# California Historical Society Quarterly/Volume 22/Steam Navigation on the Colorado River, part 2

Steam Navigation on the Colorado River
By Francis Hale Leavitt
(Concluded)
The Peak of the Colorado River Trade
BY 1864, Colorado River navigation had run the gauntlet of experimentation and had proved its importance in the development of the Southwest. During the next six years it experienced a period of rivalry and expansion. In 1870 began its third important phase, which might fittingly be called the peak period of the river trade. These years are characterized by the addition of new steamers to the river fleet and by the introduction of a scheduled ocean steamer service from the coast cities of California to the mouth of the Colorado, replacing the slower and more unreliable wind-driven vessels. Scheduled service from San Francisco tended to induce regular sailings inland on the part of the river steamers, and, though it was not always possible to adhere to the schedules, that goal was more nearly approximated during this period than at any other time in the history of river navigation. The expansion period had failed to establish trade with Callville, but trips to El Dorado Canyon, some forty miles below, were made with a semblance of regularity during the next twenty years. It was on this five-hundred-mile stage, stretching from the mouth of the Colorado to El Dorado Canyon, that the drama of steam navigation reached its climax.
Some idea of the scope of ocean transportation at the commencement of the peak period may be obtained from a survey of the list of vessels sailing from San Franciso to the mouth of the Colorado. Whereas, between 1857 and 1864 the vessels known to have been engaged in the ocean trade each year averaged nine, the average for the seven years ending in 1870 was nineteen. A glance at the steamer service on the river shows a similar trend. Before 1864 two steamers could handle the traffic to the interior, but during that year five were engaged in this service. The effect of this increased trade on the mining industry, and consequently upon the growth of Arizona itself, cannot be overestimated. Steamer service made mining profitable, since it offered a reliable means of getting unrefined ore to the San Francisco market and supplies and machinery in return. Prior to 1864 Yuma had been the only river port of importance, but, as mining developed during the next seven years, river ports at Castle Dome, Mineral City, Ehrenberg, Olive City, La Paz, Aubrey, El Dorado, and Hardyville mushroomed into existence. As a distribution center Yuma carried on a thriving business. From here military supplies were dispatched to Mohave and the army posts of the interior. Hardly a day passed that the heavily laden freight wagons of William B. ​Hooper, David Neahr, and James M. Barney did not leave for Wickenburg, Prescott, and other settlements in central Arizona.
In Yuma, as in the other up-river landings and mining camps, a cross section of society revealed the usual conglomeration of nationalities and colors found on the frontier. Here the river pilots and passengers mingled with the miners, the Mexican traders, the Chinese laborers, the soldiers from the fort across the river, and the scantily clad Indians. Little attention was paid to such insignificant markings of civilization as dress, cleanliness, or community pride; and the ill-kept adobe houses, yards, and streets of Yuma bore mute evidence to a careless and carefree existence. Life, however, was not humdrum. Frontiers thrive on activity. In Yuma the frequent periods of idleness were punctuated by occasional Indian uprisings, the escapades of "gun toting" bad men, and the arrival of the steamer at the wharf.
   With the cry of "Steamboat coming!" Yuma sprang into activity, for the arrival of a boat was a festive occasion. Boys and loafers ran down to the landing at the foot of Main Street to enjoy any possible excitement; the peanut merchant, the apple boy, and the tamales vendor hawked their wares; Americans, Mexicans, and Indians rushed noisily about loading and unloading the steamboat, the barges and the "prairie schooners" drawing up alongside the steamboat warehouse.i^s
To maintain the pace demanded by these youthful camps along the Colorado, it was necessary to repair and replace the units of the river fleet constantly. By 1864 the Cocopah had had her boilers patched three times,^^^ and in August, two years later, it was announced that she had been condemned.^^*^ By March 1867, she had been replaced by a new steamer, the Cocopah No. 2, constructed at Yuma.^^^
Only two river boats were launched during the peak trading period. Each claimed the title of "Queen of the fleet," and each had numerous supporters who were equally uncompromising in their loyalty to their candidate. The first of these vessels, the Gila, was constructed at Port Isabel at the mouth of the river during the winter of 1872-73. She was launched in February and arrived in Yuma on the fourth of that month.^^^ She was 175 feet long, with a 35-foot beam, and a 4-foot hold. She drew only 16½ inches of water, which was less than any boat on the river, and her capacity of 236 tons made her the largest river steamer ever to operate on the Colorado. One admirer wrote: "Her passenger accommodations are unsurpassed by any boat of her size and build we have ever seen—having staterooms with all modern appliances and improvements, for sixteen passengers. Her dining hall is large and spacious, and her promenades are all a lover of nature could desire."^^^
The Gila's rival was the distinctive two-stack Mohave No. 2, which was launched in 1875. Whether or not the twin smoke stacks gained for her the position of highest esteem among both passengers and pilots is not recorded, but she was the only steamer on the river to boast that distinction in design. She was the particular favorite of Isaac Polhamus, captain and superintendent ​of the company, who used her as an excursion steamer during the eighties and nineties.^^*
   She was really a four-decker forward, since the pilot house was on top of the texas. Her tall jack-staff rose high at the bow, and her stacks climbed nearly forty-five feet above the river. Amidships and aft rose other staffs; on state occasions they were decked with flags, and the white boat was draped with green garlands, which hung in festoons from the trusses and decks, and spiraled up around the staffs.^^^
Decked out in such an attire she presented a picture which thrilled the heart of every Arizonan. A year earlier the hundred-ton Mohave No. 1 was taken on her final voyage to Port Isabel, where her hull remained for many years. Her machinery was sent to San Francisco and was put aboard the Onward, which was still operating between San Francisco and Stockton in 1878.^^^ The launching of the Mohave No. 2 seems to have been very unpretentious and a little mystifying. On October 30, 1875, the Sentinel announced that a new steamer, the Structure No. 11, had been successfully launched at the mouth of the river on the thirteenth, but it was not until several months later that she received her rightful name, Mohave No. 2.^^^ She had been designed in San Francisco and shipped piecemeal to the mouth of the river. Since it was not known what her name would be, the sections were marked "Structure No. 1 1," although, counting the barges, she was the twelfth to be built on the river by the Colorado Steam Navigation Company. Her misleading title was changed before March 1876.^^^ She was 170 feet long, with a 33-foot beam, and a capacity of 188 tons. With these two new additions, the Gila and the Mohave No. 2, the Colorado Steam Navigation Company continued operations until the coming of the railroad in 1877.^^^
The average life expectancy of Colorado River steamers was approximately ten years, and although some ceased to be useful at the end of seven, others, such as the Cocopah No. 2, Gila., and Mohave No. 2, were in active service for some fourteen to twenty years. The rough usage to which they were subjected made a shipyard indispensable. The first yard was constructed at Yuma in 1862, although boats were assembled at the mouth of the river prior to that time. At Yuma were constructed the Colorado No. 2, the Mohave No. I, and the Cocopah No. 2. In the early seventies a shipyard was constructed at Port Isabel on the California shore near the mouth of the river. Here the Mohave No. 2 and the Gila were launched, and here, too, the constant business of scraping, calking, and painting the "Arizona Fleet" was conducted. The most important single feature of the port was the dry dock. This ingenious device was dependent entirely on the tide for its operation. It consisted of a small, plank-lined basin excavated into the bank at high tide level. Across the end facing the gulf were constructed floodgates to hold or release the water of the dry dock. The tide did the rest. The average range of the gulf tide is about twenty-one feet, although spring tides often reach more than thirty feet. To operate the dock the gates were raised at high tide. ​and the steamer was towed into position immediately above skids which previously had been arranged on the dock floor. When the tide receded, the boat dropped quietly into place on the elevated skids and was left high and dry for any necessary repairs. At low water, the dock gates were closed against the next tide, and overhauling could proceed at leisure. When she was again ready for service, the gates were reopened. The inrushing water of the flood tide raised her from the skids, and she was backed out into the gulf ready to resume her work on the river. An excellent description of the activities at Port Isabel is found in the Arizona Sentinel of 1873:
About ten miles below the mouth of the Colorado, on the Gulf of California, we entered the slough, up which we steamed three miles to Port Isabel, which is merely a wood-yard. The place was given that name from the fact that the first vessel entering that slough was the schooner Isabel. Three miles further up we came to the ship-yard of the C. S. N. Co., which is quite a village. The general buzzing of carpenters' saws, the hammerings of the blacksmiths and boiler-makers, and the clinking noise made by the coppersmith, would lead one to think himself in a much larger place. The buildings are all framed. The dock can hardly be surpassed by any on the Pacific Coast; and the convenience for workmen on this dock is far greater than on those at San Francisco . . . The Mohave will take her place next in the dock, being the last river boat to be repaired, except the Nina Tilden, the pioneer boat of this line. The Colorado was also in the dock when we got there, and had gone through a course of repairs . . .
