La Center (sternwheeler)
La Center at Timmens Landing, (La Center, Washington, moored by freight warehouse, circa 1920. | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name | La Center |
| Owner | Brothers & Moe 1912-1916); Arthur C Heston (1916- ) |
| Route | Lewis, Lake, lower Columbia and lower Willamette rivers |
| In service | 1912 |
| Out of service | 1931 |
| Identification | U.S. #209642 |
| Fate | Abandoned. |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | inland all-purpose |
| Length | 65 ft (19.81 m) measured over hull |
| Beam | 16 ft (4.88 m) exclusive of guards |
| Draft | 12 in (304.8 mm) |
| Depth | 3.1 ft (0.94 m) depth of hold |
| Installed power | originally a gasoline engine, later replaced with twin steam engines, horizontally mounted, cylinder bore 5.5 in (139.7 mm) and stroke of 2.5 ft (0.76 m). |
| Propulsion | sternwheel |
| Capacity | 45 tons of freight |
La Center was a small stern-wheel steamboat that operated from 1912 to 1931, mostly on the Lewis and Lake rivers in southwest Washington, on a route to and from Portland, Oregon along the lower Columbia and lower Willamette rivers.
La Center was small compared to other sternwheelers of the Columbia River. However, despite a number of accidents, including collisions and groundings, La Center earned a reputation as providing dependable transport for the Lewis River country to the Portland market.
La Center was somewhat unusual in that it was originally fitted with a gasoline engine, and then about a year after construction, the gasoline engine was replaced with second-hand steam engines.