Ernest Whitcomb Crichton Obituary
Source: 16 June 1913 Oregonian Newspaper
E. W. CRICHTON DEAD — Veteran Steamboat Man Victim Of Peritonitis — RIVER SERVICE PROMINENT — Widow and Five Children Survive Man Who Was Long Active in Various Enterprises — Funeral Date Not Yet Set
After an illness of 10 days, Ernest Whitcomb Crichton, a veteran steamboat man of Oregon, died last night at his home, 280 East Seventeenth street, North. The cause of death was peritonitis. Mr. Crichton was born at Buckhorn Furnace, Lawrence county, Ohio, in 1850 and came to Oregon in 1875, taking a position with the old Oregon Iron Company, with headquarters at Oswego. In 1877 he went into the steamboat business with Captain U. R. Scott, S. H. Brown, Z. J. Hatch, and L. B. Seeley, having charge of the steamers “Ohio” and “City of Salem.”
In 1878 he and S. H. Brown, C. R. Donohoe, and L. B. Seeley purchased the blast furnace property at Oswego. He served as general manager for this concern and later as general manager of the Oregon Iron & Steel Company, with which the original company merged. He remained in this capacity until 1891 when he resigned and came to Portland as secretary and treasurer of the Columbia River & Puget Sound Navigation Company, familiarly known as the “White Collar Line.”
The company controlled the steamers Telephone and Bailey Gatzert, on the Columbia and the Flyer and Fleetwood, on Puget Sound, until 1911, when these interests were sold by the company.
St Helens Mist, St Helens, Oregon 2 Nov 1900
Since then Mr. Crichton had been secretary and treasurer of the Flavel Land & Development Company, controlling property at the mouth of the Columbia River.
He is survived by a widow, one daughter, and four sons. The sons are James W. and Ernest W. Crichton, of Portland; William I. Crichton, of The Dalles, and Charles D. Crichton of Mapleton. The daughter is Ruby A. Crichton, of Portland. The funeral arrangements have not been completed.
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