More importantly there was a general discontent by miners and merchants in the up river mines and settlements over high prices and shortages that arose in late 1863.
In September, Gorman also began to compete with the Johnson Company and with the rival opposition steamboat Esmerelda of the Union Line, towing the barge White Fawn, knocked down and shipped in a schooner to the estuary where it was reassembled.
However, in 1866, the Esmerelda and Nina Tilden were seized by the Sheriff of Yuma County, for debts owned by Thomas E. Trueworthy's company.
[2] In 1874, the Nina Tilden was retired, and tied up at Port Isabel, Sonora following the construction there of the Gila, its replacement in 1873.
Soon after she broke her lines during a high tide, was caught broadside to the tidal bore and was capsized, destroying her upper works and blocking the channel of the port.