On Tuesday . . . the steamer Colorado was launched . . . from the dock. The work did not occupy more than ten minutes, water being introduced in the dock through flood gates.120
By 1870 the Colorado Steam Navigation Company had complete monopoly of traffic on the river for the second time and was better prepared to meet the demands of commerce than at any time previously. Consequently these years are conspicuous by their absence of complaint about steam service on the Colorado. There was, however, a great need for the improvement of the ocean route from San Francisco to the mouth of the river. Such boats as the brig /. B. Ford and the schooners Isabel and Alice Haake occasionally made the trip to the mouth of the river from San Francisco in from sixteen to nineteen days. However, the Josephine in 1869 is known to have required forty-two days, and the Sovereign in 1866 spent forty-five days enroute. An average voyage required approximately from twenty to thirty days each way. Records show that vessels engaged permanently in the Colorado River trade averaged three round trips a year. However, the Isabel in 1865 and the /. B. Ford in 1867 are known to have made four. At best, the wind-driven vessels were slow and unreliable. For this reason, as has been shown, experimental voyages were made by larger oceangoing steamers— in 1859 by the Uncle Sam and Santa Cruz, in 1866 by the Oregon, and in 1869 by the Continental. By 1870 mineral production and the movement of military troops reached a volume sufficient to warrant a more regular ocean service. A year later the Colorado Steam Navigation Company purchased the 943-ton steamer Newbern,'^^'^ and on August 5 both ​Arizona and California papers announced the opening of steam service to the mouth of the Colorado.^^^ The Newbern was scheduled to leave San Francisco for the mouth of the river on the first of each month. Upon arrival she was to connect with the river steamers so that freight and passengers could be delivered in Yuma within twelve days from the date of sailing. Special inducements were offered to passengers, and fares were set at seventy-five dollars "first cabin," or forty-five dollars "steerage." Offices of the company were located in San Francisco and at Yuma and Ehrenberg on the river.^^^
The success of an all-steam service to Yuma was instantaneous. Freight laid down in Arizona in twelve days from San Francisco seemed miraculous. The effect was noticeable in everything, from the delivery of newspapers only two weeks old to the arrival of the latest styles "direct from the city," and Arizonans were enthusiastic in their praise of the new service. It was indeed a new era, and hundreds now availed themselves of the opportunity to visit San Francisco "just for the ride." Within two months the Miner reported that "mountains of government freight for Whipple, Date Creek, Hualpai and Verde are being received here," and in March of the following year the same paper observed that the Newbern had been offered more freight than she had been able to carry.^^*
In 1873 the headquarters of the Colorado Steam Navigation Company were moved to San Diego. Under the leadership of Isaac Polhamus, Jr., who became acting superintendent, the company flourished. On November 8 it announced the addition of a second ocean steamer, the Montana, to be put into service from San Francisco to Port Isabel. ^^^ The twelve-day schedule was retained, but the sailing frequency was now increased from once a month to every twenty days. Stops were made at Guaymas, La Paz, and Mazatlan, and passenger rates were reduced to forty dollars first class and twenty-four dollars steerage. An excellent picture revealing the scope of the river trade in 1873 i^ found in the Miner. There were: "The Steamer Gila, 236 tons capacity; Cocopah, 231 tons; Mohave, 192 tons; Colorado, 178 tons; Nina Tilden, 107 tons. Barges, No. i, 106 tons; No. 2, 125 tons; No. 3, 136 tons; No. 4, 185 tons; Black Crook, 3 1 tons; which boats make about twenty trips a year up the river, as far as Ehrenberg, going up to . . . Hardyville, about fifteen trips, bringing up an average of 100 tons of freight each trip."^^^ Thus, with two ocean-going steamers covering the eighteen hundred miles between San Francisco and Port Isabel every twenty days, and five river boats and an equal number of barges serving the settlements and mining camps along a five-hundred-mile water front, steam navigation on the Colorado River reached its climax.
Although the steamers provided the motive force for navigation, it is impossible to overlook the role played by the river barges. The barge was the one great contribution of Thomas E. Trueworthy to the Colorado trade. In 1864, when he commenced business, lumber to be used in barge construction ​was shipped aboard the Victoria to the mouth of the river. On the Victoria also came three of the later river pilots, John ("Jack") Mellon, Charles Tyson, and Charles Overman. Upon their arrival they commenced work on the Black Crook, the first barge to navigate the Colorado. She was designed in San Francisco, measured 128 feet long by 28 feet wide, and was assembled in nineteen days. Later that year Tnieworthy built a second barge, the White Fawn, which was lengthened in 1 867.^^^ During the next six years the Johnson Company followed his lead and constructed barges numbered from I to 4. In later years the Pumpkin Seed,^^^ El Dorado, Colorado, Veagas, Yuma and Silas J. Lewis are known to have been in operation at one time or another.
The barge was indispensable in shallow water. Although river steamers drew but sixteen to twenty-four inches, this was too much during extremely dry periods. By transferring all or part of its load to the barge, the steamer was able to navigate in unbelievably shallow currents. During moderate stages of the river, both the steamer and the barge carried pay loads, thereby increasing the profit from the trade, much as the truck-trailer combinations do today.^^® If it was discovered at a certain mine or landing that a full return load was not available, as was often the case, the barge was left while the steamer continued her service. After a sufficient cargo had been accumulated, the barge was loaded, and the crew drifted her down to the mouth of the river without the assistance of the steamer. Here she was anchored or towed into Port Isabel to await the arrival of the ocean steamer. In this way both steamer and barge were left free to operate independently. For the return voyage upstream the barge could be reloaded and towed to any landing requiring her service. In size the barges varied widely. The smaller structures such as the Black Crook had a carrying capacity of but thirty to forty tons, while those built at a later period, when river steamers were capable of hauling larger cargoes, ranged well above one hundred tons. The largest barge on the river, the No. 4 of the Colorado Steam Navigation Company, was built in San Francisco, was assembled at Port Isabel, and arrived at Yuma on September 29, 1872. She was 165 feet long, with a 3 3 -foot beam, and a 3 7/10-foot hold, had a square stern equipped with four rudders, and boasted a carrying capacity of 1 85 tons.^ ^^
To Arizona the Colorado River was a lifeline. Across the decks of the river steamers were imported the mills, machinery, explosives, and mining tools, the military supplies and equipment for the Arizona troops, and the dry goods, furniture, and food for the populace. Some conception of the volume of the import trade up the Colorado waterway may be obtained from the following table compiled from the files of the Arizona Sentinel published at Yuma.^^^
bte
am ISavigatic
m on we
LoLoraao Kiver
Volume of
Shipment
Date of
Arrivai.
AT THE Mouth of
River
Made from Yuma
TO the Interior
Steamer
Steamer
Merchant Freight
Army Freight
Month
Year
Newbern
Montana
Pounds
Pounds
January
1874
10
31
94,000
24,000
February
1874
19
1 2,000
2,000
March
1874
12
3 20,000
343,202
April
1874
3
23
212,721
116,907
May
1874
31
56,547
53.373
June
1874
1 69,500
43,000
July
1874
9
78,830
66,700
August
1874
20
7
146,700
200,800
September
1874
18
48,000
October
1874
10
17,000
200,000
November
1874
28
8
55,000
December
1874
Montana
wrecked December 20, no figures
given.
