As railroads were extended along the banks of the Columbia River, the days of the steamboat as the dominant means of transportation gradually came to an end, particularly on the middle river, which required expensive and time-consuming portages around the two major rapids at Cascades and above The Dalles. The first boat to be taken off the river was the "R.R. Thompson". On June 3, 1882, Captain John McNulty took "R.R. Thompson" down through the Cascade Rapids to operate on the more lucrative lower Columbia and lower Willamette rivers. That day Captain McNulty with William Johnson, first officer, William Doran, engineer, and George Fuller, assistant, took "R.R. Thompson" out of The Dalles at 6:30 a.m., passed Klickitat Landing, ten miles below, in twenty-four minutes, White Salmon, about twenty-three miles, in fifty-one minutes, Hood River, twenty-five miles, in fifty-eight minutes, and reached the Cascades, forty-six miles, in two hours and one minute. "R.R.Thompson" remained at the top of the Cascades a short time and then swung into the stream and entered the Cascades under full stroke, making the run to Bonneville in six minutes and forty seconds, passing through the heart of the rapids at the rate of a mile a minute. The trip to Portland was accomplished in two hours and fifty minutes, and she steamed past Ash Street dock at 12:17 p.m. Her actual running time was five hours. The passage of the "Thompson" through the six-mile long Cascades Rapids in 6 minutes 40 seconds was a record which was approached but never beaten. The most famous later occasion was by "Hassalo" in her run on May 26, 1888. On that occasion, "R.R. Thompson", with Captain McNulty still in command, together with "Lurline" transported 1,500 people to an equal number of others at the Cascades to witness "Hassalo"'s run. In 1892, the boat struck a rock near Mt. Coffin, but was raised and brought to Portland, Oregon for repairs. In later years, the "Thompson" was run as a night boat on the Astoria run and as a relief boat. Operating as a night boat, her passengers would leave Portland after dinner and arrive in Astoria early the next morning.