Hub City
By Stagecoach | By Steamboat | By Rail | A City of Industry
By Stagecoach
The California Stage Company, the first major coachline in the west, began operation in Oregon in 1860 with coaches leaving daily from Portland to Sacramento. Albany was a stopover point in Linn County before proceeding southward. The first coach from Portland arrived in Sacramento six days and five hours later. Each coach carried 19 passengers, one driver and the mail. Four-horse teams were used in the summer and six-horse teams in the winter. The 710-mile route was the longest in the nation. The stagecoach company was one of the largest owners of horse flesh, outside of military organizations, in the history of the country. Fares from Portland to Albany were $10.
By Steamboat
Steamboats brought the farmers and townspeople the necessities of life and enhanced prosperity in Albany. Boats running upstream carried mail, sheep, cattle, kerosene and everyday items for the farms, homes and mills. Many products such as flour, woolen goods and pottery went downstream to be shipped off to market. The first steamboat in Albany, the "Multnomah," had been built in New York City, shipped in pieces around Cape Horn, and reassembled in Oregon City. In 1870 a person could travel to Portland by steamboat for one dollar.
By Rail
In 1871 the first locomotive whistle was heard in Albany. The arrival of the first train was celebrated as the greatest event in Albany's history. Albany businessmen raised $50,000 to ensure that the rails would come through their city, instead of bypassing it a few miles eastward. The train brought the farmers' markets close as stagecoaches and steamboats gave way to the railroad. The world's longest wooden railroad drawbridge was built in 1888 for the Albany-Corvallis run. By 1910, 28 passenger trains departed daily from Albany going in five different directions.
A City of Industry
Albany became the manufacturing and transportation hub of the Willamette Valley. Foundries, blacksmith shops, furniture factories, tanneries, a bag factory, carriage factories, flour and flax mills, a twine factory, creameries and sawmills supplied local farmers and processed their crops. Flour, grain and produce were shipped by river and rail to Portland and points east.