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176-816: Steamboats were tried on the upper Colorado River: in Glen Canyon ; on the Green River in Utah and Wyoming ; and on the Grand River, (renamed as the upper part of the Colorado River after 1921), above its confluence with the Green River in Utah and in Colorado . These attempts in the late 19th century and early 20th century met with little success. The beginnings of the use of steamboats on

352-501: A barge to carry wood between the wood-yards on the Colorado River below Fort Yuma until it was swept away down river and lost in the Delta in 1864. Despite the successful exploration up the river, the lands along the upper river did not begin to be settled until after the 1858–1859 Mohave War and the establishment of Fort Mohave . The General Jesup and the newer stern-wheeler Colorado where engaged to carry troops and supplies up river for

528-455: A cargo including a steam engine, to supply the Gila mine with water to Robinson's Landing, in the schooner Arno . However the whole cargo and the rival boat was lost there before it was ever unloaded. The tidal bore tore loose Arno's anchors, driving the ship on a sandbar holing it, sinking it in a half hour with the ship and cargo a total loss. Without the steam engine providing water for washing out

704-638: A crew of Sonorans from Gila City to dry wash the site with good results, the rush to what became the La Paz Mining District began, with new strikes being found within 20 miles to the east and south of the original strike near what came to be the town of La Paz . The Pyramid Mining District east of El Dorado Canyon and the river in the Black Mountains and in the vicinity of Fort Mohave the San Francisco Mining District northeast of

880-640: A ferry, then sold it and returned to San Francisco. These partners got a contract to supply the fort, and arrived at the river's mouth in February 1852, on the United States transport schooner Sierra Nevada under Captain Wilcox. On board were 250 tons of supplies for the newly reoccupied fort and a pair of knocked down flatboats , built by Domingo Marcucci in San Francisco. These they assembled to be poled up

1056-594: A monopoly, that was trying to drive the miners out in order to gain control of the mines. The meeting voted to send a representative to San Francisco with a petition calling for the establishment of an opposition steamboat line on the Colorado River. In San Francisco, their representative Samuel "Steamboat" Adams convinced the Chamber of Commerce to endorse a rival line. Merchants of the city raised $ 25,000 by subscription, and Adams persuaded Captain Thomas Trueworthy , to send

1232-526: A month assembling his steamboat, launching it on December 30, 1857. Johnson had lent Ives one of his men David C. Robinson as a pilot for the expedition, which set off for Fort Yuma the next day. Meanwhile, Johnson had decided to conduct his own expedition up river at his own expense with the General Jesup . The War Department concerned about deteriorating relations with the Mormons in Utah wanted to investigate

1408-714: A new competitor. All chance of that ended as the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads met in Utah in 1869, ending the profitability of overland trade from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City or by water from San Francisco via the Colorado. In 1869, the George A. Johnson & Company was reorganized with an infusion of more capital and with additional partners, as the Colorado Steam Navigation Company . With this new capital they started their own steamship line with

1584-417: A point 8 miles into Pyramid Canyon to its first rapids , now under Lake Mohave , between Arizona and Nevada. Despite the successful exploration up the river, the lands along the upper river did not begin to be settled until after the 1858-59 Mohave War and the establishment of Fort Mohave . The General Jesup and the newer stern-wheeler Colorado where engaged to carry troops and supplies up river for

1760-434: A short way up river from the estuary to the landing at Gridiron , whereby he obtained a lien on the cargo so his competitors could not take it. This left his competitors with less idled freight to carry and needing agents from San Francisco to ship new freight through them, instead of to Johnson & Company. Johnson also bought out most of the wood at the woodyard landings along the river so his opposition would be slowed by

1936-432: A short way up river from the estuary to the landing at Gridiron , whereby he obtained a lien on the cargo so his competitors could not take it. This left his competitors with less idled freight to carry and needing agents from San Francisco to ship new freight through them, instead of to Johnson & Company. Johnson also bought out most of the wood at the woodyard landings along the river so his opposition would be slowed by

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2112-633: A time it had to be abandoned. Attempts had been made by the Army to bring supplies the 150 miles (240 km) up from the Gulf of California. First in November 1850 to January 1851, by its transport schooner , Invincible under Captain Alfred H. Wilcox and then by its longboat commanded by Lieutenant George Derby . Later Lieutenant Derby, in his expedition report, recommended that a shallow draft sternwheel steamboat would be