January
1875
14
no figures
given.
February
1875
24 yWo?2itaw J repaired. 261,000
48,000
March
1875
21
141,000
43,000
April
1875
ID
572,000
75,000
May
1875
28
5
171,500
June
1875
19
223,200
July
1875
16
369,725
August
1875
7
319,500
September
1875
4
25
250,892
October
1875
20
443,000
November
1875
11
299,000
December
1875
4
345.250
Total
* ■ 15 trips
1 3 trips
4,007,325
1,215,983
Hiram C. Hodge estimated that the import trade in 1875 had reached a volume exceeding four thousand five hundred tons/^^ Two years earher the Miner announced that during a seventy-day period the firm of William B. Hooper had dispatched 1,457,146 pounds of freight to the different military and mining posts of the interior.^^^
In contrast to the import trade, the Arizona export trade consisted chiefly of raw ores, wool, hides, and pelts. By 1 864 the mines had started producing in sizable quantities, and from that time the bulk of all exports consisted of gold, silver, and copper ores.^^*
Freight rates to San Francisco from the various river ports are described by the Sentinel in 1873. Over a long period of time they, of course, varied considerably. On ore: "From Mohave or Hardy ville, $25 per ton, . . . From William's Fork or Camp Colorado, 1 1 5 per ton. Ehrenberg or Castle Dome, $12.50 per ton; Yuma, $10." On wool: "From Mohave, $25 per ton. Ehrenberg or Yuma, $20 per ton." On general merchandise: "From Hardyville, $30 per ton measurement; Ehrenberg, $25; Yuma, $20."^^^
Two policies of the Colorado Steam Navigation Company proved to be a ​source of constant irritation to Arizona merchantmen. The first of these was the insistence of the company that all freight bills be paid in coin. Money of any description was scarce in Arizona, and such an order only added to the gravity of the situation. In spite of repeated protests and appeals over a period of years, this regulation was never altered. Of greater consequence was the problem of freight rates based on the measurement of crated freight rather than upon actual weight. This regulation was first put into effect shortly before 1859 and continued in spite of numerous heated arguments down to the closing days of navigation on the river. Although the cost of freight varied over a period of years, the cost of "measured" freight seemed always to react to the disadvantage of the importer. In 1859 the rate was set at 62 /z c a cubic foot. Thus freight charges on a piece of furniture weighing 200 pounds and crated in a container 4 feet square would be I40, based on measurement, whereas, the amount, if estimated on the actual weight at the established rate of $6^ a ton, would have been only S6.50. In 1874 ^^^ Miner carried an interesting example of just such a case. A "panning out" of bllls shown us this morning, gives the followiQg results: Forty packages of goods, measuring 148 feet gave, according to the company's way of figuring, 7,400 pounds, while according to the bill of the freighter who brought the goods here from Ehrenberg, the same forty packages weighed just 4,786 pounds, and for which number of pounds he charged freight. Anyone can see that there is, in these weights, a difference of 2,614 pounds, for which the shipper has to pay the Colorado Steam Navigation Company . . .^^s
In the beginning, steam navigation on the Colorado River had largely been the outgrowth of a demand for some means of supplying the military forces stationed in Arizona. From 1851 troops were kept constantly on duty in the territory, their numbers ranging from twelve to fifteen hundred. When steam service to San Francisco began, all troop movements to and from Arizona were carried over this route.^^^ No information is available as to the number of arrivals and departures over a long period of time, but notes covering the year 1872, taken from the files of a number of Arizona papers, may be considered typical of any year during this period. In February 1 872, it was reported that the Colorado had arrived at Arizona City with 125 recruits.^^^ In March, 300 more were reported to have left San Francisco on the Newbern for the Colorado. ^^^ In April, 136 recruits with their wives and laundresses left the river for San Francisco.^**^ In July, the Newbern arrived with 300 troops and some passengers,^ *^ and on her return voyage in August she brought 200 troops to Port Isabel and returned to San Francisco with the same number.^*- On November 2, she was expected at the river with 200 additional men,^*^ and again on the twenty-seventh she left San Francisco with 150 more.^** These figures reveal that the Colorado Steam Navigation Company collected fares on more than 1,611 recruits during the year, and this number in all probability did not represent a complete accounting. While the regular passenger fare was $75 first class and ​$45 steerage at this time, soldiers were transported at a special rate of $40 each. This would make an income of $64,440 from troops alone. In addition to military personnel, there was a continual movement of travelers, adventurers, and miners to and from Arizona, although figures showing the extent of this travel are not available. Albert H. Payson states that during the nineteen months from May 1877, to January 1879, the company transported 2,286 passengers, which again indicates the volume of travel to Arizona.^* Obviously a business such as that conducted by the Colorado Steam Navigation Company required a large personnel. More than one hundred men were engaged in this service, their number fluctuating with the amount of business being transacted. During the spring months, when water was high and business brisk, this number was often exceeded, while in the fall, during low water and slack business, large numbers were discharged. In May 1874, the Miner announced that the company had discharged forty-five men and laid up all but one steamer and a barge,^*^ and a similar occurrence was noted in 1866.
Of paramount importance in the personnel of the company were the river pilots, upon whom largely depended the success of steam navigation. On the run from San Francisco to Port Isabel perhaps the most experienced captain was A. N. McDonough. He was in command of the brig Josephine running to the Colorado as early as 1 867 when sailing vessels were being used. In 1 87 1 he went aboard the Newbem as captain and continued in command until transferred to the Montana in 1873. Captain William Metzger was then given the Newbem, and a year later McDonough was replaced on the Montana by Captain George M. Douglass. These two continued in command until the company retired from business in 1877. Prominent among the names of the river pilots were Captains George A. Johnson and A. H. Wilcox, founders of the Colorado Steam Navigation Company; D. C. Robinson,^*^ Charles Overman, Isaac Polhamus,^*^ Steve Thorn, A. D. Johnson, and others. In the rival company of 1864 were Thomas E. Trueworthy, Robert T. Rogers, Paddy Gorman, and most famous of all, John ("Jack") Mellon. Mellon joined the Colorado Steam Navigation Company soon after his arrival on the Colorado and acted as captain on the river steamers until 1887.^*^
To the average river pilot, steam navigation on the Colorado presented a number of problems which were fundamentally different from those of most other streams, and although a captain may have navigated the waters of the seven seas, he was not granted a position of importance among the pilots of the Colorado until he had mastered the "tricks of the trade" there. The initial experience which he invariably met with on approaching the Colorado was the tidal "bore," often called "el borro grande" by the natives. From the time of Hernando de Alarcon it had always presented a problem to the prospective navigator. Spring tides at Montague Island rise vertically about ten and one-half feet, which is almost double the height of those at Cape San ​Lucas. By the time they reach the river channel they increase to more than thirty feet, and tidal currents become violent. Observations have been made which show a vertical rise of water approximating ten feet in five minutes. As early as 1873 ^^^ Sentinel carried an interesting account of this phenomenon.
