This list summarizes basic characteristics of steamboats and towed barges placed in service on the Colorado River and its tributaries. The article Steamboats of the Colorado River expands on the topic.
Name | Type | Year built | Where built | Builders | Launched | Owners | Tons | Length | Beam | Draft | Engines - cargo tonnage | Disposition |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cochan | stern | 1899 | Yuma | unknown | Yuma, 1899 | Colorado Steam Navigation Company | 234 | 135' | 31' | 22" loaded, 11" light | Taken from the Gila - 125 tons. | Dismantled Spring, 1910 |
Cocopah I | stern | 1859 | San Francisco | unknown | Gridiron, Sonora, Aug. 1859 | George A. Johnson & Company | unknown | 140' | 29' | 14.5" [1] | unknown - 60 tons, tow 100 ton barge | Dismantled 1867, housing in Port Isabel |
Cocopah II | stern | 1867 | Arizona City | unknown | Arizona City, May 1867 | George A. Johnson & Company, Colorado Steam Navigation Company | 231 | 147.5' | 28' | unknown | unknown - unknown | Dismantled 1881 |
Colorado I | stern | 1855 | San Francisco | John G. North [2] | Estuary, Dec. 1855 | George A. Johnson & Company | unknown | 120' | unknown | unknown | 80 hp - 70 tons | Dismantled April, 1862 |
Colorado II | stern | 1862 | Arizona City | John G. North [3] | Arizona City, 1862 | George A. Johnson & Company, Colorado Steam Navigation Company | 179 | 145' | 29' | 16" [1] | 80 hp from Colorado I - 70 tons | Dismantled 1882 |
Esmerelda | stern | 1862 | San Francisco | Patrick Henry Tiernan [4] : 149 [5] | San Francisco, engaged in the upper San Joaquin River trade, sent to Colorado River arriving March, 1864 | Union Line, Pacific & Colorado Steam Navigation Co., Arizona Navigation Co., George A. Johnson & Company | unknown | 93' | 20' | 33" | unknown - 50 tons, tow 100 ton barge | Dismantled 1868 |
Explorer | stern (iron hull) | 1857 | Philadelphia | Reaney, Neafie & Company [6] : 21 | Robinson's Landing, Baja California, 1857 | U. S. Army Corps of Topographical Engineers, George A. Johnson & Company | unknown | 54' | 13' | 3' | unknown - unknown | Engine removed 1858, used as a barge until lost 1864. |
General Jesup | side | 1853 | unknown | unknown | Estuary, 1854 | George A. Johnson & Company | unknown | 104' | 17' | 30" | 50 hp - 50 tons | Dismantled, 1859. |
General Rosales | propeller-driven | 1878 | unknown | unknown | Yuma, Arizona July 1878 | Gulf of California Steamship Company | 54 | 96' | 16' | 4' | unknown - unknown | Sent to Guaymas, Sonora, Sept. 1878 |
Gila | stern | 1873 | San Francisco | Patrick Henry Tiernan [4] : 150 | Port Isabel, Sonora, 1873 | Colorado Steam Navigation Company | 236 | 149' | 31' | 16.5" (3.8' deep hull) | unknown - 125 tons | Rebuilt as Cochan, 1899 |
Mohave I | stern | 1864 | San Francisco | John G. North [3] | Estuary, May 1864 | George A. Johnson & Company, Colorado Steam Navigation Company | 193 | 135' | 28' | 4' | unknown - up to 225 tons, or tow 2 barges, with 100 tons of cargo [7] | Dismantled 1875, machinery used to equip Onward in 1877 |
Mohave II | stern | 1876 | San Francisco | Patrick Henry Tiernan [4] : 150 | Port Isabel, Sonora, May 1876 | Colorado Steam Navigation Company | 188 | 149.5' | 31.5' | 12" | unknown - unknown | Dismantled Jan. 1900 |
Nina Tilden | stern | 1864 | San Francisco | Martin Vice | San Francisco, July 1864, arrived at Colorado River Aug. 1864 | Philadelphia Silver & Copper Mining Co., Pacific & Colorado Steam Navigation Co., Arizona Navigation Co., George A. Johnson & Company, Colorado Steam Navigation Company | unknown | 97' | 22' | 12" | unknown - 120 tons | Wrecked Sept. 1874, at Port Isabel |
Retta | stern | 1900 | Yuma | unknown | Yuma, 1900 | Mexican-Colorado Navigation Company | unknown | 36' | 6' | unknown | unknown - unknown | Sunk, February, 1905 |
St. Vallier | stern | 1899 | unknown | unknown | Needles, California, Early 1899 | Santa Ana Mining Company, Mexican-Colorado Navigation Company | 94 | 74' | 17' | unknown | unknown - unknown | Sunk, March, 1909 |
San Jorge | screw | 1901 | Chicago | unknown | Yuma, June 1901 | Mexican-Colorado Navigation Company | unknown | 38' | 9' | 18" | unknown - unknown | To the Gulf, July 1901 |
Searchlight | stern | 1902 | Needles | F. L. Hawley | Needles, Dec. 1902 | Colorado River Transportation Company, Colorado Steam Navigation Company, U. S. Reclamation Service | 98 | 91' | 18' | unknown | unknown - unknown | "Lost", 1916 |
Uncle Sam | side | June 1852 | San Francisco | Domingo Marcucci [8] | Estuary, Nov. 1852 | James Turnbull | 40 | 65' | 16' | unknown | 20 hp - 35 tons | Foundered 1853, 6 miles below Fort Yuma |
Unnamed steamer | stern | February 1859 | San Francisco | Henry Owens [9] | Knocked down and sent to the Colorado River Estuary in the schooner Arno. [9] | Gila Mining & Transportation Company | unknown | 125' | 25' | 3.5' | unknown - unknown | Sank with the schooner Arno near Robinson's Landing before it could be unloaded and assembled. April 1859. [10] [11] [12] |
Name | Type | Year built | Where built | Builders | Launched | Owners | Tons | Length | Beam | Draft | Engines - cargo tonnage | Disposition |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Black Eagle | screw | 1907 | Green River, Utah | Harry T. Yokey | Green River, Utah Jun. 1907 | Harry T. Yokey | 40' | 6' | 7-8" | Exploded, 1907 | ||