2288-594: Is a natural canyon carved by a 169.6-mile (272.9 km) length of the Colorado River , mostly in southeastern and south-central Utah , in the United States. Glen Canyon starts where Narrow Canyon ends, at the confluence of the Colorado River and the Dirty Devil River . A small part of the lower end of Glen Canyon extends into northern Arizona and terminates at Lee's Ferry , near the Vermilion Cliffs . Like

2464-554: Is at Lee's Ferry , Arizona; the numbers increase as one travels upstream, ending at Mile 169.6 at the confluence with the Dirty Devil River . In the 1950s, with the proposal of a dam upstream of the Grand Canyon for water storage and hydroelectric power generation, many environmentalist groups rallied to prevent the inundation of the largely undeveloped canyons in the upper Colorado River watershed. The Sierra Club and many other conservation organizations were instrumental in blocking

2640-444: Is very little evidence of permanent occupation except at Talus Ruin, a small pueblo with a kiva , a ceremonial structure, made mostly of masonry, featuring jacal walls of sticks and reeds set in mortar in a single row of masonry. The presence of metates are evidence that campsites with slab-lined hearths were inhabited for longer periods. Agricultural structures are not found in the main lower canyon, and no formalized fields are found in

2816-519: The Black Crook , first tow barge to be used on the Colorado River. Of a type commonly used on the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento River and its tributaries, the barge was 128 x 28 feet capable of carrying 100 tons of freight. These barges were towed on a 100-foot cable secured to a short mast atop the steamboat amid-ship to avoid fouling with the stern-wheel. Each barge had a helmsman that steered

2992-403: The Black Crook , first tow barge to be used on the Colorado River. Of a type commonly used on the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento River and its tributaries, the barge was 128 x 28 feet capable of carrying 100 tons of freight. These barges were towed on a 100 foot cable secured to a short mast atop the steamboat amid-ship to avoid fouling with the stern-wheel. Each barge had a helmsman that steered

3168-839: The Central Pacific Railroad and that merged it into the Southern Pacific Company in 1870. The Southern Pacific Company began building track southward through the San Joaquin Valley and reached Bakersfield, California on November 8, 1874. It then began the construction of the Tehachapi Loop over the Tehachapi Pass and across the Mohave Desert into Southern California. By September 5, 1876 their first train from San Francisco had reached Los Angeles. In May 1877,

3344-462: The Colorado River Delta , in the schooner Capacity . There he had the vessel re-assembled at a landing in the delta in two months. Turnbull then successfully brought supplies up the Colorado River 120 miles in 15 days from the Colorado River Delta to Fort Yuma, where he arrived December 3, 1852. He then took some passengers from the fort up the river for a few miles as a celebration of

3520-737: The Cummings Mesa , farmed the Lower Glen Canyon on a seasonal basis, and gathered raw materials. To prove this thesis of seasonal habitation, criteria such as architectural units, locations of trail systems, occurrence of ceremonial structures, prevalence of burials, and position of natural and cultural strata were investigated. Four types of sites are described in the survey, classified as either open sites situated on rock terraces; talus sites on broken material below cliffs; shelter sites in protected areas under overhanging cliffs; and cliff sites beneath ledges or in caves and canyon walls. Open sites are

3696-675: 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. By September, the Nina Tilden , was also carrying goods up river, making 5 boats and 2 barges that soon ended the backlog of freight, producing its opposite condition, boats sitting idle by the fall of 1864. Cushioned by their government contracts Johnson & Company

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3872-475: 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. By September, the Nina Tilden , was also carrying goods up river, making 5 boats and 2 barges that soon ended the backlog of freight, producing its opposite condition, boats sitting idle by the fall of 1864. Cushioned by their government contracts Johnson & Company

4048-587: 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. Trueworthy had to tie up his boat at El Dorado Canyon and ride to Salt Lake City to sell his cargo. Johnson associate William Harrison Hardy had succeeded in getting there first, leaving January 2, poling and sailing (when

4224-577: The Explorer was being repaired by his engineer, Ives, Robinson and the boat's mate, took their skiff over the next two days farther up the river exploring up through the Black Canyon and beyond to the vicinity of Fortification Rock . Next day, they went 1 mile (1.6 km) farther to Las Vegas Wash , which Ives thought might be the Virgin River, but had doubts because it seemed too small. The difficulties of

