accident was that it was caused by a confusion of whistle signals. Shaver had departed Portland soon after 11:00 p.m. headed downstream. La Center was coming upstream from the Lewis River. The towboat Alarm was coming upriver at the same time as La Center, with a log raft.Shaver gave two whistle signals to Alarm, which Captain Brothers, on La Center, interpreted as being intended for La Center. Captain Brothers changed course, crossing Shaver’s bow, which crashed into the side of La Center, running through the guard timbers and about four feet into La Center’s hull.La Center was beached near the St. Johns Shipbuilding Company. No one was injured in the collision. On Monday, October 27, 1913, La Center was hauled out of the river at St. Johns for repairs. Captain Berry of Shaver had by then filed a report of the incident with U.S. steamboat inspectors Edwards and Fuller. Bootlegging allegations On November 7, 1914, Capt. Peter I. Moe, of La Center, was required to appear before customs officials in Portland, Oregon to explain allegations against him that bootlegging activity was being conducted in the town of La Center from a building on the waterfront. Although this was before national Prohibition in the United States, the town of La Center had recently voted go "dry", that is, to outlaw liquor sales within the city limits. Moe, believing the report was directed at him, denied the allegations. Moe was quoted in the Morning Oregonian as having said: Ice problems 1914 On December 19, 1914, La Center was reported to be frozen up on the Lewis River. The Lewis and Lake rivers were frozen over, and navigation from Portland to points on these rivers was suspended. On January 25, 1915, ice in the Columbia river prevented La Center from making its usual trip to Portland. Excursion operations in 1915 On May 12, 1915, the La Center baseball team chartered La Center to go to St. Helens to pay a game against the St. Helens team. St. Helens won, 11–0. Later that year, the Portland Motorboat Club, and their associated boats, were scheduled to take a three-day trip starting Saturday, July 3, 1915 from Portland down the Willamette and Columbia rivers to Paradise Point on the east fork of the Lewis River. La Center was chartered to carry excursionists who could not get a place on one of the motor boats. Ice problems