Steamboats were an important mode of goods transportation into and out of the Tualatin Valley during the 1870s and 1880s. Due to narrow width and shallow depth of the Tualatin River, these steamboats were much smaller than the large steamboats found on the Willamette and Columbia Rivers. Starting in 1869, the sternwheeler Onward made a weekly run up and down the Tualatin River from Colfax Landing (near the Lake Oswego Canal) to Emerick’s Landing (near Forest Grove) with stops at Taylor’s Ferry, Scholl’s Ferry, Farmington Landing (Harris-Landess Ferry), and Hillsboro (near Jackson Bottom Wetland Preserve). The sidewheelers Hoosier and Yamhill were also used on the river.
Goods at Colfax Landing were carried by horse-drawn tramway to Sucker Lake (called Waluga meaning “Wild Swan” by the Clackamas), down to the Willamette River, and then to Portland. Sucker Lake is now known as Oswego Lake. The difficulty of keeping the Tualatin River navigable (i.e. free of tree snags) and the introduction of railroads into the Tualatin Valley in the late 1880s ultimately ended the use of steamboats on the Tualatin River.
Click here for more information on Emrick’s Landing.
Click on Oregon Electric Railway and Portland & Willamette Valley Railway for more railroad information.
