Orizaba was one of the first ocean-going steamships in commercial service on the west coast of North America and one of the last side-wheelers in regular use.

Her colorful career spanned the business intrigues of Cornelius Vanderbilt, civil unrest in Mexico and Nicaragua, and the Fraser River gold rush.

The ship's business was managed by a partnership formed by his son-in-law and his youngest son, Israel Harris and Henry Morgan.

There was substantial political unrest in Mexico at the time, and even armed rebellion against the government aided by guns shipped from supporters in New Orleans.

He planned a canal to connect the two oceans, but in the short-term transferred passengers from one coast to the other by shallow-draft river steamer, stagecoach, and mule train.

The Nicaraguan government granted the Accessory Transit Company, controlled by Vanderbilt, the right to build a canal and pending its construction, a monopoly on transporting passengers across the country.

Her departure was delayed by U.S. Marshalls who arrested three of her passengers for attempting to join Walker's forces in violation of neutrality laws.

By this time Costa Rican troops had invaded Nicaragua, likely urged on and perhaps funded by Vanderbilt,[15] to suppress Walker and close the transit route across the country that supplied him.

[16] Complicating matters further, the Royal Navy ship HMS Eurydyice forbade Orizaba to land her passengers, at least some of whom were likely there to join Walker's army.

The British regarded Walker's ascendence and the flood of Americans coming to Nicaragua to support him as a potential violation of the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty.

She reached San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua on October 8, 1856 via the Strait of Magellan, after several stops for coal, water, and provisions.

Given the chaos on the transit route, passengers were assured that if it were blocked across Nicaragua, Orizaba would carry them to Panama, from whence a ship on the Caribbean coast would take them on to New York.

[24] She arrived back in San Francisco on April 20, 1857, by which time forces opposed to Walker had retaken the transit route and closed it.

He reconciled with his estranged partner from the Nicaraguan trade, Cornelius K. Garrison, to form a competitive line between San Francisco and Panama.

Having proved that he could compete on the Panama route, Vanderbilt struck a deal with the Pacific Mail Steamship Company whereby it would pay him $40,000 a month not to.

[37] She drops out of newspaper accounts in April 1864, suggesting that she had been idled prior to her sale to the California Steam Navigation Company.

This new demand convinced the California Steam Navigation Company to establish routes from its San Francisco base to ports along the West Coast.

[40] These new routes created growing competition with the California, Oregon, and Mexico Steamship Company run by Ben Holladay.

When a third steamship company, the Anchor Line, entered the Portland - San Francisco market, prices fell so low that they triggered industry consolidation.

A February 1868 shipment included 100,000 oranges, several thousand lemons and limes, 119 casks of whale oil, and 15,750 gallons of wine.

Pacific Mail Steamship Company exited the coastal shipping business and focused on its longer international routes.

Five ships, including Orizaba, and all the facilities of the south coast line was sold to Goodall, Nelson, and Perkins steamship company.

[54] By 1881 her old technology left her slower than more modern propeller-driven ships so she was refit with new boilers and new paddlewheels, increasing her speed to 13.5 knots.

The workmen thought the explosion was wonderfully effective, but with shards of iron landing up to 300 yards away, they were prevailed upon to go back to using hammers.