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.SlIlI'VAKD Hi 1111. .\l\\ i,.\L.LA.ND iSHU'UL ILUl.M . (, :iJ,\ll'A.\ \ , IjUlll, MjUir, 111 1 Ol-)U. LiilIci CUIlSlrUCtiuil IS lllC 



Steamer Portland, lost with all hands November 26-27, '898 in a storm that became known as the "Portland 

 Gale." A 3-masted coaster is building in background. (Smithsonian photo 44^^2-6.) 



Sound service, New York to Fall River for example. 

 After 1880 few wooden steamers were btiilt, and the 

 then still popular iron vessels soon gave way to steel. 

 Vessels employed as freighters were the last coasting 

 steamers to be built of wood. 



The Pacific Coast shipbuilding industry was late 

 in developing and it was not until after the Civil 

 War that many yards were established. The ship- 

 builders and carpenters were mainly from the East, 

 and in the 1880's the yards were producing from 

 native timber vessels having local characteristics. 

 The sailing craft of the Pacific Coast were often very 

 handsome and some were notable sailers. Likewise, 

 the Pacific Coast shipbuilders produced for both 

 coastal and ocean trade, a number of very fine 

 wooden steamers whose form was much admired at 

 home and in Europe. Steel shipbuilding did not 

 become well established on the Pacific Coast until 

 the 1890's. 



On the Gulf of Mexico shipbuilding was largely 

 centered at New Orleans and the nearby region. 

 In the years after the War of 1812, New Orleans 

 shipyards had produced small, fast sailing vessels 

 of the Baltimore -clipper type and a few freighting 



vessels of fuller model. After 1825 a few small 

 steamers were also produced, but after the Civil 

 War shipbuilding almost ceased and only small craft 

 were built — luggers, sloops, schooners, scows, barges, 

 and tugs. 



In the 1890's some of the coastal trades began to 

 feel the competition of the railroads, as did some of 

 the river steamship lines, and between 1888 and 1910 

 the railroads obtained control of many lines, as well 

 as many ferries, liquidating those that competed with 

 their rail traflic. Some roads laid their rails up both 

 banks of a river to cut ofT the steamers from their 

 shore connections, and thus force them to cease 

 operations. A common practice was to purchase a 

 controlling interest in a coastal or river steamship 

 line and then, by raising the water freight rates, put 

 the line out of business. Another practice was for 

 the railways to reduce their freight rates to a ruinous 

 level, so that the steamship lines had to cease opera- 

 tions, for they were commonly small companies 

 dependent upon a limited area of coast for their 

 income whereas the railways, drawing support from 

 operations elsewhere, could take a loss in a limited 

 area for a long period. 



118 



