Colonial Despatches

The eliza_andersonEliza Anderson, a 43-metre long, 283-tonne sidewheeler, was built in 1859 by Samuel Farnam for the Columbia River Steam Navigation Company.1 The eliza_andersonEliza Anderson had a 66cm by 183cm vertical-beam engine and, at the time, was the largest low-pressure steam vessel in the Oregon Territory.2

The eliza_andersonEliza Anderson was in continual service for 10 years, and monopolized the Victoria and Puget Sound routes.3 In April of 1866, the British Colonist reports that the eliza_andersonEliza Anderson brought news to Victoria of the total loss of the steamer labouchereLabouchere.4

The olympia_vesselOlympia took over the eliza_andersonEliza Anderson's routes in 1870, but the eliza_andersonEliza Anderson continued to run as a spare vessel until 1877.5

From 1877 to 1882 the eliza_andersonEliza Anderson was laid up, and eventually sank while at a dock in Seattle; however, it would be later refitted and used on the New Westminster-Seattle route.6

• 1. E. W. Wright, ed., Lewis and Dryden's Marine History of the Pacific Northwest (Portland, OR: The Lewis and Dryden Printing Company, 1895), 76-77.
• 2. Ibid., 77.
• 3. Ibid., 76.
• 4. Ibid.
• 5. Singular Coincidence, British Colonist, April 20, 1866.
• 6. E. W. Wright, ed., Lewis and Dryden's Marine History of the Pacific Northwest, 77.
• 7. Ibid.