The spring tides of the Gulf run to a height of thirty feet. This expanded volume of the waters of the Gulf is coincident with the spring floods of the Colorado River. When the two come together, they form what is called a "bore." The impetuous waters of the river . . . rise to a height which of their own impetus overflow the banks of that stream. At this moment the extreme spring tides of the Gulf come roaring up the Colorado. In immense volume they encounter the swell of river waters, and the heavier specific gravity of the salt water sends the stream of the Colorado back on itself for miles, with a mighty roar, to which that of the Niagara is tame ... It is a scene of majesty which . . . can never be forgotten.^^o
The experience of Lieutenant Robert William Hale Hardy with the "bore" is an interesting one. On entering the mouth of the river in 1826, his ship, the Bruja, was struck by the bore with so terrific a shock that the rudder was snapped. She was thrown ashore, where she remained high and dry for eight days until flood tide again reached and refloated her.^^^
A second problem arose from the excessive load of silt deposited at the river delta. To overcome the hazard of striking these hidden bars, it was customary to wait for flood tide and ride in over the danger area. Once inside the river channel the problem became one of avoiding the sand bars caused by the constantly changing course of the river. It was impossible to chart a river course which would be reliable for more than several hours, and consequently the most experienced river pilots were required to "tie up" along the bank during the night to await daybreak before proceeding. One of the characteristic features of any river steamer was the Indian stationed at the bow, stripped to the breeze, with a long, cottonwood, sounding pole in his hand. At frequent intervals he plunged the pole into the water to take soundings, which he called back to the captain or which he communicated to him by simply raising the pole so that the captain could see the water mark and judge the depth for himself. As deck hands the Indians were paid fifty cents a day. "Not being able to count money, each native kept a tally of the number of days he worked by tying knots in a string he wore around his neck. Each knot recorded a day's work. An Indian demanded as many half-dollars as he had knots on his string."^^^
The "desert pilot" devised his own methods of combatting the problems of navigation. If the vessel ran on a bar, he might resort to several methods to get her off. The boat might be rocked off, if the pilot were skillful, or she might be pried loose. Often patience was the only solution to the problem, for if the boat were allowed to remain long enough, the changing current would eventually wash her free. Captain Mellon is said to have remained in such a position for fifty-two days.^^^ If the vessel was in very shallow water. ​the pilot, by using the stern paddle wheel to cut through the silt, often backed the steamer upstream when it became impossible to proceed bow first. In case the barge became stranded, the steamer could be eased down close to her, and, by spinning the paddle wheel, a sufficiently strong current might be raised to wash her free.
Fuel for the "Arizona Fleet" was collected as the boat progressed upstream. Native mesquite and cottonwood timber growing along the river were the chief sources of supply, and fuel stations were established at intervals of twenty-five miles. Here the Indians were taught to cut and cord the wood into the required lengths, and for their services they were paid two dollars and fifty cents a cord at the fueling station.
The great seasonal variation in the volume of water on the Colorado created still another problem. During extremely dry periods as little as one thousand second feet have been measured,^^* whereas a peak flood measurement of 150,000 second feet was recorded in June 1909.^^^ In both extremes little could be done except wait for conditions to revert to normal. Because of the definite dry season, it was generally conceded that to operate successfully on the Colorado, a boat must of necessity be one of light draft, usually sixteen inches to two feet. To the desert pilot who seriously considered the possibilities of navigating an Arizona mirage, "Five feet was practically no bottom," and when the "leadsman called 'scant four' . . . the pilot did not snatch the boat back, reverse engines, pull bells, and shout down the tube to the engineer. He merely wiped his brow and reflected that the river must be rising."15«
The immediate effect of these many problems was to be seen in the impossibility of maintaining a definite sailing schedule on the Colorado. Schedules on the lower river between La Paz, Yuma, Ehrenberg, and Olive City were fairly dependable, but above these points, if arrival was made within a week or two of the time specified, conditions were considered average. The period of time occupied on a voyage depended on the good fortune of the pilot, the steamer, and the stage of the river. When the vessel was loaded, a speed of five or six miles an hour upstream was a good average. In 1872 the Sentinel reported that Captain Mellon with the steamer Cocopah made the round trip from Yuma to Mohave, a distance of 232 miles, in five days.^" In August, a year later, the Mohave covered the same run with a barge in tow in seventytwo hours, the "fastest time ever made on the Colorado River."^^^ Another exceptional run was made in September 1 873 from Yuma to the mouth of the river and return, a distance of 340 miles, in six days including stops.^^^
The first indication of a decline in steam navigation on the Colorado River came in 1876. Two years earlier, in December 1874, business was temporarily thrown off schedule when the steamer Montana was wrecked in the Gulf of California. She was towed back to San Francisco for repairs and was operating again by March 1875. Misfortune continued to stalk her. On De ​cember 14, 1876, she caught fire off Cape Harrow, and the ship and cargo were a total loss/^^ Passengers and crew were rescued and taken to the office of the United States consul at Guaymas, where they were forced to remain until picked up by the Neivbern. The Sentinel carried a complete account of the accident and stated that the Montana was insured for $60,000.^^^ On January 20 it was announced that the Colorado Steam Navigation Company had replaced the Montana with the 1,077-ton steamer Idaho. She arrived on her first voyage on February 7, 1877, bringing 450 tons of freight, and returned on the ninth.^^2 A second voyage was made in April. She returned to San Francisco with twenty-five passengers, 220 tons of freight, and $177,081 in treasure.^®^ By 1876 other factors contributed to the decline of the river trade. The Arizona and New Mexico Express Company, a $500,000 concern, and the Calif ornia- Arizona Stage Lines began a tri-weekly service delivering passengers and mail from San Francisco to the Colorado in five and one-half days. This decreased the time in transit by one-half and appropriated much of the passenger traffic formerly going to the navigation company.
In April 1877, the long awaited Southern Pacific Railroad reached Yuma, and the fate of steam navigation on the Colorado River was sealed. Train service began early in May, and on the 1 9th of that month the navigation company abruptly ceased advertising for freight and passengers. Shortly thereafter, the picturesque "Arizona Fleet" was sold to the Southern Pacific Railroad Company. The Nenjobern left San Francisco on her last voyage to the mouth of the Colorado on May 1 6, and a month later she was advertised to sail for Guaymas, La Paz, Mazatlan, and San Lucas. Death, however, was was not instantaneous, and river steamers continued operation in a slowly diminishing degree for the next thirty years. On the river, the headquarters for the bulk of the traffic were now shifted from Port Isabel, on the Gulf, to the new railroad terminal at Yuma, and steamers distributed freight both up and down stream from that point. Before the end of the year the General Zaragoza and a second small Mexican craft were the only vessels engaged in the coastwise trade between Yuma and Mazatlan, and the once thriving Port Isabel fell into decay.^^* From a bustling river port in the seventies, Yuma became a much faded railroad town; her days of prosperity ended. Writing in 1880 a reporter stated: "The population, which three years ago exceeded 1,500, is now reduced to less than 500 . . . Yuma has a look of having seen better days . . ."^^^ Five years later the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad crossed the river at Needles, bringing relief to the merchants of the upper Colorado and forcing the river steamers still farther into the background of unimportance in the life of Arizona. Between 1880 and 1887 the Gila and a small 56-foot sloop, the Southwestern were engaged in the salt trade between the Mormon settlement at Rioville, at the junction of the Virgin and Colorado rivers, and the mining camp at El Dorado.^^^ There were thirty-nine such voyages made, the Gila carrying about 60 tons and the sloop 1 8. The ​salt was used in processing the ore at El Dorado. After the mines closed in 1887 it was reported that no boat ever passed above that point. By 1890, the Gila and Mohave No. 2 alone remained of the once prosperous "Arizona Fleet." One or the other made a trip once a month from Yuma to the upriver landings if freight demanded,^^^ but a reliable report states that the "commerce of the river above El Dorado Canyon is practically nothing."^^^ In 1 899 the Gila., last survivor of the fleet, was remodeled at Yuma and cut down to 1 59 feet in length. She was renamed the Cochan. This same year the St. Vallier was built at Needles and placed on the river.^^^ In 1903 it was reported that these two boats were handling a total of less than ^yg. hundred tons of trade a year below Yuma, and very little above.^^^ During the first quarter of the twentieth century the Searchlight^ owned and operated by Charles M. Smith, the Katie Lloyd, owned and operated by Captain David Lloyd, and the Retta., Electra, and Silas J. Leivis^'^^ were constructed. They carried on a negligible trade with the mining camps of Lower California and were engaged in the reclamation service on the delta for a number of years. It is diflicult to understand the reason for the sudden interest on the part of the United States Government in the extension of navigation on the Colorado after the river trade had begun its decline. However, no less than a halfdozen surveys were conducted on the river between 1869 and 1903 to determine the advisability of spending money to clear the channel and improve its navigability. With but two exceptions these reports all agreed that the river was unworthy of improvement. The first of these, July 5, 1884, provided twenty-five thousand dollars for the improvement of the channel between Mohave and El Dorado Canyon, and the second, July 13, 1892, provided ten thousand dollars for the construction of a levee along the Gila River.1^2
Thus the story of steam navigation on the Colorado River drew to a close. In a sense, it is merely the last chapter of a much older story dating back to within fifty years of the discovery of the New World by Columbus. For two and one-half centuries the Spanish explored and mapped much of the river and laid plans for converting it into a highway for the support of the missions of Baja California. The search for beaver in the first half of the eighteenth century led to a re-exploration of the entire area by the American trapper, but it was the discovery of gold in California and the rush of emigrants westward which led to the development of steam navigation. The immediate incentive was the need of supplying the military post at Yuma, placed there for the protection of the emigrants. The years from 1850 to 1 864 represent a period of experimentation, during which the ocean route from San Francisco to the mouth of the river was opened and steam vessels were introduced on the Colorado. A period of expansion and rivalry followed. Mines were developed and attempts were made to extend steam service to the Mormon empire of Utah. The peak period of the river trade from ​1870 to 1877 was one of great activity. Steam service was extended from Yuma to San Francisco, and sailing vessels disappeared from the ocean route. Mountains of freight, yards and docks humming with activity, and the picturesque river steamers industriously splashing the waters of the Colorado from Port Isabel to El Dorado Canyon, are indicative of the river trade at its best. For three decades the Colorado River was the life line through which the heavy machinery for the mines of Arizona came, and the ore, wool, hides, and pelts were sent to market. With the completion of the Southern Pacific Railroad to Yuma in 1877, river trade abruptly ceased. Today the crumbling ruins of ghost towns and mining camps along the river, like the once prosperous "Arizona Fleet," are but recollections of an age gone by. Its significance, however, cannot be overestimated; indeed, the history of Arizona and the development of the Southwest, in many respects, can be told in terms of the development of steam navigation on the Colorado River.
