water pressure for the washbasins in the cabin, and for the hydraulic steering gear was furnished by auxiliary steam-powered donkey engines.

[4] At that time, the inland region of the Pacific Northwest was developing rapidly, with steamboats being loaded to capacity with wheat on their downstream trips, and returned upriver with cargos of merchandise, building supplies, farm machinery and other goods.

[4] Wide West was rushed into freight service without completion of her cabins and furnishings, making a daily round trip, heavily laden with cargo, between Portland and the Cascades.

[14][17] The public was invited on board on the afternoon of the initial cruise, on April 16, to view the newly completed steamer.

[18] Large mirrors were placed at the ends of the cabins and chandeliers were hung at regular intervals trom the center line of the ceiling.

One of the rooms had been fitted up as a ladies toilet, in which the pumps kept “continuous jets of water playing, while the boat is in motion, so that no offensive effluvia taints these sumptuous cabins.”[6] During winter, this area was heated by a steam radiator covered a marble slab.

[6] There was a structure on the roof called a “texas,” which housed all the officers of the vessel, except for the clerks, in ten cabins.

[6] Above the texas was the pilot house, which featured plate glass windows and a wheel which controlled the vessels rudder's by hydraulic power, exceeding, it was said, the strength of ten men.

[4] One of the pursers of Wide West was Napoleon Bonaparte Ingalls (1830-1922), who also served on many other well-known steamers that operated on the Columbia river system.

Won’t the Oregon Steam Navigation folk catch it, ‘though if they do not send that new steamer Wide West on to this route?

Will some of THE ASTORIAN “satellites” in Portland please put a cockle-burr under Mr. S.G. Read’s crupper until we get a good fire brand ready for that posish?

[6] The wheat traffic in 1882 was extremely heavy, and Wide West was frequently loaded to capacity on its runs between Portland and the Cascades.

[4] Gambling on river boats in the Pacific Northwest was never as prevalent as on the Mississippi craft, Wide West was said to have been an exception; supposedly “her palatial equipment lent itself to the art of professional card playing, and high stakes were not considered an exception aboard her.”[16] Wide West had a reputation as a powerful steamer.

[24] This was bested on December 11, 1878 by the then new (launched September 30, 1878) steamer Lurline, which made the same run in 60 minutes with 95 pounds of steam, carrying 150 troops to Fort Vancouver.

[24] In 1880, Wide West made the Portland-Astoria run in five hours, a record time that was unbroken for several years.

[4] It was claimed that when Wide West towed the hull of the dismantled older steamer Oneonta, the old boat had moved faster than at any time when under actual power.

[26] On February 18, 1883, Wide West was reported to have been taken out of service at the Portland “boneyard”, an area on the Willamette River used for storage and rehabilitation of old steamboats.

[28] Wide West departed Portland at 5:30 a.m. and arrived at Astoria at 12:15 p.m.[28] The trip was an experimental one, intended to test the function of the coal-fired machinery, and develop a time-table for the Portland-Astoria route.

[30] In June 1883, Wide West made daily trips, except Wednesday, between Portland and Astoria, Oregon.

[32] Wide West was advertised as running in conjunction with the Ilwaco Steam Navigation Company’s steamer Gen.

Frederick Sparling (b.1862), the Wide West was sent of the Columbia River bar and into the Pacific Ocean, to make the voyage around the Olympic Peninsula.

[4][38] On January 6, 1890, the owners of the barge Wide West reported that they believed the vessel to have been lost at sea.

[4] The large hull proved to be unmanageable in these conditions, and an auxiliary sailing rig which had been installed was blown away by the wind.

[41] From La Push, the party proceeded about 40 miles across the Olympic Mountains to the Pysht River, where they were able to board the steamer Evangel to reach Port Townsend, Washington.