Thomas O. White, of "Dispatch", attributed the collision to "pure cussedness" on the part of Captain Panter. Both captains filed reports with the steamboat inspection service. The points on which they agreed were that the steamers had been at Prosper, when "Telegraph" was backing away from the wharf, and then struck "Dispatch" on the left side near the rear of the vessel, where the engines were located. "Dispatch" was leaving the dock at the time. The collision caused the loss of about 20 feet of the rear portion of the cabin structure on "Dispatch". As a result of this collision the license of Captain Panter was suspended for thirty days. About a year previously, Captain Panter's license had been suspended for 18 months, but the suspension time had been reduced following Panter's appeal. There had been a number of similar incidents on the river, and rivalry between the competing steamboat lines was thought to be the principal reason for the Coquille river cases then being investigated by the steamboat inspectors. Automobile roads were built in the Coquille Valley in the 1920s, which quickly eliminated most of the demand for riverine passenger and freight service. In 1924, the closing of the Nestil Milk Condensing Plant in Bandon took away a major remaining customer for the boat. "Telegraph" was abandoned, along with several other steamboats, along the banks of the Coquille River at Lampa Creek. In September 1992, five blackline plans on five sheets of "Telegraph" were donated to the Oregon Historical Society.