Steamboats on the Colorado River operated from the river mouth at the Colorado River Delta on the Gulf of California in Mexico, up to the Virgin River on the Lower Colorado River Valley in the Southwestern United States from 1852 until 1909, when the construction of the Laguna Dam was completed. The shallow draft paddle steamers were found to be the most economical way to ship goods between the Pacific Ocean ports and settlements and mines along the lower river, putting in at landings in Sonora state, Baja California Territory, California state, Arizona Territory, New Mexico Territory, and Nevada state.Richard E. Lingenfelter, Steamboats on the Colorado River, 1852–1916, University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 1978 They remained the primary means of transportation of freight until the advent of the more economical railroads began cutting away at their business from 1878 when the first line entered Arizona Territory.
Steamboats were tried on the upper Colorado River: in Glen Canyon; on the Green River in Utah and Wyoming; and on the Grand River, (renamed as the upper part of the Colorado River after 1921), above its confluence with the Green River in Utah and in Colorado. These attempts in the late 19th century and early 20th century met with little success.
History
Early Steamboats on the Colorado River
Fort Yuma's supply difficulties The beginnings of the use of steamboats on the Colorado River came as the result of the founding of Fort Yuma during the Yuma War. Supplies had to be shipped over long distance from San Francisco to San Diego then overland through the Peninsular Ranges via Warner Pass to Depot Vallecito then across the arid Colorado Desert to the fort. Costs of such transport was minimally $500 per ton. Supplying the fort became so difficult, that for a time it had to be abandoned.
Attempts had been made by the Army to bring supplies the up from the Gulf of California. First in November 1850 to January 1851, by its transport schooner, Invincible under Captain Alfred H. Wilcox and then by its longboat commanded by Lieutenant George Derby. Later Lieutenant Derby, in his expedition report, recommended that a shallow draft sternwheel steamboat would be the way to send supplies up river to the fort.Report of the Secretary of War, communicating ... a reconnaissance of the Gulf of California and the Colorado river by Lieutenant Derby, Senate Executive Doc. #81, 32nd Congress, 1st Session, Washington, 1852
The next attempt was made by the contractors George Alonzo Johnson with his partner Benjamin M. Hartshorne who arrived at the river's mouth in February 1852, on the United States transport schooner Sierra Nevada under Captain Wilcox.Executive Documents of the Senate of the United States, No. 37, Report of the Secretary of War, showing the contracts made under the authority of the War Department during the year 1853. On board were 250 tons of supplies for the newly reoccupied fort and a pair of knocked down flatboats, built by Domingo Marcucci in San Francisco.Scott, Erving M. and Others, Evolution of Shipping and Ship-Building in California, Part I, Overland Monthly and Out West Magazine, Volume 25, January 1895, pp. 5–16; from quod.lib.umich.edu accessed December 14, 2014 These they assembled to be poled up the Colorado. However the first barge sank with its cargo a total loss. The second was finally, after a long struggle poled up to Fort Yuma, but what little it carried was soon consumed by the garrison. Subsequently wagons again were sent from the fort to haul the balance of the supplies overland from the estuary through the marshes and woodlands of the Delta.
Both of these attempts on the river failed in the face of extreme tides in the estuary or strong currents, shifting sand bars or low water in the river. Hauling supplies from the estuary worked but was less satisfactory than the 185 mile San Diego route over land. Firstly it was a violation of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo for American troops to intrude into Mexican territory. Secondly, on top of already costly land shipping was the prospect of the additional expense of Mexican custom duties that would be levied on anything landed on Mexican territory.
James Turnbull and the Uncle Sam In November 1852, the Uncle Sam, a 65-foot long side-wheel paddle steamer, also built by Domingo Marcucci, became the first steamboat on the Colorado River. It was brought by the schooner Capacity from San Francisco to the delta by the next contractor to supply the fort, Captain James Turnbull. It was assembled and launched in the estuary, above the mouth of the Colorado River. Equipped with only a 20 horsepower engine, the Uncle Sam could only carry 35 tons of supplies, taking 15 days to make the first 120 mile trip. It made many trips up and down the river, taking four months to finish carrying the supplies for the fort, improving its time up river to 12 days. Negligence caused it to sink at its dock below Fort Yuma, and was then washed away before it could be raised, in the spring flood of 1853. Turnbull who meanwhile had returned to the Delta from San Francisco with another cargo and a more powerful engine for the Uncle Sam. He returned for a new hull, while the army sent wagons to recover the cargo from the delta again. However, Turnbull in financial difficulty, disappeared from the city leaving creditors unpaid. Nevertheless, Turnbull had shown the worth of steamboats to solve Fort Yuma's supply problem.
