THE YAQUINA RAILROAD 237
a ton. The first steamship was the Yaquina City, which con- tinued the route from Sept., 1885, until she was wrecked inside the bar of Yaquina Bay Dec. 5, 1887. In January of that year the steamship Santa Maria, was put on the route with the Yaquina City and was reinforced in August, 1887, by the steamships Willamette Valley and Eastern Oregon. To take the place of the wrecked Yaquina City the steamship Yaquina Bay arrived at the Bay December 9, 1888, where she was wrecked on the south jetty on her first trip. During 1887 the company maintained a frequent service with three steam- ships, but business was sufficient to operate only the Willam- ette Valley in August, 1888. In January-February, 1889, the Santa Maria and Willamette Valley were on the route. In October-December, 1889, the Willamette Valley operated alone. In 1887 the Yaquina City and the Willamette Valley carried 24,000 tons of wheat to San Francisco and the re- turning tonnage was about 200 a trip.
For Willamette River connections the railroad company built three large steamers William M. Hoag, N. S. Bentley, and Three Sisters, which together maintained an alternate day service between Portland and Corvallis. The trip took two days, with one night stay at Salem. These water lines were operated by the Oregon Development Company, a subsidiary of the Oregon Pacific. They were essential as "feeders" to the railroad.
After completion of the railroad from Yaquina to Cor- vallis, the next step was extension to Albany. The Willam- ette Valley and Coast Railroad Company was authorized in 1880 to bridge the Willamette River at Albany but the fran- chise was not utilized at once. For a subsidy for the extension, Albany citizens raised $40,000 in 1885-86. The bridge was finished Jan. 5, 1887, and the first passenger train between Corvallis and Albany ran on Jan. 6, 1887; the first regular freight train January 13, 1887. The whole project received impetus in 1886 from the visit of John I. Blair and Percy R. Pyne, of New York, bondholders of the Oregon Pacific and
