No Wonder was a stern-wheel driven steamboat that operated on the Willamette, Columbia and Cowlitz rivers from 1889 to 1930. No Wonder was originally built in 1877 as Wonder, which was dismantled in 1888, with components being shifted over to a new hull, which when launched in late 1889 was called No Wonder.
No Wonder served almost entirely in the logging and towing trade until it was abandoned in 1930. No Wonder was sometimes referred to as the Wonder during its operational career.
Construction
No Wonder was built in East Portland, Oregon, in 1889, just above the landing of the Jefferson Street ferry. The original owner was the Willamette Steam Mills & Lumbering Company. Construction was supervised by Capt. Frank B. Turner (b.1859). David Stephenson (b.1835), a native of Saint John, New Brunswick, was the actual builder.
Design
No Wonder was built as a replacement boat by Captain Turner for the steamer Wonder. Wonder had been built in 1877 by George Washington Weidler (commonly known as “Old Man Weidler”) as the first log-towing steamer on the Willamette River.
Components of Wonder were salvaged and installed on the new hull, which was named No Wonder. The new steamer was fitted with special equipment for handling log tows.
Nomenclature
The joke circulating about the old Wonder was that it had received that have because everyone was wondering where Captain Turner had obtained the money to build the boat. The name No Wonder was chosen apparently as a response.
Engineering
No Wonder was driven by a stern-wheel, which was turned by twin steam engines, horizontally mounted, each with bore of and stroke of , generating 17 nominal horsepower.
No Wonder was equipped with steam steering gear, an invention which Captain Turner had patented in 1888. No Wonder was reported to be the best equipped logging towboat on the Columbia River. The boiler, as of 1910, was reported to carry 100 pounds of steam pressure. As built, No Wonder had a wood-fired boiler.
No Wonder required a crew of 13 to run the boat.
Dimensions
No Wonder was over hull (exclusive of fantail), with a beam of over hull (exclusive of guards and depth of hold of . The overall size of the vessel was 269.66 gross tons and 235.30 registered tons. The official merchant vessel registry number was 130458.
Operations under original owners
In April 1890, one J. Ordway was reported to be the principal owner of No Wonder. Capt Frank Turner remained in charge of No Wonder until 1893, with W.H. Marshall (b.1853) as chief engineer. After 1893, and up to at least 1895, Capt. Charles Spinner (b.1849) was in command.
Logging work
In February 1890, a flood washed away 4,000,000 board feet of logs belong to the Willamette Steam Mills. About 3,000,000 board feet of these logs were recovered. In two days in late February, No Wonder, under Captain Turner, working as far downriver as Clifton, recovered 1,900 logs, paying one dollar apiece for them.
On June 29, 1890, No Wonder, under Capt. James Whitcomb, master, departed up the Columbia River with a tow of logs from the Lewis and Clark River, comprising over one-half million board feet of lumber.
Mate injury
On February 20, 1890, the mate of No Wonder, Kane Olney, was seriously injured in a towing accident. The accident occurred on the Columbia River, about a mile upriver from Cathlamet, Washington. Captain Turner was in command at that time. The steamer was using its donkey steam engine to haul logs out of the water onto the bank. The mate was out of boat on the bank when one of the irons used to secure the pulling chain to the logs snapped loose from the log, striking the mate in the left temple, breaking his skull and exposing his brain.
Olney was taken on board No Wonder, and the steamer proceeded downstream as fast as possible, reaching Astoria two hours later, where the mate was taken to the hospital. As of midnight, he was still alive, but it was reported that “two spoonfuls of the brain matter exuded” from his skull. Olney survived however, and lived to command other river steamers before his death in September 1936.
Complaint
On April 24, 1890, F.B. Jones, owner of the sternwheeler Maria, filed an affidavit with the U.S. Steamboat Inspector’s office, alleging that the day before, No Wonder, while towing logs on the Columbia River, had crowded the Maria, also towing logs, into a dangerous position from which it took three hours time to extricate the steamer.