Colonel Wright (sternwheeler)
Advertisement for Colonel Wright, published in the Walla Walla Statesman, February 28, 1863 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name | Colonel Wright |
| Owner | R.R. Thompson and E.F. Coe and (later) Oregon Steam Navigation Company |
| In service | 1858 |
| Out of service | 1865 |
| Fate | Dismantled at Celilo Engines to Mary Moody |
| Notes | First steamboat to operate on Columbia River above The Dalles |
| General characteristics | |
| Length | 110 ft (34 m) |
| Beam | 21 ft (6.4 m) |
| Depth | 5.0 ft (1.5 m) depth of hold |
| Installed power | steam, high-pressure boiler, twin engines, horizontally mounted, 12.5" bore by 50" stroke |
| Propulsion | sternwheel |
The Colonel Wright was the first steamboat to operate on the Columbia River above The Dalles in the parts of the Oregon Country that later became the U.S. states of Oregon, Washington and Idaho. She was the first steamboat to run on the Snake River. She was named after Colonel (later General) George Wright, an army commander in the Indian Wars in the Oregon Country in the 1850s. She was generally called the Wright during her operating career.