sible to combine at least the steamboat interests together as one company. In
fact, this was an old scheme of his, often talked over with his friend, R. R.
Thompson, but whose interests were at this time all on the upper Columbia,
making it therefore necessary for him to proceed alone, even with an element
whose interests were somewhat antagonistic to those of Thompson's ; but after
much discussion, it was agreed between the San Francisco parties owning the
control of the steamer "Julia," the parties owning the old boats of the Colum-
bia River Steam Navigation Company, composed of Stark, Reed, Williams,
Wells and Hoyt, the owners of the Oregon Transportation Company, composed
of J. S. Ruckel and H. Olmstead, and Bradford & Co., owning boats between
the Cascades and The Dalles, and J. C. Ainsworth and associates owning the
steamer "Carrie Ladd," that it would be desirable to consolidate the different
steamboat interests into one company and that it should be done if terms could
be agreed upon. This was the beginning of a long discussion as to the valuation
of the different boats that should constitute the basis of the new company. This
was finally adjusted and an agreement was reached to combine all the steam-
boat interests between Astoria and The Dalles. The next step was to bring in
R. R. Thompson who owned the steamer "Colonel Wright" and a lot of small
sailboats on the upper Columbia river. At length an agreement was reached,
and the Oregon Steam Navigation Company was formed with a capital in steam-
boats and other property at the highest possible figure of $172,500. J. C. Ains-
worth was made agent, and so remained until the company was legally organ-
ized on December 20, i860, when they procured a charter from the Washington
territorial legislature with nominal headquarters at Vancouver. The shares
were valued at $500 each, with fifteen shareholders whose holdings were as
follows :
R. R. Thompson 120 shares
Ladd & Tilton 80 shares
T. W. Lyles 76 shares
L. W. Coe 60 shares
Jacob Kamm 57 shares
J. C. Ainsworth 40 shares
A. H. Barker 30 shares
S. G. Reed 26 shares
Benjamin Stark 19 shares
Josiah Myrick 12 shares
Richard Williams 7 shares
J. W. Ladd 4 shares
G. W. Pope 4 shares
J. M. Gilman 4 shares
George W. Hoyt 3 shares
J. C. Ainsworth was elected president, which position he occupied, with the exception of one year, during the entire life of the corporation. The superior value of that portion of the new line owned by Thompson and Coe was recog- nized by giving them a much larger block of the stock than any other faction. Ladd & Tilton, the bankers, had rendered some financial aid to the owners of the steamers "Mountain Buck" and "Senorita," and in this way secured an in- terest in the corporation in which the senior of the banking firm afterward be- came quite a power. The difiiculties in effecting an organization of this company were very great, but its subsequent history was great in results and usefulness. No other steamboat company in the United States can show such a record. They commenced, as before stated, with a capital in property at the highest possible valuation of $172,500; no assessment was ever levied on this stock. The company expended in gold nearly three million dollars in creating their subsequent magnificent property, besides paying to their stockholders in divi- dends over two million five hundred thousand dolla
