A mistaken idea has possessed many tourists that the Puget Sound steamers
start from Portland; they leave Tacoma for all points on the Sound, and
Tacoma is about 150 miles by rail from Portland.
One steamer sails every twelfth day from Portland to Seattle.
One steamer per month leaves Portland for Alaska, but she touches at Port
Townsend before proceeding north.
One steamship leaves Tacoma for Alaska during the season of 1890, about
every fifteen days, from June to September.
The Ocean steamers sail every fourth day from Portland to San Francisco.
There are semi-weekly boats between Portland and Corvallis, and
tri-weekly between Portland and Salem.
On the Sound there are three boats each way, daily (except Sunday),
between Tacoma and Seattle; one boat each way, daily (except Sunday),
between Tacoma and Victoria; one boat each way, daily (except Sunday),
between Seattle and Whatcom, and one boat, daily (except Sunday), between
Whatcom and Seminahmoo.
Only one class of tickets is sold on the River and Sound boats; on the
Ocean steamers there are two classes: cabin and steerage. The steerage
passengers on the Ocean steamers have a dining-room separate from the
first-class passengers--on the lower deck--and are given abundance of
wholesome food, tea and coffee.
On River and Sound boats, a ticket does not include meals and berths, but
it does on the ocean voyage, or the Alaska trip. The usual price for meals
is 50 cents, and they will be found uniformly excellent. Breakfast, lunch,
and a 6 o'clock dinner are served.
The price of berths on these boats runs from 50 cents for a single berth
to $3 per day for the bridal chamber.
No liquors of any kind are kept on sale on any River or Sound steamer,
but a small stock of the best brands will be found on the Ocean steamers.
State-rooms on the River and Sound steamers are provided with one double
lower and one single upper berth.
Passengers can, if they choose, purchase the full accommodation of a
state-room.
The steerage capacity of each of the three Ocean steamers is about 300.
The diagram of the Ocean steamers and the night boats to Astoria can
always be found at the Union Ticket Office of the Union Pacific Railway
in Portland, corner First and Oak Streets.
Tourists receive more than an ordinary amount of attention on these
steamers, more than is possible to pay them on a railway train. The
pursers will be found polite and obliging, always ready to point out
places of interest and render those little attentions which go so far
toward making travel pleasant.
On River and Sound boats, the forward cabin is generally the
smoking-room, the cabin amidships is used for a "Social Hall," and the
"After Saloon" is always the ladies' cabin.
All Union Pacific steamers in the Ocean service are heated with steam and
lighted with electricity; all have pianos and a well-selected library. The
beds on these boats are well-nigh perfect, woven-wire springs and heavy
mattresses. They are kept scrupulously clean--the company is noted for
that--and the steerage is as neat as the main saloon.
One hundred and fifty pounds of baggage is allowed free on board both
boats and trains.
Boats leaving terminal points at any time between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.,
arrange so that passengers can go on board after 7 p.m. and retire to
their state-rooms, thus enjoying an unbroken night's rest.
Sea-sickness is never met with on the Sound, and very rarely on the
voyage from Portland to San Francisco. On the Pacific, the ship is never
out of sight of land, and the sea is as smooth as a mill-pond.
The heaviest swell encountered is going over the Columbia River Bar. The
ocean is uniformly placid during the summer months. The trip, with its
freedom from the dust, rush, and roar of a train, and the inexorable
restraint one always feels on the cars, is a delightful one, and with
larger comforts and more luxurious surroundings, one enjoys the added
pleasure of courteous and thoughtful service from the various officers of
the ship.
Taking the "Columbia" as a sample of the class of steamships in the
Union Pacific fleet, we notice that she is 334 feet long, 2,200
horse-power, nearly 3,000 tonnage, has 65 state-rooms, and can
accommodate 200 saloon and 200 steerage passengers. Steam heat and
electric light are used. In 1880 the first plant from Edison's factory
was put on board the "Columbia," at that time a great curiosity, she
being the first ship to use the incandescent light.
[Illustration: CRATER LAKE, ORE.
Reached via the Union Pacific Ry.]