4400-477: The General Jesup and replaced it with the 140-foot Cocopah , assembled and launched at Gridiron , in Sonora and captained by David C. Robinson. Its shallow 19-inch draft and stern-wheel was better suited to transit the upper Colorado route, and was the model for all the steamboats on the river thereafter. From 1859, prospectors dispersed up the Colorado River valley in the next few years, finding gold deposits along

4576-562: The Gila Placers by Jacob Snively came the first Arizona gold rush in 1858–1859, which created the ephemeral Gila City just east of Fort Yuma on the Gila River . It also inspired the creation of the first opposition steamboat company to Johnson's company, the Gila Mining and Transportation Company . In March 1859, it sent a disassembled 125-foot-long by 25-foot beam stern-wheel steamboat, and

4752-584: The Grand Canyon farther downstream, Glen Canyon is part of the immense system of canyons carved by the Colorado River and its tributaries. In 1963, a reservoir , Lake Powell , was created by the construction of the Glen Canyon Dam , in the Arizona portion of Glen Canyon near the brand new town of Page , inundating much of Glen Canyon under water hundreds of feet in depth. Contrary to popular belief, Lake Powell

4928-492: The Grand Canyon . American writer Edward Abbey also documented his experience exploring Glen Canyon from the Colorado River prior to the completion of Glen Canyon Dam in his 1968 memoir Desert Solitaire , in the chapter titled "Down the River". 37°15′15″N 110°52′42″W  /  37.25417°N 110.87833°W  / 37.25417; -110.87833 George A. Johnson %26 Company George A. Johnson & Company

5104-715: The Harcuvar Mining District named for the Harcuvar Mountains 35 miles east of the river and 55 miles northeast of La Paz and a few miles north of the La Paz - Wikenburg Road . New placers were found in the fall of 1862, 50 miles south of La Paz on the California side of the river in the Picacho Mining District with Reliance Landing serving it 47 miles up river from Fort Yuma. Across the river in Arizona gold

5280-552: The Invincible to San Francisco. Lieutenant Derby, in his expedition report, recommended that a shallow draft stern-wheel steamboat would be the way to send supplies up river to the fort. The next attempt was made by the contractors George Alonzo Johnson with his partner Benjamin M. Hartshorne who had met when they first came as partners in an enterprise to establish a ferry at the Yuma Crossing . There they built and began operating

5456-722: The Philadelphia Silver and Copper Mining Company , put a second Opposition steamboat on the river, the Nina Tilden . Built in San Francisco by Martin Vice and launched in July 1864, it was able to do 16 knots while it carried 120 tons and would tow a 100-ton barge. A veteran captain of the Sacramento and Fraser Rivers , George B. Gorman , steamed the Nina Tilden down the coast to the Colorado River. In September, Gorman also began to compete with

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5632-459: The Philadelphia Silver and Copper Mining Company , put a second Opposition steamboat on the river, the Nina Tilden . Built in San Francisco by Martin Vice and launched in July 1864, it was able to do 16 knots while it carried 120 tons and would tow a 100 ton barge. A veteran captain of the Sacramento and Fraser Rivers , George B. Gorman , steamed the Nina Tilden down the coast to the Colorado River. In September, Gorman also began to compete with

5808-670: The Picacho Mining District with Picacho Landing serving it 48 miles (77 km) up river from Fort Yuma. Across the river in Arizona gold was found in the Castle Dome Mountains to the north of it silver-lead ore was found which created the Castle Dome Mining District in spring of 1863. Castle Dome Landing was established to serve this district. In 1864, silver and gold were found in the Eureka Mining District 40 miles (64 km) north of Fort Yuma across

5984-517: The Pleistocene gravel beds on the Carmel platforms. Scattered lithic tools and materials indicate workshops of various sizes. There is a lack of siliceous material in the highlands, but tools are found there made from the gravel beds in the river. There are very few ground stone artifacts, such as manos, metates, and scrapers, found in the main canyon, since these tools are mainly found in the highlands. In

6160-527: The Southern Pacific Railroad at what became Needles, California . Construction began that year, and reached Kingman, Arizona , just south of the Cerbat range, in 1882. The SP began building a branch from Mojave, California that same year, east to Needles , where the two met in May, 1883. For 3 months building crews struggled build a wooden bridge across the Colorado River, driving wooden pilings into

