Echo was a sternwheel steamboat that operated on the Willamette River from about 1865 to 1873 and was one of the first steamboats to carry what was then considered a large cargo out of Eugene, Oregon.

Construction Echo was built for the Willamette River Steam Navigation Company (WRSN)This company is also seen called the "Willamette Steam Navigation Company". at Canemah, Oregon, a small town just above Willamette Falls which is now part of Oregon City. Echos owners as shown on her licensing papers were A. P. Ankeny and John Gates.Wright, E.W., ed., Lewis and Dryden's Marine History of the Pacific Northwest, Lewis and Dryden Printers, Portland, OR 1895, at 135. was launched May 22, 1865The year of the launch is not entirely clear from the source and could be 1866. and made her trial trip July 27 in command of Capt. Miles Bell, who was then in the service of the Willamette Steam Navigation Company. Captain Cochran succeeded Bell as master, and captains Pease and Sebastian Miller also handled the vessel for a while. Other sternwheelers built and run by WRSN included Alert and Active.

Operations Echo ran between Portland and Eugene, Oregon, a city which until 1853 bore the name "Skinner's Mudhole". By April 1869 Echo was running on the Willamette between Eugene and Springfield, carrying as much as 101 tons of freight, which up to then was the heaviest cargo ever embarked from Eugene.Corning, Howard McKinley, Willamette Landings, at 66, 115, 122, Oregon Historical Society (2d Ed. 1973) For a short time Echo, running above Willamette Falls, ran in conjunction with the steamer U.S. Grant, running below the falls.

Ownership changes In March 1866, WRSN and its boats were acquired by the People's Navigation Company, sometimes called the People's line. In 1871, People's line sold all its assets to Ben Holladay's Oregon Steamship Company.

Disposition Echo was dismantled at Canemah in 1873.

See also Echo (sternwheeler 1901) Echo (steam tug)

Notes

References Affleck, Edward L., A Century of Paddlewheelers in the Pacific Northwest, the Yukon, and Alaska, Alexander Nicholls Press, Vancouver, BC 2000 Corning, Howard McKinley, Willamette Landings, Oregon Historical Society (2d Ed. 1973)

Wright, E.W., ed., Lewis and Dryden's Marine History of the Pacific Northwest, Lewis and Dryden Printers, Portland, OR 1895

Further reading Timmen, Fritz (1973). Blow for the Landing: A Hundred Years of Steam Navigation on the Waters of the West. Caldwell, ID: Caxton Printers.