Steamboats of the Colorado River
[3]: 1–104, 135–160 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.
[4] 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.
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.
Ives, a topographic engineer, used the money to build his own steamboat, the small, iron hulled, sternwheeler Explorer in Philadelphia, test it, disassemble and ship it to the Colorado estuary.
In March 1859, it sent a disassembled 125-foot-long by 25-foot beam stern-wheel steamboat, and a cargo including a steam engine, to supply the Gila mine with water to Robinson's Landing, in the schooner Arno.
Without the steam engine providing water for washing out the gold at the mine, a mile from the Gila River, American miners could not work it profitably and the town soon was mostly abandoned.
[3]: 31, 33 [13][14][15] Also early in 1859, placer gold was found 18 miles (29 km) above Fort Yuma at the Pot Holes on the west bank of the Colorado River in California.
[16]: 13, note 27 [17] But in April 1861, as the American Civil War began, word got out that silver and some gold lodes had been discovered by John Moss and others in El Dorado Canyon.
[16]: 15, and Note 33 [20]: 611 For the first two years only high grade ore worth over $200 a ton could be mined profitably in the Canyon, because it had to be shipped out to San Francisco for milling.
At high water, in May and June, the steamboat took several days to ascend against the strong current the 65 miles (105 km) from Fort Mohave, but could return in as little as 4 hours under full steam.
From November to April ore had to be freighted overland at great expense to ships at San Pedro or wait at the landing for the high water of May and the steamboat.
[3] : 33, 35 In January 1862, Pauline Weaver discovered gold in an arroyo while trapping along the Arizona side of the Colorado River 130 miles (210 km) above Fort Yuma.
A party led by John Moss founded the Waubau Yuma Mining District in the Hualapai Mountains 50 miles (80 km) east of Fort Mohave.
Soldiers from Fort Mohave established the Irataba Mining District in early 1863 when they found copper 5 miles (8.0 km) west of the river in the Dead Mountains of California.
Then Irataba City, followed in January 1864 but it was supplanted when the ferry and landing of Hardyville was established in March 1864, to serve these mines, supported by Johnson's steamboat company.
North of La Paz a copper strike 12 miles (19 km) east of the river led to organization of the Williams Fork Mining District with its landing at Aubrey City.
However, by late 1863 these supplies were piling up on ships at anchor in the Delta or on the dock in Arizona City, not getting through in sufficient volume to prevent shortages and cause prices up river and in the interior to skyrocket.
Steamboat captains and their officers took advantage of the situation by purchasing needed goods on their own account then carried them up river to sell for a quick profit at the now inflated prices, leaving behind identical shipments consigned to the merchants.
In September, Gorman also began to compete with the Johnson & Company and the Union Line, towing the barge White Fawn, knocked down and shipped in a schooner to the estuary where it was reassembled.
Additionally, "Steamboat" Adams accused Johnson & Company of sending men to attack Esmeralda by damaging her machinery, setting fires, cutting her moorings and attempting to wreck her with floating logs.
[3]: 44, 47 Soon after the Esmeralda and its barge began running on the river, the Mohave was launched in May giving Johnson 3 boats to carry goods, just as the flood waters came making rapid and heavily laden trips possible.
Trueworthy proposed to do this at all times of the year, and tried to take the Esmerelda there in early 1865, towing a barge loaded with merchandise and timber, but turned back at the Roaring Rapids in Black Canyon, when word came that his buyers had left Callville.
Johnson associate William Harrison Hardy had succeeded in getting there first, leaving January 2, poling and sailing (when the wind was favorable) a 50 by 8 foot flat boat "Arizona" 90 miles (140 km) from Hardyville to Callville in 12 days.
[26] Despite her triumph at reaching the new "head of navigation" at Callvile, Esmerelda upon her return to Arizona City, was seized by the Sheriff of Yuma County, for debts owned by Thomas E. Trueworthy's company.
From July 2, 1871, Newbern ran the 2,100 miles (3,400 km) voyage monthly to Port Isabel in twelve days, cutting in half the time taken by sailing ships speeding up freight and passenger service.
The Southern Pacific Company began building track southward through the San Joaquin Valley and reached Bakersfield, California on November 8, 1874.
The partners reliable income now came from carrying supplies to Parker and Fort Mohave Indian agencies and coal for stamp mills at Eldorado Canyon and Hardyville.
They helped the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad rebuild their bridge across the Colorado below Needles at Eastbridge washed out or undermined by spring floods in 1884, 1886 and 1888 before they moved it, diverting their line down river to a crossing on a solid rock bottom at the station and later settlement of Mellen named, (though misspelled), for Captain Jack Mellon.
The first real rival was the steamboat St. Valier built by the Santa Ana Mining Company at Needles in 1899, but tied up in litigation it did not operate on the river until 1900.
Under the command of a former barge captain of the Colorado Steam Navigation Company, they made regular trips between Yuma and Needles competing with the rival steamboat Cochan.