6336-665: The Weaver Mining District extending south of the town along the river and separate from the La Paz District. During 1862, miners from Sonora also found gold in the Cargo Muchacho Mountains northwest of Fort Yuma. Prospecting parties spread out looking for more strikes. From Eldorado Canyon they established the Pyramid Mining District east of the river in the Black Mountains . John Moss and others in

6512-604: The Williamsport landing 47 miles up river from Fort Yuma. In the interior of Arizona above the Gila River Fort Whipple was established and gold mines, mining camps and the towns of Prescott and Wickenburg boomed in the mining districts of Agua Frio, Big Bug, Bradshaw, Hassyampa, Turkey Creek, Walnut Grove, Weaver, Wikenburg and Yavapai. These were also all primarily supplied by the La Paz - Wikenburg Road and Hardyville - Prescott Road from those landings on

6688-457: The $ 75 per ton charged by the Johnson Company, while Williamsport 80 miles down river paid only $ 25 per ton. Now in the summer and fall of 1863 as merchants upriver rapidly ran out of goods and prices rose astronomically. 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

6864-454: The 120-foot-long, 80 hp, wood-hulled Colorado . It was capable of carrying 70 tons of cargo while drawing only 2 feet of water and was the first stern-wheeler on the river. Once the backlog of cargo was relieved by the Colorado , Johnson looked for ways to keep his boats from being idle. He knew that Brigham Young wanted to establish a route to the Mormon settlements in Utah from

7040-584: The 140 foot Stern-wheeler Cocopah . Its shallow 19 inch draft and stern-wheel was better suited to transit the upper Colorado route, and was the model for all the steamboats on the river thereafter. In 1860, gold was found in placers at La Laguna . In April 1861, as the American Civil War began, word got out that silver and gold lodes had been discovered by John Moss and others in El Dorado Canyon , sixty five miles above Fort Mohave near what

7216-581: The 1830s, trapper Denis Julien may have visited upper Glen Canyon by boat. In 1869 and again in 1871, scientific expeditions led by John Wesley Powell traveled through Glen Canyon en route to the Grand Canyon, resulting in the first formal surveys of the main channel and many of the side canyons. In the 1890s, hundreds of miners panned for flour gold in Glen Canyon. Their main camp was at Dandy Crossing, also called Hite, Utah , after Cass Hite. Between 1898 and 1901, mining engineer Robert Brewster Stanton

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7392-563: The Army in November 1850 to send an expedition to attempt to carry supplies from San Francisco to the Gulf of California and 150 miles up the river to the Fort. The attempt was made in the Army transport schooner , Invincible under Captain Alfred H. Wilcox , one of the future partners of the company. The expedition was commanded by Lieutenant George Derby . The schooner arrived in San Diego to pick up

7568-480: The Canyon responded by raising his freight rates. 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. After he brought a crew of Sonorans from Gila City to dry wash the site with good results, the rush to what became the La Paz Mining District began, with new strikes being found within 20 miles (32 km) to

7744-473: The Colorado River business based on government contracts for the military was now being overwhelmed by the trade from the mines and settlements dependent on the river. Worse, the Johnson Company had failed to increase its carrying capacity on the river. Despite rebuilding the worn Colorado I into the larger Colorado II in 1862, Johnson still only had two steamboats on the river as they had from 1859. The Cocopah made round trips up river from Arizona City to

7920-544: The Colorado River came as the result of the founding of Fort Yuma during the Yuma War . Supplies had to be shipped over long distance from San Francisco to San Diego then overland through the Peninsular Ranges via Warner Pass to Depot Vallecito then 113 miles (182 km) across the arid Colorado Desert to the fort. Costs of such transport was minimally $ 500 per ton. Supplying the fort became so difficult, that for

8096-486: The Colorado River through the canyon and realized the tremendous resource it was. The experience transformed Brower's attitude towards environmental preservation, making him more radical and less likely to compromise. His experience has been compared to the experience of John Muir with the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in California. For Brower, it steeled him for the 1960s battle over the proposed Marble Canyon Dam in