NOTES
108. Hazel Mills, "The Arizona Fleet," American Neptune, III (1941), 265.
109. Hubert Howe Bancroft, "Scraps; Arizona Miscellany," LXXXII, Pt. 2, 211. no. /Z>/J., p. 483.
111. San Francisco Alta California, March 20, 1867.
112. Prescott Arizona Miner, February 22, 1873.
113. Ibid. Contrary to the account given in the Miner, the customhouse records list both the Gila and Mohave No. 2 as 149 feet long, and the Sentinel, September 28, 1878, states that the Mohave No. 2 was 155 feet in length.
1 14. Frank C. Lockwood, "Steamboat Captain on the Colorado," Desert Magazine, XVI (June 1941), 13. Polhamus' "Grand Excursions" were advertised throughout the Southwest from Yuma to San Francisco.
115. Mills, op. cit., p. 263.
116. Yuma Arizona Sentinel, September 28, 1878.
117. Ihid., October 30, 1876.
118. Ihid., March 18, 1876. The United States Bureau of Navigation lists the dimensions of the Mohave No. 2 as follows: Length of keel, 149.5 feet; breadth, 31.6 feet; depth, 3.1 feet; and tonnage, 188.03 tons. See U. S. Bureau of Navigation, Merchant Vessels of the United States (Washington, D. C, 1892), p. 329.
1 19. Yuma Arizona Sentinel, September 28, 1878. In 1874 the Nina Tilden was discarded, and four years later the Colorado No. 2 ceased operation. She was moored near Fort Yuma but was seldom used.
120. Yuma Arizona Sentinel, July 5, 1873.
121. The Newbern was built at Brooklyn, New York, in 1852. See Appendix "A."
122. Prescott Arizona Miner, August 5, 187 1. The following advertisement was the first to appear in the Miner: "The Colorado Steam Navigation Company's Steamship Neivbern leaves San Francisco for the mouth of the Colorado River on the first of every month, connecting with river boats. Freight landed at Yuma in twelve (12) days from San Francisco."
123. The community of Ehrenberg was named for Herman Ehrenberg, Arizona mineralogist. It was laid out in 1867 and became one of the leading river ports.
124. Prescott Arizona Miner, September 30, 1871, and March 9, 1872.
125. Ibid., November 8, 1873. The Montana was a 1,004-ton, wooden, screw propeller ​type vessel, valued at $75,000. She was built at Bath, Maine, in 1865. Purchase vv^as made from the Pacific Mail Steamship Co.
126. Prescott Arizona Miner, January 4, 1873.
127. Both of these barges vv^ere in use for some twelve to fifteen years. In 1878 the White Fawn was being used as a wharf boat at Port Isabel.
128. The Pumpkin Seed, loaded with iron, filled with water during a heavy storm in 1867 and sank.
129. Prescott Arizona Miner, February 18, 1871. The Miner announced that the Colorado No. 2 had arrived at Hardyville with a barge containing two hundred tons of freight. This was the largest cargo ever transported up the river by one boat, according to the same paper.
130. Yuma Arizona Sentinel, October 5, 1872.
131. Ibid., January 1874 to 1876. This was the only period for which complete files were available, but, since freight notices were not always recorded, it cannot be considered complete.
132. Hiram C. Hodge, Arizona As It Is (New York, 1877), p. 208.
133. Prescott Arizona Miner, December 19, 1873.
134. See, for instance, Yuma Arizona Sentinel, April 27, June 29, September 21, 1872, March 22, 1873, and Prescott Arizona Miner, March 8, 1873; also Hodge, op. cit., p. 208.
135. Prescott Arizona Miner, January 4, 1873.
136. Prescott Arizona Miner, May 29, 1874.
137. Frank Rolfe, "Trip to Arizona," Annual Publications of the Historical Society of Southern California, XIV, Part 3 (1930), 374. From a letter of Miss Franc V. Bishop, who visited Arizona by way of the Colorado River.
138. Prescott Arizona Miner, February 17, 1872.
139. Ibid., March 2, 1872.
140. Yuma Arizona Sentinel, April 27, 1872.
141. Ibid., July 20, 1872.
142. Ibid., August 17 and 31, 1872.
143. Prescott Arizona Miner, November 2, 1872.
144. Yuma Arizona Sentinel, November 30, 1872.
145. Albert H. Payson, "Examination and Survey of the Colorado of the West," Annual Report of Engineers, 1879, p. 1779.
146. Prescott Arizona Miner, May i, 1874.
147. Captain Robinson came to the Colorado in 1852 as mate on the transport Invincible under Captain Wilcox. He returned to the river the following year and was employed by the Colorado Steam Navigation Company. He took command of the Explorer for Lieutenant Ives on her voyage up the Colorado in 1857. The Sentifiel, August i, 1874, carries an account of his death.
148. See Lockwood, op. cit., pp. 13-16. Isaac Polhamus was bom in New York in 1828. As a boy he acquired steamboat experience working for his father on the Hudson River. He came to California by way of Cape Horn in 1846, a voyage which took 327 days, and went to Arizona in 1856. In 1873 he became superintendent of the Colorado Steam Navigation Company, and after the railroad reached Yuma he continued in business there, running sightseeing tours up the Colorado. For sixty-six years he was a leading figure in Yuma, and he died there in January 1922 at the age of ninety-four.
149. Miss Mills, op. cit., states that Jack Mellon was a native of Nova Scotia. He went to sea at the age of nine, shipped over most of the world and, as has been shown, came to the Colorado in 1864 with Thomas E. Trueworthy.
150. Yuma Arizona Sentinel, September 6, 1873. See also Godfrey Sykes, "The Colorado Delta," American Geographical Society, Special Publication No. 19 (Baltimore, 1937), ​pp. 49-50. Sykes has a most reliable and interesting account of the tidal bore based on actual notes taken from a ten-day study at the mouth of the river.
151. See also James Ohio Pattie, Personal Narrative, (Cincinnati, 1831), p. 241, and Rolfe, op. cit., p. 374. Miss Bishop states that it was a common experience to go to bed on the steamer with a view of only the banks and to find on awakening that, although the vessel was anchored in the same place, the banks had disappeared and inundated country was visible for miles on all sides.
152. Lockwood, op. cit., pp. 14-15.
153. Martha Summerhays, Vanished Arizona: Recollections of the Army Life of a New England Woman (Salem, 191 1), pp. 52-53.
