[A large photo album and scrapbook documenting the Willamette River dredge “Clackamas” which in 1925 was the world’s largest dredge helping to keep the waterways from Portland down to the mouth of the Columbia navigable. Together with the photographs, the compiler has included detailed performance data charts for the massive diesel engines in operation, as well as an original issue of the Motorship trade journal which included a many-page photo spread of the dredge in operation, and features.]

[Portland, OR: A.J. Baker, Photo Studio, 929 Sandy Blvd., 1925-1936]. Two vols. Folio. 16 x 11.25 in. [96 pp (unpaginated).], on thick beige-coloured paper. With 24 silver gelatin photos, tipped-in w/ corners, 22 sized 8 x 10 in. up to 8.5 x 11 in., many w/ neatly written captions to the sides in black ink, 2 sized 4 x 6 in., mounted w/ printed captions, several w/ photographer’s commercial stamp on verso, 10 graph paper charts. Contemporary black cloth post-binder, sewn w/ black silk braid at gutter margin (minor wear to corners, very minor bumping to couple corners), VG exemplar; [together with]. Motorship. Vol. X, No. 10, October, 1925, pp. 725-788, w/ 100s of photo illusts., text illustrations, illust. ads. Colour-illustrated softcovers, photo cover art of Dredge Clackamas, lettering in black (minor edgewear, creasing, minor closed tears), VG- copy. This remarkable album includes excellent original silver gelatin photographs of the Port of Portland dredge Clackamas which launched in 1925, and at the time was the largest diesel-electric dredge in the world. The Clackamas was equipped with 3600 horsepower engines, and a 30-inch pipeline discharge which allowed it to dredge more river silt from the Columbia and Willamette Rivers than any other, and ensured that these vital waterways remained navigable. The photographs show the dredge in operation, the many different electrical panels, and monitoring stations, the massive Westinghouse generators, pumps, the balancer set on the main deck, and engine rooms, powered by Atlas Imperial engines out of Oakland, CA, as well as the bridge and control levers, and officer’s mess. In addition, there is a large crew photo taken in the 1930s, a view of the Dredge in operation on the Willamette River, as well as views from the river, the gooseneck of the Dredge discharge line, and the massive marine diesel engines. Of special interest is a photograph of the Dredge Gallatin which was built for and operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers while the Fort Peck Dam was under construction which began in 1933 under Roosevelt’s New Deal program. The detailed performance graphs show the fuel pressure and gas temperature for the auxiliary engine, the amount of liner wear on Engines Nos. 3 & 4, Exhaust Gases, and more. The photographer Almeron (A.J.) Baker (1882-1972) operated his Sandy Boulevard commercial photography studio for more than 50 years before retiring in 1964, whose subjects included Theodore Roosevelt, Annie Oakley, Admiral Byrd, Buffalo Bill, and many of the sites around Portland, Oregon.