Charles H. Spencer | stern | 1912 | San Francisco | Schultz, Robertson and Schultz | Warm Creek, Arizona Feb. 1912 | Charles H. Spencer | 92.5' | 25' | 18-20" | 100 hp - unknown | Abandoned, Spring 1912 | |
Cliff Dweller [13] | stern | 1905 | Halverson's, Utah | John J. Lumsden, Charles Anderson | Halverson's, Utah, Nov. 1905 | John J. Lumsden | 70' | 20' | 14" | coal-fired - unknown | To Salt Lake, renamed Vista, Apr. 1907 | |
Comet | stern | 1908 | Green River, Wyoming | Holger Larsen | Green River, Wyoming, July 1908 | Green River Navigation Company | 60' | 12' | coal-fired, 2 x 2O hp engines - unknown | Abandoned 1908 | ||
Major Powell | screw | 1891 | unknown | unknown | Green River, Utah, Aug. 1891 | Green Grand & Colorado River Navigation Company | 35' | 8' | 26" | coal-fired (wood on 2nd voyage), 2 x 6 hp - 3 tons | Dismantled, 1894 | |
Undine | stern | 1902 | Rock Island, Illinois | unknown | Green River, Utah, Nov. 1901 | Frank H. Summerhill | 60' | 10' | 12" - 20" | coal-fired, 20 hp - 15 tons | Wrecked May 1902 | |
Georgiana Slough, is a slough within Sacramento County, California. It is located in the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta, and links both the Sacramento River and the San Joaquin River above their confluence in the Delta near Pittsburg, at the head of Suisun Bay, through its connection with the Mokelumne River. The entrance to the slough on the Sacramento River is just below Walnut Grove, at 38°14′21″N121°30′59″W and runs between Tyler Island and Andrus Island to where it has its confluence with the Mokelumne River at 38°07′49″N121°34′40″W northwest of Bouldin Island just above that rivers confluence with the San Joaquin River.
Cyrus Walker was a sidewheel tug active in Puget Sound in the second half of the 19th century.
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.
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.
Uncle Sam, was a side-wheel paddle steamer and the first steamboat on the Colorado River in 1852.
Colorado, was a stern-wheel paddle-steamer, the third steamboat on the Colorado River, and first stern-wheel steamboat put on that river, in December 1855.
Colorado, second of its name on the Colorado River, was a stern-wheel paddle-steamer, rebuilt from the original Colorado was the fifth steamboat on the Colorado River. It was first put on the river in December 1862.
John Gunder North was a Norwegian born ship builder in San Francisco. During his career, he built 273 hulls of all kinds with 53 bay and river steamers, including the famed paddle steamers Chrysopolis, Yosemite and Capital.
Esmerelda, was a stern-wheel paddle-steamer, built for the Sacramento River trade, in 1864 it became the first of the opposition steamboats on the Colorado River. It was also the first steamboat to tow large cargo barges on that river, in May 1864 and to reach Callville, Nevada in 1866.
Mohave was the first stern-wheel steamboat of that name running on the Colorado River between 1864 and 1875.
Domingo Marcucci, was a Venezuelan born 49er, shipbuilder and shipowner in San Francisco, California. He owned or captained some of the many steamships, steamboats, ferries, and sailing ships he built at San Francisco and elsewhere on the Pacific coast.
Georgiana, a small side-wheel steamboat made in Philadelphia in 1849, one of the first on the waters of the Mokelumne River, Sacramento, San Joaquin and Tuolumne Rivers of California.
Steamboats operated in California on San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta, and Sacramento River as early as November 1847, when the Sitka built by William A. Leidesdorff briefly ran on San Francisco Bay and up the Sacramento River to New Helvetia. After the first discovery of gold in California the first shipping on the bays and up the rivers were by ocean going craft that were able to sail close to the wind and of a shallow enough draft to be able to sail up the river channels and sloughs, although they were often abandoned by their crews upon reaching their destination. Regular service up the rivers, was provided primarily by schooners and launches to Sacramento and Stockton, that would take a week or more to make the trip.
Charles Richard Alsop was an American politician.
Gila, a stern-wheel steamboat of the Colorado Steam Navigation Company running on the Colorado River between 1873 and 1899.
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.
Mohave, the second stern-wheel steamboat of that name running on the Colorado River for the Colorado Steam Navigation Company (C.S.N.C) between 1876 and 1875. It was the first and only double smokestack steamboat to run on the river.
Captain Sutter, sometimes mistakenly called the Sutter, or the John A. Sutter, was a stern-wheel steamboat, built in Philadelphia, brought around Cape Horn, to California, the first to run from San Francisco to Stockton, from late November 1849.
Clinton was the first steam ferry built in California and used on San Francisco Bay in 1853.
Sierra Nevada was a schooner, used as a transport for the U. S. Army Department of the Pacific in California to carry supplies for Fort Yuma to the mouth of the Colorado River in 1853-1854.
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