The '' Georgie Burton '' was one of the last surviving steamboats on the Columbia River . She had been launched in 1906 , on the same day as the San Francisco earthquake . Her last commercial run came on March 20 , 1947 . The trip was described in McCurdy as follows : Mills , an English professor when he was not writing books on history , used his full talent with the language to capture the occasion : '' Georgie Burton '' was moored up at The Dalles , with the objective of turning her into a museum boat . Unfortunately the great Columbia River flood of 1948 broke her loose from her mooring and wrecked her
San Francisco earthquake
1906 San Francisco earthquake
Steamboats of the Columbia River