The sternwheel paddle steamer Sarah Dixon was built in Portland, Oregon in 1906. She was 161' long with a beam of 29' 5" drawing 7' 2" of water under her 368 gross tons. Owned by the Shaver Transportation Company of Portland, Oregon she was used for towing river barges. At around midnight on January 18/19, 1912 they were a few miles south of Kalama, Washington on the Columbia River when a terrific explosion tore through the ship. The pilot house was completely destroyed and the three men inside were killed. There were nine others who launched a lifeboat and managed to make it safely to shore where they reported the accident. The ship went down in about 30' of water and was a total loss. It is believed that the boiler exploded, but the cause of the failure was unexplained. One survivor later stated that they were operating at only 90% of capacity.