Unlike many of its competitors, it uses aircraft and ships equally to move freight, rather than specialising in just one.

Packet ships were eventually established to move freight through the waterway.

Barges were also used to move freight up and down the river.

Until the line shut down in the 1930s, ranchers, mining interests, and timber companies used it to move freight.

Everybody thought that moving freight by road instead of rail would be cheaper and quicker.