154. Sykes, op. cit., p. 93.
155. Ibid., p. 63.
156. Mills, op. cit., p. 262.
157. Yuma Arizona Sentinel, June 29, 1872. This should be compared with a similar trip in February, six years earlier, when forty-one days were required to cover the same distance.
158. Ibid., August 30, 1873.
159. Ibid., September 27, 1873.
160. There is record of the loss of but three other vessels in the entire history of navigation on the Colorado. The first of these was the schooner Arno near Robinson's Landing in 1859. See San Francisco Alta California, March 30, 1859. The second was the E. A. Rawlins, which sailed from San Francisco on June 27, 1862. The third was the Victoria previously mentioned, which arrived on the Colorado in 1864.
161. Yuma Arizona Sentinel, December 23, 1876.
162. Ibid., January 20, and February 17, 1877.
163. Ibid., April 28, 1877. Both the Montana and Idaho were built at Bath, Maine, in 1865 and 1866 respectively. They were owned by George F, Patten and Jarvis Patten, of Bath, and were later sold to the Pacific Mail Steamship Company. See George A. Preble and F. S. Partridge, A Complete Schedule of Vessels Built and Registered at Bath, Maine (Bath, 1879), pp. 43-44.
164. Prescott Arizona Miner, June 21, 1878. Sykes, op. cit., p. 34, states that Port Isabel was dismantled early in 1878.
165. Bancroft, "Scraps: Arizona Miscellany," LXXXII, Pt. i, 133.
166. The sloop Southwester was a 56-foot boat drawing 2 feet of water. Concerning her fate, Hazel Mills, op. cit., p. 273, writes: "The captain intrusted her to a Swede sailor, and she met her end on one of the canyon walls at Short and Dirty Rapids in extreme high water. A few months later when Mellon passed the spot . . . there forty feet above the river he saw the remains . . . wrapped around a pinnacle of rock."
167. William H. H. Benyaurd, "Preliminary Examination of Colorado River, Arizona above Yuma to El Dorado Canyon to Determine the Advisability and Probable Cost of Improving said River," 51st Cong. 2d sess., H. R. Exec. Doc. 18 (1890), p. 3.
168. James J. Meyler, "Preliminary Examination of the Colorado River, Between El Dorado Canyon and Rioville, Nevada," 56th Cong., 2d sess., H. R. Misc. Doc. 67 (1900) p. 6.
169. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Navigation, Merchant Vessels of the United States (Washington, D. C, 1899-1914). The Cochan had a 135-foot keel, 31-foot beam, a 3 -foot hold, and her capacity was 234 tons. She was not listed as being in service after 1908. The St. Vallier was 74.3 feet in length, 17. i feet in breadth, and 3.4 feet in depth, with a capacity of 92 tons. She operated in 191 3 but was not listed as being in service after 19 14. ​170. Edgar Jadwin, "Preliminary Examination of the Colorado River, Arizona and California, from Yuma to the Mexican Boundary Line," 58th Cong., 2d sess., H. R. Misc. Doc. 204 (1903), p. 4.
171. The Silas J. Lewis was later converted into a suction-dredge by the California Development Company. See Sykes, op. cit., p. 33.
172. Jadwin, op. cit., p. 2.
APPENDIX A
Steam Vessels Employed in the River Service 18^2-1^0^
Uncle Seem: side-wheel steamer; overall length 6$ ft.; beam 15 ft.; estimated tonnage 40; constructed, San Francisco; began operation on Colorado River December 1852.
General Jesup: side-wheel steamer; overall length 104 ft.; beam 17 ft.; estimated tonnage 49-63/95; constructed, San Francisco; began operation on Colorado River February 1854.
Colorado: stem-wheel steamer; overall length 120 ft.; estimated tonnage 60 to 80; constructed, Estuary; began operation on Colorado River December 1855.
Explorer: stem-wheel steamer (iron); overall length 54 ft.; constructed, Philadelphia; began operation on Colorado River December 1857.
Cocopah No. i: stern-wheel steamer; overall length 140 ft.; beam 29 ft.; estimated tonnage 100; constructed. Gridiron on Estuary; began operation on Colorado River September 1859.
Mohave: stern-wheel steamer; registered length 133 ft.; beam 28 ft.; estimated tonnage 192.61; constructed, Yuma; began operation on Colorado River 1863.
Esmeralda: stern-wheel steamer; registered length 93 ft.; overall length 97 to 130 ft.; beam 20 ft.; estimated tonnage 46-85/95; constructed, San Francisco; began operation on Colorado River March 1864.
Nina Tilden: stern-wheel steamer; registered length 98 ft.; beam 22 ft.; estimated tonnage 107.40; constructed, San Francisco; began operation on Colorado River July 1864.
Colorado No. 2: stern-wheel steamer; registered length 127 ft.; overall length 145 ft.; beam 26 ft.; estimated tonnage 178.59; constructed, Yuma; began operation on Colorado River 1865.
Cocopah No. 2: stern-wheel steamer; registered length 147.5 ^^'\ beam 28 ft.; estimated tonnage 231.37; constructed, Yuma; began operation on Colorado River March 1867.
Gila: stern-wheel steamer; registered length 149.47 f^-; overall length 175 ft.; beam 31 ft.; estimated tonnage 236; constructed. Port Isabel; began operation on Colorado River February 1873.
Mohave No. 2: stem-wheel steamer; registered length 149.5 ^^-i overall length 175 ft.; beam 31.6 ft.; estimated tonnage 188.03; constructed. Port Isabel; began operation on Colorado River October 1875.
Southivester: Sloop; overall length s6 ft.; beam 15 ft.
Cochan: stern-wheel steamer; registered length 135 ft.; overall length 159 ft.; estimated tonnage 234; constructed, Yuma; began operation on Colorado River 1899.
St. Vallier: stern -wheel steamer; registered length 74.3 ft.; beam 17.1 ft.; estimated tonnage 92; constructed. Needles; began operation on Colorado River 1899.
Searchlight: stern -wheel steamer; overall length 91 ft.; beam 18 ft.
Electra: steamer.
Retta: side-wheel steamer.
Katie Lloyd: steamer. ​
Steam Vessels Employed on the San Francisco-Port Isabel Run iSji-jj
Neivbem: steamer; registered length 198.2 ft.; beam 29.1 ft.; estimated tonnage 943; constructed, Brooklyn, N. Y. 1852; began operation August 1871.
Montana: steamer; estimated tonnage 1004; constructed, Bath, Maine 1865; began operation November 1873.
Idaho: steamer; estimated tonnage 1077; constructed, Bath, Maine 1866; began operation February 1877.
Barges in Use on the Colorado River
Black Crook: overall length 128 ft.; beam 28 ft.; estimated tonnage 31; began operation
on the Colorado River 1864. White Fawn: began operation on the Colorado River 1864. Barge No. 1: estimated tonnage 106. Barge No. 2: estimtaed tonnage 125. Barge No. 5; estimated tonnage 136. Barge No. 4: overall length 165 ft.; beam 33 ft.; estimated tonnage 185; constructed,
Yuma; began operation on the Colorado River September 1872. El Dorado Veagas Yuma Silas J. Lewis: overall length 1 15 ft.; beam 35 ft.
APPENDIX B
Compiled List of Sea-going Vessels Engaged in the San Francisco-Colorado River Trade iS$o to 18']']
Name of Vessel Invincible
Type Captain
Date Sailed or Cleared from San Francisco
Schooner Derby
18$o
Sailed November i
None
18^2
Sierra Nevada
Schooner
Wilcox
Sailed January 24
Capacity
Schooner
Driscoll
Cleared August i 18s3
General Viel
Brig
Hasty
October 7
General Patterson
Schooner
Known to have been on river in May 18s4
General Patterson
Schooner
Unknown 18SS
Falmouth
Schooner
Meyer
Cleared May 5
Monterey
Schooner
Belcher
Known to have been on river in Apj
George Emery
Brig
Trask
Sailed July 25
Taranto
Schooner
Sanger
Sailed October 1 2
General Patterson
Schooner
Nagle
Sailed November 29 ​
Steam Navigation on the Colorado River
169
Date Sailed or Cleared from
Name of Vessel
Type
Captain
San Franci;
»co
18s6
Brisa
Schooner
Gejnolea
Known to have been on
river in January
Brisa
Schooner
Grey
Known to have been on
river in April
J. S. Cabot
Brig
Holmes
Sailed September 18
Monterey
Schooner
Belcher
Sailed December 3
General Patterson
Schooner
18si
p
Humboldt
Schooner
Sailed June 3
Monterey
Schooner
Walsh
Sailed June 1 3
Acadia
Barque
Merrithew
Sailed June?