George A. Johnson & Company
In late 1852, George Alonzo Johnson with his partner Hartshorne and a new partner Captain Alfred H. Wilcox (formerly of the Invincible and Sierra Nevada), formed George A. Johnson & Company and obtained the next contract to supply the fort. Johnson and his partners, all having learned a lesson from their failed attempts ascending the Colorado and with the example of the Uncle Sam, brought the parts of a more powerful side-wheel steamboat, the General Jesup, with them to the mouth of the Colorado from San Francisco. There it was reassembled at a landing in the upper tidewater of the river and reached Fort Yuma, January 18, 1854. This new boat, capable of carrying 50 tons of cargo, was very successful making round trips from the estuary to the fort in only four or five days. Costs were cut to $75 per ton.
A second reason for the speed of the new steamboat beside its powerful engine was the establishment of the wood-yards along the river between the delta and Fort Yuma. The landings sprang up to supply wood for the steamboats, so the crew would not need to gather wood as they proceeded up river, as the crew of the Uncle Sam had been obliged to do. These landings were each located at about the distance a steamboat could travel up and down river each day on that section of river. Steamboats did not travel at night, due to the danger of running onto sandbars or into snags on the ever changing river. The boats would be refueled at the landings while tied up overnight. The wood-yards were owned by Yankees, who hired the Cocopah from local rancherias, to cut the wood (usually cottonwood or mesquite), transport it to the wood-yards and load it onto the boats. Cocopah men often also served as deck hands on the boats.Felger, Richard Stephen, Flora of the Gran Desierto and Rio Colorado of Northwestern Mexico, University of Arizona Press, 2000, pp. 30–31
+ Lower Colorado River Distances from mouth to Fort YumaLocationDistancePhilips Point, SonoraHead of eastern dis-tributary channel of the Colorado River.Port Isabel Slough from 1865Port Isabel, Sonora 1867–1878Steamship Anchorage, eastern dis-tributary channel, 1871–1878Robinson's Landing, Baja California 1854–1878Hardy RiverHeintzelman's PointHead of TidewaterPort Famine, Sonora 1854–1878Lerdo Landing, Sonora 1872–1896Gridiron, Sonora 1854–1878Ogden's Landing, Sonora 1854–1878Hualapai Smith's, Sonora 1866–1878Also known as Smith's Ferry. Located 20 miles overland from Yuma in Sonora, see The Arizona Sentinel, Saturday, December 7, 1872, Page 3.Pedrick's, Arizona Territory 1854–1878Located in Sonora until the 1854 Gadsden Purchase.Jaeger City, California 1858–1862Colorado City, Arizona Territory 1854–1862Fort Yuma, California 1850–1883Arizona City, Arizona Territory 1858–1873Yuma, Arizona Territory from 1873
Colorado Delta to Fort Yuma route
The route of the steamboats began in the Colorado River Delta, where there was at first just an anchorage near Robinson's Landing in Baja California, above the river mouth and below Fort Yuma. Here they picked up their cargoes from ships in the river, to avoid paying Mexican customs duties for landing their cargo. The extreme tides and its tidal bore in the estuary above the river mouth made this loading operation difficult and sometimes dangerous for the vessels engaging in it. Some above that anchorage the first steamboats were assembled until the later 1860s. There, the tidal conditions were not so violent but the tide could aid in launching the craft.
From 1854, between the delta anchorage and Fort Yuma were the wood-yard steamboat landings of Port Famine above Robinson's Landing, Gridiron, above Port Famine, Ogden's Landing above Gridiron, Pedrick's above Ogden's Landing, and Fort Yuma above Pedrick's. With reliable transportation to the fort, new settlements developed in the vicinity of the fort. Colorado City and Jaeger City a mile below Fort Yuma at Jaeger's Ferry. In 1858, above Colorado City, across the river from Fort Yuma, Arizona City was founded, (renamed Yuma in 1873).
In 1865, a better location for an anchorage, and a port and shipyard was established at Port Isabel, Sonora, below Fort Yuma and east of the river mouth on the eastern outlet of the river. In 1873, Lerdo Landing appeared on the river, above Port Famine, to connect the pioneering agricultural settlement of Colonia Lerdo to the steamboat traffic on the river. Port Isabel remained in use until 1879, when the railroad came to Yuma, Arizona making it the head of navigation and made Port Isabel and the woodlot landings below Yuma obsolete.
Extending The Steamboat Route above Fort Yuma
From 1853, ranches were developed nearby up river to supply the fort with beef and barley. That same year gold was found up river. By 1854, copper mines were developed along the river above Fort Yuma. The ore provided George A. Johnson & Co. with their first commercial cargo to take to the estuary anchorage. Old Mexican mines where reopened in the interior of the Gadsden Purchase that increased the traffic bringing in machinery and shipping out ore. By 1855, the volume of cargo necessitated putting another boat on the river. By December 1855, Johnson had John G. North build and bring in sections a new steamboat from San Francisco to the Delta estuary. There North assembled and launched the long, 80 hp, wood hulled Colorado.Scott, Erving M. and Others, Evolution of Shipping and Ship-Building in California, Part II, Overland Monthly and Out West Magazine, Volume 25, February 1895, p. 123 It was capable of carrying 70 tons of cargo while drawing only 2 feet of water and was the first stern-wheeler on the river.