Idaho

The sidewheeler Idaho was a steamboat that ran on the Columbia River and Puget Sound from 1860 to 1898. There is some confusion as to the origins of the name; many historians have proposed it is the inspiration for the name of the State of Idaho. Considerable doubt has been cast on this due to the fact that it is unclear if the boat was named before or after the idea of 'Idaho' as a territory name was proposed. John Ruckel also allegedly stated he had named the boat after a Native American term meaning 'Gem of the Mountains' he got from a mining friend from what is now Colorado territory. This steamer should not be confused with the many other vessels of the same name, including the sternwheeler Idaho built in 1903 for service on Lake Coeur d'Alene and the steamship Idaho of the Pacific Coast Steamship Line which sank near Port Townsend, Washington. Design and construction Idaho was built on at the Upper Cascades on the Columbia River by John J. Holland (1843–1893) for John Ruckel. Holland, who was then only a very young man, later went on to build many famous steamboats, including in 1890 his masterpiece, the Bailey Gatzert Operations Soon after she was launched, Idaho was acquired by the Oregon Steam Navigation Company, and ran on the middle Columbia. This was a stretch of the river that ran between the rapids at the Cascades and The Dalles, where another longer stretch of rapids began. Because the rapids were not generally navigable, all traffic had to be routed around the rapids on portages, first paths and roads, then on railways. This meant that no single steamboat could run up the whole river. The Idahos role was to transport people and freight on the middle Columbia, bracketed by the rapids at the Cascades and by Celilo Falls to the east. She ran on this route with the small sidewheeler Dalles and the larger Iris.