Black and white image of four men, one of whom is shoveling smelt from the bottom of a boat into wooden boxes. The boxes have the words "From the Columbia River Smelt Co. Kelso, Wash." stamped on them. The man doing the shoveling is an older man with his back to the camera. He is wearing a hat with a brim, a long-sleeved shirt, a vest with a large hole in the back, workpants and shoes. To his left, a younger man kneels, holding on to one of th boxes with his right hand. He is wearing a brimmed hat, long-sleeved shirt, and pants. In another boat facing the camera is an elderly man dressed in a suit, with jacket, white shirt and bowtie, and a brimmed hat. Next to him in the boat is a younger man, without a hat, wearing work pants, and a long-sleeved shirt with the collar pulled up around his neck. Behind them is the river and the opposite shore can be seen in the distance.
A dramatic black and white view of a stern wheeler identified as the "Hassalo" being taken over the Cascade Rapids by Captain J. W. Troup. The boat steams through whitecaps, plumes of smoke trailing from its smokestacks. In the foreground, a crowd is gathered among large boulders along the river. Most of the men wear dark lounge suits and boater hats; the women mostly wear light dresses, and the ties of their hats hang down their backs. Some of the men are waving hats or handkerchiefs to cheer the paddlewheeler on. It appears that there is also a large crowd on the opposite shore. The Hassalo was built at The Dalles in 1880 for the Oregon Railway & Navigation Co. She worked the river til 1888, advertised as the fastest river boat in the world. Captain Troup took her over the Cascades Rapids on May 26, 1888, after which she was sent to Puget Sound. When she returned in 1892 she was converted to a towboat.
