This comes from the book "Our Strip of Land
- A History of Daggett County, Utah" by Disk and Vivian Dunham.
Published 1947. page 80-81
"A few other developments deserve mention
here. The most notable and ambitious was a project to establish
commercial navigation on the Green River, in the form of a
steamboat line to run between Green River City and Linwood,
and carry passengers and freight. Green
River Navigation Company was formed, and a boat built.
It was a stern-wheeler, twelve feet wide and
sixty feet long, with a 60 hp boiler, and two 20 hp engines.
It was duly christened "The
Comet" and launched July 4, 1908. The fare was $5.00 and
tickets were to be produced at the office of Hugo Gaensslen
in Green River, or of M.N. Larsen at Linwood. The maiden voyage
down the river started on July 7.
The crew was listed as H.
Larsen, pilot; M.N. Larsen, purser; J.W. Chrisman, chief
of commissary; Otto Kaehler, chief engineer; George Solomon,
anchor man, and J.H. Crossen, coal detective. It was a jolly
crew, and everyone had a fine time. It kept the chief of commissary
busy placing bottles of beer handy for the pilot to draw inspiration
from in moments of stress. And there were plenty of such moments,
for the water was low, and the boat kept hanging up on shallows
and sand bars. Even then, however, the boat made good time,
and the crew and company were both assured of the success
of the project.
Steaming back up the river, however, was a different
matter. Going with the current it was possible to avoid some
of the sand bars, but bucking it, the boat seemed to develop
a habit of heading straight onto every bar and getting stuck
fast. The only way it could be dislodged was by staking out
lines to the shore, and pulling the boat over the bar with
a winch.
It ran out of coal, and fuel had to be packed
down the river bank by pack horses. Further trips were attempted,
but the situation grew worse rather than better, and finally,
regretfully, the company decided that navigation on the Green
River was impractical. The Comet was tied up at Green
River City, the engines removed, and the old hulk finally
floundered there. My father-in-law also has a stock certificate
from the Green River Navigation Company.
Barbara Lacy