¦ General Patterson
Schooner
Nagle
Sailed September i
Monterey
Schooner
Walsh
Sailed September 2 1
Elizabeth
Schooner
Bogart
18sS
Sailed December 8
Victoria
Schooner
Kremp
Sailed January 10
General Morgan
Schooner
Way
Sailed January 17
Monterey
Schooner
Walsh
Sailed February 18
Manuel
Brig
Payno
Sailed March 18
Monterey
Schooner
Walsh
Sailed June 10
Olivia
Schooner
p
Sailed August 2
Monterey
Schooner
Walsh
Sailed September 29
Flying Dart
Schooner
Freeman
Sailed December 1 3
Arno
Schooner
Gates
iS$9
Sailed February 5
Uncle Sam
Steamer
Hunting!
    on
Sailed February 1 7
Santa Cruz
Steamer
Cleared March?
Franklin Adams
Brig
Adams
Sailed April 22
Alert
Schooner
Bean
Sailed June 30
Floyd
Brig
Hussey
Sailed July 25
Storm Cloud
Schooner
Way
Sailed August 30
Franklin Adajns
Brig
Collins
Sailed November 22
Flying Dart
Schooner
Cleared March?
Monterey
Schooner
Walsh
Cleared March?
Carmelita
Barque
186c
Cleared March? >
Floyd
Brig
p
Sailed January 1 1
Storm Cloud
Schooner
Way
Sailed February 10
Floyd
Brig
Walsh
Sailed April 16
Storm Cloud
Schooner
Way
Sailed May 24
Franklin Adams
Brig
Bean
SaQed August 9
Storm Cloud
Schooner
Way
1861
Sailed October 2
Manuela
Brig
Burr
Sailed January 22
Floyd
Brig
Walsh
Sailed April 1 1
Manuela
Brig
Burr
Sailed June 7
Alert
Schooner
Falkner
Sailed September 30
Fanny Major
Barque
Higgins
Sailed December 29 ​
170
California Historical Society Quarterly
Date Sailed or Cleared from
Name of Vessel
Type
Captain
San Francisco
1862
W. D. Rice
Brig
Buddington
Sailed March 4
J. A. Bayard
Schooner
Winding
Sailed March i
General Jesup
Brig
Walsh
Sailed April 5
Pride of the Sea
Brig
Garcia
Sailed April 2 1
Sarah
Schooner
Rutherford
Sailed June 22
E. A. Rawlins
Barque
Way
Sailed June 27
Franklin Adonis
Brig
Bean
Sailed July 9
General Jesup
Brig
Dougherty
Sailed August 7
Rosarito
Schooner
Aquilar
Sailed August 10
Manuela
Brig
Burr
Sailed September 15
Morning Light
Schooner
Pierson
1863
Sarah
Schooner
Rutherford
Sailed January 25
General Jesup
Brig
Dougherty
Sailed April 7
Hidalgo
Brig
Doodley
Cleared June 16
Emanuela
Brig
Known to have been on river in August.
Storm Cloud
Schooner
Sweet
Sailed August 1 5
J.B.Ford
Schooner
Knipe
Sailed September 5
General Jesup
Brig
Dougherty
Sailed October 27
Hidalgo
Brig
Standard
Sailed November 5
Carib
Barque
De Blois
Sailed December 19
Franklin Adams
Brig
Burr
Sailed December 25
Angenette
Brig
Trask
Known to have been on river in December
1864
Storm Cloud
Schooner
Sweet
Sailed February 5
Victoria
Schooner
Sailed February 17
J.B.Ford
Schooner
Knipe
Sailed March 4
General Jesup
Brig
Dougherty
Sailed March 24
Toando
Schooner
Keller
Sailed March 27
Potter
Schooner
Roberts
Cleared April 8
Josephine
Brig
Standard
Sailed April 17
Sophie B.
Schooner
Burt
Sailed April 27
General Jesup
Brig
Dougherty
Sailed May 9
Fannie Frisbie
Schooner
Hillyear
Sailed May 23
Sovereign
Schooner
Avery
Sailed July 2
J.B.Ford
Schooner
Knipe
Sailed July 21
Alice
Schooner
Winding
Sailed July i
Storm Cloud
Schooner
Sweet
Sailed July 28
Sophie B.
Schooner
Wilcox
Sailed October 17
General Jesup
Brig
Dougherty
Sailed October 18
W. L. Richardson
Schooner
Godwin
Sailed October 1 3
Sovereign
Schooner
Avery
Sailed November 22
Sarah
Schooner
Hewitt
186$
Known to have been on river in
November
Mary Ellen
Schooner
Fake
Sailed March 8
General Jesup
Brig
Dougherty
Sailed March 22
Isabel
Schooner
Pierson
Sailed March 23 ​
Steam Navigation on the Colorado River
171
Date Sailed or Cleared from
Name of Vessel
Type
Captain
San Francisco
1 86s (Continued)
Sovereign
Schooner
Lemman
Sailed September 5
Isabel
Schooner
Avery
Sailed May 10
J. B. Ford
Brig
Pierce
Known to have been on river in
I May
Isabel
Schooner
Pierson
Sailed July 17
General Jesup
Brig
Dougherty
Sailed July 25
J.B.Ford
Brig
Knipe
Sailed August 9
W. L. Richardson
Schooner
Felker
Sailed August 21
Florence
Schooner
Avery
Sailed October 3 1
General Jesup
Brig
Dougherty
Sailed December 4
W. L. Richardson
Schooner
Felker
Sailed December 3 1
Toando
Schooner
Tuttle
Sailed October 3 1
Isabel
Schooner
Pierson
Sailed October 19
J. B. Ford
Brig
Pierce
Sailed December 22
Josephine
Brig
186t Bogart
Sailed January 4
Timandra
Brig
Howes
Sailed January 2 1
Isabel
Schooner
Pierson
Sailed February 8
Oregon
Steamer
Dall
Sailed February 18
Florence
Schooner
Avery
Sailed March 10
Wm. Irelan
Schooner
Niles
Sailed March 27
J.B.Ford
Brig
Pierce
Sailed April 10
Arizona
Schooner
Rutherford
Known to have been on river in
March
Laura
Brig
Dougherty
Sailed May i
Oregon
Steamer
Dall
Sailed May 1 2
Wm. L. Richardson
Schooner
Felker
Sailed May 24
Delaware
Barque
Shillaber
Sailed June 1 2
Isabel
Schooner
Pierson
Sailed June 17
Sovereign
Schooner
Sweet
Keoka
Barque
Emery
Sailed July 8
Josephine
Brig
Bogart
Sailed July 26
Wm. Irelan
Schooner
Niles
Sailed August i
J.B.Ford
Brig
Pierce
Sailed August 23
Alice
Schooner
Winding
Sailed September 18
Merchantman
Brig
Knipe
Sailed September 2 1
Juventa
Schooner
Goodrum
Sailed October 8
Laura
Brig
Dougherty
Sailed October 26
Florence
Schooner
Avery
Sailed October 30
Isabel
Schooner
Pierson
186
Sailed December 7
J.B.Ford
Brig
Pierce
Sailed January 3
Josephine
Brig
Bogart
Sailed January 22
Juventa
Schooner
Goodrum
Sailed February 9
Merchantmaji
Brig
Knipe
Sailed March 4
Laura
Brig
Dougherty
Sailed March 26
Isabel
Schooner
Pierson
Sailed April 7
Dreadnaught
Schooner
Perriman
Sailed May 3
J.B.Ford
Schooner
Pierce
Sailed May 19 ​
172
Lalijornm
tiistorical
bociety ijuarteny
Date Sailed or Cleared from
Name of Vessel
Type
Captain
San Francisco
186"] (Continued)
Josephine
Brig
McDonough
Sailed June 15
Merchantman
Brig
Knipe
