A group of businessmen from The Dalles, Oregon, and vicinity incorporated The Dalles, Portland & Astoria Navigation Company (DP&AN) in 1890, in response to what people in the region viewed as excessive freight and passenger rates charged by steamboat companies operating between The Dalles and Portland, Oregon, particularly the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company (OR&N). In 1891, the DP&AN started operating two sternwheel steamers, the Regulator and Dalles City, and competed successfully against the OR&N. The DP&AN built a large warehouse at The Dalles, which facilitated shipment of wheat and wool from the region's farms to Portland, and constructed or leased wharves on both sides of the Columbia River.
The company was based at The Dalles until May 1902, when it was sold to the Columbia River & Northern Railway Company (CR&NR). Portland business interests dominated the CR&NR, which was building a railroad line between Lyle and Goldendale, Washington, and wanted to add river connections to Portland. CR&NR moved the company's headquarters to Portland, leaving The Dalles with a local agent, but the riverboat service continued to operate under the DP&AN name.
In 1905, Northern Pacific quietly obtained control of the company through a subsidiary, the Northwestern Improvement Company, and control was transferred to the Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway in March 1908. The DP&AN stock was sold in 1915 to Drake C. O'Reilly, operator of the Diamond O Navigation Company, but the corporation was not dissolved until 1919, when its remaining assets were transferred to the Diamond O.
Records in this collection consist of The Dalles, Portland & Astoria Navigation Company's articles of incorporation and bylaws; records of stock sales, stockholders' meetings, and board of directors' meetings; and a few administrative documents, including the certificate of dissolution. The records reflect changes in ownership, but the collection does not include the company's operational records except as reflected in board meeting minutes. Issues that board members addressed on a regular basis included the purchase, sale, and retrofitting of steamboats; the purchase, lease, maintenance, and sale of wharf sites; hiring and firing captains and other personnel; setting freight and passenger rates; steamboat accidents and related legal issues; and dealing with competitors. There are no records between February 1915 and June 1919. The collection is contained in two bound minute books and three bound stock certificate books, and also includes a small quantity of loose papers that were originally located within the bound volumes. The minutes in the collection were handwritten in ink until 1906, when typed pages were glued into the book. One 1922 letter, probably from the Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway, was found between the pages of one volume.
Collection is open for research.
The Dalles, Portland & Astoria Navigation Company Records, Mss 47, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
Gift of Mrs. H. Dent, Jr., August 1974 (Lib. Acc. 13035).
Bound volumes were individually foldered; loose papers that were found within the volumes during processing were removed and foldered separately for preservation purposes. The original locations of the loose items within the volumes are noted in the collection guide.
Carbon copy of letter from J.C. Daries, right of way agent, to G.E. Votow, both of Portland, Oregon, concerning Haulenbeck Brothers lease of lumber yard site at North Plains, Oregon.
Removed from envelope inside front cover of Volume 2.
Copy sent to D. C. O'Reilly, then president of The Dalles, Portland & Astoria Navigation Company, by W. F. Turner, secretary, Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway Company, January 5, 1916.
Removed from envelope inside front cover of Volume 2.