1:30 a.m., coming in for a landing at Seattle, the mate in charge miscalculated the distance and Olympian smashed into the dock. The supporting pilings were carried away and part of the building on the dock was demolished, for a total dock damage of about $3,000. Olympian sustained $4,000 worth of damage, from the bow back to the pilot house. Columbia River service 1886 On the morning of January 18, 1886, Olympian arrived at Astoria en route to Portland. John Miller Murphy, publisher of The Washington Leader, of Olympia, W.T., commented on the transfer to the Columbia: In January 1886, a severe snowstorm stranded passenger trains in the Columbia Gorge and also froze the Columbia River. Relief trains could not reach the stranded passengers and wooden-hulled steamboats could not navigate the ice-choked river. Olympian however had an iron hull, and on January 27, it was used to smash through the ice and rescue the passengers. Olympian worked on the Portland-Astoria-Ilwaco run during the summer of 1886, serving vacationers and tourists. Olympian made its fastest time on this run under Capt. Lester A. Bailey, from Portland to Astoria in four hours and 47 minutes. Olympian'''s rival on this route was the popular crack side-wheelerT.J. Potter, which was less expensive to operate. Mostly Olympian was unsuccessful, being too expensive and not much faster than its wooden-hulled chief rivals, T.J. Potter and the express sternwheeler Telephone. Alaskan operations summer 1887 In 1887, unable to earn money from Olympian on either the Seattle-Victoria run or on the Columbia River, OR&N chartered out Olympian to Pacific Coast Steamship Co. to run summer excursions to Alaska through the Inside Passage. Olympian did not do well on the Inside Passage, being too lightly built for its conditions, which were much more challenging than Chesapeake Bay for which the vessel was designed and best suited. Preparation work In February and March 1887 Olympian was being overhauled, and additional staterooms were being installed, to prepare the steamer for service to Alaska to begin at the end of May, under the command of Capt. James Carroll.Olympian departed Astoria on Wednesday, April 6, 1887, bound for San Francisco for further preparation work. Off Coos Bay Olympian encountered a storm which lasted for fourteen hours. The steamer sustained damage, and had to seek assistance from the nearby ocean-going steamship Oregon. With difficulty the damage was repaired, and Olympian was able to reach