[Vancouver Transportation Co’s.] Steamer Lurline. . . [a very scarce albumen boudoir-sized photograph of the Steamer Lurline tied up on the Willamette River next to the Wilzinski Bros. & Co. mercantile off of Morrison].

[Portland, OR & Vancouver, W.T.: Vancouver Transportation Co., ca. 1880]. Oblong boudoir-sized albumen photo 7.5 x 4.25 in. mounted on cream-coloured studio board sized 8.5 x 5.25 in., ink manuscript caption at lower fore-edge, rounded corners (very minor dustsoiling), still a superb exemplar, from the library of from the library of Caroline Augusta Gray Kamm (1840-1932), noted socialite and philanthropist in Portland, built home for poor women & girls with the YWCA, and was daughter of PNW pioneer William H. Gray (1810-1889) who traveled to the Lapwai Mission in Lewiston, ID in 1836 where he was the Nez Perce secular agent, and she subsequently later married Jacob Kamm (1823-1912), pioneering Oregon steamship builder, industrialist, entrepreneur, and owner/operator of the Vancouver Transportation Co. This exceptional original boudoir-sized albumen photo was issued as a promotion for the recently formed Vancouver Transportation Co., and newly launched Steamer Lurline. First built and launched by Jacob Kamm with John Ainsworth, the hull was 153 feet, with overall length of 175 feet, beam of 30 feet, and 6 foot depth of hold. The initial configuration featured a two-cylinder engine built by The Harlen & Hollingsworth Co. of Wilmington, DE, and a locomotive-style boiler built by Ward, Stanton & Co. in New Burgh, NY. With a three foot draft, and top speed of 17 miles per hour, the Lurline was able to sail for the Vancouver Transportation Co. on the Willamette, Columbia, and Lewis Rivers with fairly easy clearance. She operated for over 50 years, was rebuilt several times, survived being rammed and sunk at Rainier, OR Nov. 21, 1906 by the steam schooner Cascade, and never acquired the reputation of speed as her sister ship the Bailey Gatzert, but served until dismantled in 1930. Her upper works which remained quite similar to those seen in this photo were actually transferred to the diesel-powered L.P. Hosford which operated until after 1966. See: Wright, Lewis & Dryden’s Marine History of the Pacific Northwest (1895); Newell, H.W. McCurdy, Marine History of the Pacific Northwest (1966).