California Camp is a former ranch and river settlement on the Colorado River in Imperial County, California, now a ghost town.
The Colorado River is one of the principal rivers in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The 1,450-mile-long (2,330 km) river drains an expansive, arid watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. and two Mexican states. Starting in the central Rocky Mountains of Colorado, the river flows generally southwest across the Colorado Plateau and through the Grand Canyon before reaching Lake Mead on the Arizona–Nevada border, where it turns south toward the international border. After entering Mexico, the Colorado approaches the mostly dry Colorado River Delta at the tip of the Gulf of California between Baja California and Sonora.
Imperial County is a county in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2010 census, the population was 174,528. The county seat is El Centro. Established in 1907 from a division of San Diego County, it was last county to be formed in California.
A ghost town is an abandoned village, town, or city, usually one that contains substantial visible remains. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, prolonged droughts, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, pollution, or nuclear disasters. The term can sometimes refer to cities, towns, and neighbourhoods that are still populated, but significantly less so than in past years; for example, those affected by high levels of unemployment and dereliction.
California Camp was a ranch with a woodyard landing for the George Alonzo Johnson's steamboats on the Colorado River. It was located 72 miles up river from Yuma, Arizona, 24 miles above Picacho and 8 miles down river from Camp Gaston in what was then San Diego County, California. [1] :65,168
George Alonzo Johnson (1824-1903) 49er, Colorado River steamboat entrepreneur, California politician.
A steamboat is a boat that is propelled primarily by steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels. Steamboats sometimes use the prefix designation SS, S.S. or S/S or PS, however these designations are most often used for steamships.
Yuma is a city in and the county seat of Yuma County, Arizona, United States. The city's population was 93,064 at the 2010 census, up from the 2000 census population of 77,515.
Parker is the county seat of La Paz County, Arizona, United States, on the Colorado River in Parker Valley. The population was 3,083 at the 2010 census.
Potholes is a former gold camp and settlement in Imperial County, California. The settlement was located on the railroad line 4 miles (6.4 km) northeast of Bard along the Colorado River near the site of the Laguna Dam.
Gila City is a ghost town in Yuma County in the U.S. state of Arizona. The town was settled in 1858 in what was then the New Mexico Territory.
El Dorado Canyon is a canyon in southern Clark County, Nevada famed for its rich silver and gold mines. The canyon was named in 1857 by steamboat entrepreneur Captain George Alonzo Johnson when gold and silver was discovered here. It drains into the Colorado River at the former site of Nelson's Landing.
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. 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.
Jaeger City or Jaegerville, was a former settlement in what is now Imperial County, California, at Jaeger's Ferry on the Colorado River a mile downstream from Fort Yuma. It was named for L. J. F. Jaeger who ran the ferry there from 1851.
Camp Gaston, sometimes called Fort Gaston is a former U. S. Army camp, that was located 3 miles west of the old original course of the Colorado River south of modern Palo Verde, California in Imperial County, California, near Milpitas Wash Road. It was 80 miles up river from Fort Yuma, and was active between 1859 and 1867.
La Laguna was a gold mining town in New Mexico Territory, now Yuma County, Arizona. It was in existence for a short time from 1860 to 1862. The town was a steamboat landing 20 miles above Yuma, Arizona on the Colorado River. It had a few merchants and a ferry across the Colorado River that served placer miners in the vicinity. When the La Paz gold rush began, La Laguna began to decline and it was soon replaced by Castle Dome Landing, 15 miles to the north, following the discovery of gold in the Castle Dome Mountains. It remained for a time as the site of a store and a ranch, belonging to Jose Redondo, one of the first to mine gold at La Paz.
General Jesup was a side-wheel paddle-steamer, named for General Thomas Jesup then Quartermaster General of the United States Army, and was the second steamboat launched on the Colorado River, in 1854.
Louisville, which is now a ghost town, was a mining camp in El Dorado Canyon near the Techatticup Mine in the Eldorado Mining District, of New Mexico Territory. The camp was probably named for Nat S. Lewis, the superintendent of the Techatticup Mine in the 1860s, and camp doctor.
El Dorado City, which is now a ghost town, was a mining camp in the Colorado Mining District at the mouth of January Wash at its confluence with El Dorado Canyon. It was located about a mile down the canyon from Huse Spring, at an elevation of 2382 feet. Its site was located nearby to the south southeast of the Techatticup Mine the primary source of the ore its mill processed.
Colorado City is now a ghost town, in Clark County, Nevada, located under Lake Mohave at the mouth of El Dorado Canyon.
Liverpool Landing, a ghost town and former river settlement on the Colorado River, in Mohave County, Arizona, now under Lake Havasu.
Chimehuevis Landing, a former river settlement, on the Colorado River, across from Lake Havasu City, in San Bernardino County, California, now a ghost town, but the location is now under Lake Havasu.
Williamsport is a former mining town and present day ghost town, on the bank of the Colorado River in La Paz County, Arizona.
Drift Desert is a former ranch and steamboat landing on the Colorado River, now a ghost town, in La Paz County, Arizona.
Cottonwood Island, a large island in the Colorado River, within Cottonwood Valley, in Clark County, Nevada. Cottonwood Island was a low-lying island about 10 miles long and up to 3 miles wide. It was forested by cottonwoods and also after the spring flood, cluttered with driftwood from the riparian woodlands along the upper watershed of the Colorado River, washed down and caught in the first wide valley where the river slowed and spread out. Cottonwood Island was important as a source wood and of fuel for steamboats on that river and for the early mills and mines in El Dorado Canyon.
Olive City, or Olivia, was a short-lived town, steamboat landing, and ferry crossing on the Colorado River in what was then Yuma County, Arizona Territory, from 1863 to 1866. It was located on the Arizona bank of the Colorado River, 1 mile above its rival Mineral City and 1/2 mile above the original site of Ehrenberg, Arizona, 3 miles southwest of the location of La Paz. The GNIS location of Olive City (historical) is indicated as being in La Paz County, Arizona, but its coordinates in the present-day now put it across the river just within Riverside County, California Olive City was named after Olive Oatman who had been, with her sister, survivors of the massacre of her family and a captive of the Yavapai until purchased from them by the Mohave who they lived with for several years.
Empire Flat was a steamboat landing at Empire Flat on the east shore of the Colorado River, within Parker Strip, Arizona, in La Paz County, Arizona.
George A. Johnson & Company was a partnership between three men who pioneered navigation on the Colorado River. Benjamin M. Hartshorne, George Alonzo Johnson and Alfred H. Wilcox. The George A. Johnson & Company was formed in the fall of 1852, and was reorganized as the Colorado Steam Navigation Company in 1869.
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