Sailed July 9
Juventa
Schooner
Goodrum
Sailed July 9
Laura
Brig
Miller
Sailed July 28
Isabel
Schooner
Pierson
Sailed August 10
J.B.Ford
Brig
Pierce
Sailed August 2 1
Admiral
Brig
Newbery
Sailed August 3 1
Josephine
Brig
McDonough
Sailed September 27
Merchantman
Brig
Lamb
Sailed October 24
Laura
Brig
Dougherty
Sailed November 9
Isabel
Schooner
Pierson
Sailed December 6
J.B.Ford
Brig
Felker
1868 Pierce
Sailed December 27
Clara Bell
Barque
Sailed January 8
Josephine
Brig
McDonough
Sailed February 3
Laura
Brig
Dougherty
Sailed February 16
Merchantman
Brig
Lamb
Sailed March 7
Isabel
Schooner
Pierson
Sailed April i
J.B.Ford
Brig
Felker
Sailed April 18
Clara Bell
Barque
Pierce
Sailed May 5
Josephine
Brig
McDonough
Sailed May 28
Laura
Brig
Dougherty
Sailed June 13
Merchantman
Brig
Lamb
Sailed July 1 2
Isabel
Schooner
Pierson
Sailed July 2 1
J.B.Ford
Brig
Felker
Sailed July 3 1
Clara Bell
Barque
Pierce
Sailed August 15
Josephine
Brig
McDonough
Sailed September 7
Laura
Brig
Dougherty
Sailed October 3
Isabel
Schooner
Pierson
Sailed November i
J.B.Ford
Brig
Felker
Sailed November 8
Clara Bell
Barque
Pierce
Sailed November 27
Josephine
Brig
McDonough 186^
Sailed December 3 1
Merchantmaji
Brig
Lamb
Sailed February 6
Laura
Brig
Dougherty
Sailed March 2
Isabel
Schooner
Pierson
Sailed March 20
Clara Bell
Barque
Pierce
Sailed April 10
Josephine
Brig
Rudolfe
Sailed April 26
Sparrow
Brig
Standard
Sailed May 19
Merchantman
Brig
Standard
Sailed June 6
Laura
Brig
Dougherty
Sailed June 19
Isabel
Schooner
Pierson
Sailed July 7
J. B. Ford
Brig
Weeks
Sailed July 20
Clara Bell
Barque
Freeman
Sailed July 30
Legal Tender
Schooner
Lemman
Sailed August 8
Josephine
Brig
McDonough
Sailed September i
Fanny Hare
Schooner
Green
Sailed September 19 ​
Steam Navigation on the Colorado River
173
Date Sailed or Cleared from
Name of Vessel
Type
Captain
San Francisco
1869 (Continued)
Merchantman
Brig
Standard
Sailed September 29
Laura
Brig
Dougherty
Sailed October 9
Isabel
Schooner
Pierson
Sailed November 9
J.B.Ford
Brig
Weeks
Sailed November 26
Clara Bell
Barque
Pierce
1870
Sailed December 20
Josephine
Brig
McDonough
Sailed January i
Merchantma72
Brig
Bradford
Sailed January 9
Laura
Brig
Dougherty
Sailed January 28
Isabel
Schooner
Pierson
Sailed February 5
Juventa
Schooner
Hall
Sailed March 5
J.B.Ford
Brig
Weeks
Sailed March 22
Clara Bell
Barque
Pierce
Sailed April 15
Josephine
Brig
McDonough
Sailed April 30
Merchantman
Brig
Bradford
Sailed May 28
Isabel
Schooner
Pierson
Sailed June 20
Laura
Brig
Mclsaac
Sailed June 29
J.B.Ford
Brig
Weeks
Sailed July 15
Clara Bell
Barque
Sears
Sailed July 30
Fannie Hare
Schooner
Green
Sailed August 28
Josephine
Brig
McDonough
Sailed September 19
Isabel
Schooner
Pierson
Sailed October i
Enterprise
Schooner
McAllep
Sailed October 20
J.B.Ford
Brig
Weeks
Sailed October 26
Laura
Brig
Dougherty
Sailed November 20
Clara Bell
Barque
Sears
18ji McDonough
Sailed December 24
Josephine
Brig
Sailed February 8
Isabel
Schooner
Pierson
Cleared March 1 1
Laura
Brig
Dougherty
Sailed April 9
J.B.Ford
Brig
Weeks
Sailed May 30
Neivbern
Steamer
McDonough
Sailed July 2 (first voyage)
Newbern
Steamer
McDonough
Sailed August 5
Laura
Brig
Dougherty
Sailed August 14
Newbern
Steamer
McDonough
Sailed September 16
Newbern
Steamer
McDonough
Sailed October 2 1
Newbern
Steamer
McDonough
Sailed December 4
J.B.Ford
Brig
Weeks
Sailed December 6
Idaho
Steamer
Metzgar
1872
Sailed December 22
Newbern
Steamer
McDonough
Sailed January 1 2
Ocean Pearl
Schooner
Bruce
Sailed February 3
Newbern
Steamer
McDonough
Sailed February 14
Alice Haake
Schooner
Goodwin
Sailed February 26
Newbern
Steamer
McDonough
Sailed March 21
Isabel
Schooner
Pierson
Sailed April 7
Josephine
Brig
Bean
Sailed May 5
California Historical Society Quarterly
Type
Steamer
Brig
Schooner
Steamer
Schooner
Steamer
Brig
Brig
Steamer
Schooner
Steamer
Steamer
Steamer
Brig
Steamer
Schooner
Steamer
Brig
Date Sailed or Cleared from Captain San Francisco
18-^2 (Continued) McDonough Sailed May 1 1 Sailed June 1 2 Sailed June 19 Sailed July i Sailed July 18 Sailed August 3 Sailed September 2 Sailed September 1 1 Sailed October 20 Sailed November 24 Sailed November 27 ​
|- |Newbem||Steamer||McDonough||Sailed May 11
|- |J. B. Ford||Brig||Weeks||Sailed June 12
|- |Alice Haake||Schooner||Eggeret||sailed June 19
|- |Newbern||Steamer||McDonough||Sailed July 1
|- |Isabel||Schooner||Pierson||Sailed July 18
|- |Newbern||Steamer||McDonough||Sailed August 3
|- |Josephine||Brig||Weeks||Sailed Septemeber 1
|- |J.B.Ford||Brig||Bean||Sialed September 11
|- |Newbern||Steamer||McDonough||Sailed October 20
|- |Fannie Hare||Schooner||Christian||Sailed November 27
|- |colspan=4 style="text-align:center;"|1873
|- |Newbern||Steamer||McDonough||Sailed January 4
|- |Newbern||Steamer||McDonough||Sailed March 15
|- |Curlew||Brig||Hogthorp||Sailed March 25
|- |Newbern||Steamer||McDonough||Sailed April 23
|- |Fannie Hare||Schooner||Jones||Sailed April 26
|- |Newbern||Steamer||McDonough||Sailed June 14
|- |J.B.Ford||Brig||Weeks||Sailed July 3 |}
Thereafter the Newbern, Captain McDonough, sailed from San Francisco on July 24, August 30, October 4, November 15, and December 28, 1873, and the steamer Montana, Captain Metzger, on October 25 (her first voyage) and December 6. During 1874 and 1875 the Montana and Newbern each sailed from San Francisco seven times a year, and the sloop Colorado, Captain Boise, sailed on October 20, 1875. The Newbern made nine trips and the Montana eight in 1876; and in 1877 the Idaho, Captain Douglass, sailed on January 23 and March 15, and the Newbern on February 16, April 4, and May 16.