Le Beaver traversant la barre de la Columbia River, le 25 juin 1836. aquarelle 19” x 29”.
The furs that drew Europeans to North America, and the profits that induced them to stay, had the same effect on the west coast that it earlier had in the east. In 1670 King Charles the Second granted a group of English merchants and entrepreneurs a royal charter to trade for “furs, minerals and other considerable commodities” in the lands draining into Hudson's Bay, and the Hudson's Bay Company was born. Over a century and a half “The Bay” rose to dominate the fur trade from the St.Lawrence River to the Pacific Ocean, and from the Columbia River to Alaska. On the west coast she built forts at Fort Vancouver on the Columbia, Nisqually on Puget Sound, Fort Langley on the Fraser River, Fort Victoria on Vancouver Island and Fort McLoughlin and Fort Simpson up the coast. Servicing these factories by sailing ship was difficult in the intricate tidal channels, and the directors came to the sensible conclusion that a powered vessel would be more practical.
In 1834 the Governors and Committee in London placed an order for a new steamer with Green, Wigram and Green at Blackwall on the Thames. In part the contract called for a vessel 100 feet between perpendiculars, 20 feet extreem breadth and approximately 11 feet depth of hold. Tonnage to be 187, and all “well constructed and workmanship generally of the best quality”. Two 35 horsepower side-lever steam engines and boiler were ordered from Boulton and Watt and the completed ship, christened BEAVER was launched May 2nd 1835. After a weeks trial run on the Thames the paddles were dismounted and stowed in the hold and the ship made ready for sea. The engines lasted for the life of the ship, but the boiler was a constant problem and before the BEAVER was finally wrecked she went through six.
BEAVER was rigged as a brigantine and she made the voyage to the Columbia River under canvas alone. She was accompanied by the COLUMBIA, a new barque ordered for the HBC and launched from the same yard on July 8th, 1835. They sailed together from Gtavesend on August 29th and after a voyage around the Horn, and stops at Juan Fernandez Island and Hawaii, they anchored off Fort George at the mouth of the Columbia River on March 25th, 1836.
The engines, boilers and paddle wheels were reassembled at Fort Vancouver, and on May 16, at four p.m., “the engineers got the steam up and tried the engines...” which were “found to work very well”. In the following days they made several trial runs on the river, and being satisfied that all was well, on June 18th they steamed away for the mouth and with the COLUMBIA anchored in Baker’s Bay to wait for favourable conditions to cross the bar.
From BEAVER’s log: “June 26th at 1 p.m. weighed anchor and ran towards the bar. At 2 crossed the bar, ... 2:30 Cape Disappointment bore N.E. by N.”.
From an account by Rev. Samuel Parker, who observed the event from COLUMBIA:
“...the bar being smooth, with only a light wind, though ahead, and the tide favoring, the BEAVER weighed anchor and put out to sea for her northern voyage. She went over the bar finely, and could have towed us out...” It was an historic day as BEAVER became the first steamship to churn her paddles in the north Pacific. She never returned to the Columbia River, but for fifty-two years she was a unique and memorable presense between Puget Sound and Alaska.
