Gazelle (1854 sidewheeler)

History
Name	Gazelle
Builder	Willamette Falls Milling and Transport Co., Linn City, Oregon
Maiden voyage	March 14, 1854
Fate	Boiler exploded April 8, 1854 at Canemah, upper works destroyed.
Notes	Hull salvaged, upper works rebuilt, and renamed (briefly) Sarah Hoyt and later Señorita.
General characteristics
Type	inland shallow draft passenger/freighter/towboat
Length	145 ft (44 m)
Beam	23 ft (7 m)
Depth	5.0 ft (2 m) depth of hold
Installed power	twin steam engines, high-pressure, one cylinder each, 14.5" bore by 48" stroke
Propulsion	sidewheels
Notes	Engines later installed on sternwheeler Okanogan, built in 1861.

Gazelle was an early sidewheeler on the Willamette River in what is now the U.S. state of Oregon. She did not operate long, suffering a catastrophic boiler explosion on April 8, 1854, less than a month after her trial voyage. This was the worst such explosion ever to occur in the Pacific Northwest states. The wrecked Gazelle was rebuilt and operated for a few years, first briefly as the unpowered barge Sarah Hoyt and then, with boilers installed, as the steamer Señorita. A victim of the explosion was D.P. Fuller, age 28, who is buried in Lone Fir Cemetery in Portland, Oregon.