Gray Captain James T Aylor (1 results)

One red & black printed steamship pass, with printed illustration of steamship, typed identifying recipient of Captain James Gray, and signed in ink by James W. Shaver, rounded corners, from the library of Caroline Augusta Gray Kamm (1840-1932), noted socialite and philanthropist in Portland, built home for poor women & girls with the YWCA, and was daughter of PNW pioneer William H. Gray (1810-1889) who traveled to the Lapwai Mission in Lewiston, ID in 1836 where he was the Nez Perce secular agent, and she subsequently later married Jacob Kamm (1823-1912), pioneering Oregon steamship builder, industrialist, entrepreneur, and co-owner/operator of the Ilwaco Railway & Navigation Co. An exceptionally scarce original steamship pass for the famed Shaver Transportation Co., whose steamships, tugboats, and barge vessels have contributed to Portland's economic growth. The company was launched originally by James W. Shaver, and partners Herny W. Corbett, and A.S. Foster, pioneering Portland businessmen in 1880. By 1909 when this pass was issued the company had updated their fleet by building the sternwheelers "Shaver" and the second "Sarah Dixon" to replace the originals, with the Shaver serving as tow and work boat. Captain Gray (1852-1928) was the brother to Caroline Kamm, and brother-in-law to Jacob Kamm, who had originally begun work on his father Dr. William Henry Gray's Cascadilla steamer, and by the 1870's was secretary of the Oregon Steam & Navigation Co., and later officer with the Vancouver Transportation Co. Original signed steamship passes for the Columbia River shipping companies are quite scarce.