8272-415: The Colorado River. The Colorado River Gold Rush had made George A. Johnson and his partners rich. Johnson and Wilcox married into Californio ranchero families. Johnson acquired Rancho Peñasquitos , went into politics and was elected to the California legislature for San Diego in 1862. Wilcox became a banker in San Diego and lived at Rancho Melijo . Hartshorne who was president of the company operating

8448-511: The Colorado and with the example of the Uncle Sam , brought the parts of a more powerful side-wheel steamboat, the General Jesup , with them to the mouth of the Colorado from San Francisco. There it was reassembled at a landing in the upper tidewater of the river and reached Fort Yuma, January 18, 1854. This new boat, capable of carrying 50 tons of cargo, was very successful making round trips from

8624-484: The Colorado when the Invincible was nearly sunk by the tidal bore that regularly occurred following the ebb tide there. On January 3, 1850, some 30 miles up river Captain Wilcox was forced to drop anchor, his way blocked by shoals too shallow to pass. Local Cocopah people there that day agreed to carry a message to Fort Yuma of the arrival of the ship. After waiting without answer to their message until 11 January, Derby, who due to an old and inaccurate British chart of

8800-416: The Colorado. However the first barge sank with its cargo a total loss. The second was finally, after a long struggle poled up to Fort Yuma, but what little it carried was soon consumed by the garrison. Subsequently, wagons again were sent from the fort to haul the balance of the supplies overland from the estuary through the marshes and woodlands of the Delta. Both of these attempts on the river failed in

8976-410: The Colorado. However the first barge sank with its cargo a total loss. The second was finally, after a long struggle poled up to Fort Yuma, but what little it carried was soon consumed by the garrison. Subsequently wagons again were sent from the fort to haul the balance of the supplies overland from the estuary through the marshes and woodlands of the Delta. Both of these attempts on the river failed in

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9152-484: 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. Ore from the mines to be shipped out to be processed was piling up on the shores of the landings along the river. The Colorado River Gold Rush had made George A. Johnson and his partners rich. Johnson and Wilcox married into Californio ranchero families. Johnson acquired Rancho Peñasquitos , went into politics and

9328-422: 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. Once Johnson realized the seriousness of the situation he ordered a new steamboat, Mohave that would be ready in May 1864. In the meanwhile he got control of as much of the cargo being held up in the estuary as he could by means of using his boats shipping it

9504-419: 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. Once Johnson realized the seriousness of the situation he ordered a new steamboat, Mohave that would be ready in May 1864. In the meanwhile he got control of as much of the cargo being held up in the estuary as he could by means of using his boats shipping it

9680-418: The La Paz landings during the high water mouths of May and June at its full capacity of sixty tons of freight in four days, amounting to four hundred tons a month. However, as the river level subsequently declined the trips became slower and could carry less cargo. By December Cocopah could only manage eighty tons a month, barely able to make only two trips with forty tons in that time. Trips farther up river to

9856-404: The Mohave Expeditions at $ 500 per day, and thereafter contracted to support the army posts of Camp Gaston and Camp Mohave, later Fort Mohave . Support of Fort Mohave became the first economic incentive for the steamboats up river. This was soon followed by the support of settlements created by the rush to various gold, silver and copper mining locations near the river in the next decades. With

10032-411: The Mohave Expeditions at $ 500 per day, and thereafter contracted to support the army posts of Camp Gaston and Camp Mohave, later Fort Mohave . Support of Fort Mohave became the first economic incentive for the steamboats up river. This was soon followed by the support of settlements created by the rush to various gold and silver mining locations near the river in the next decades. With the discovery of

10208-400: The Southern Pacific tracks from Los Angeles reached the Colorado River at Yuma, Arizona. On May 21, 1877, Johnson and his partners sold their company to the Western Development Company , a holding company for the partners who owned the Southern Pacific railroad. The California Steam Navigation Company was held by the holding company as a subsidiary under its own name. The most profitable part of

10384-511: The Techatticup Mine. Lucky Jim Camp was the home of miners sympathetic to the Confederate cause. A mile up the canyon was a camp with Union sympathies called Buster Falls . 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. Johnson's steamboats could only reach the Eldorado Canyon landing between May and October and carry enough cargo to make it pay. At high water, in May and June,

10560-410: The additional expense of Mexican custom duties that would be levied on anything landed on Mexican territory. After the failure of Hartshorne and Johnson, James Turnbull , obtained the next contract to supply the fort. He followed the recommendation of Lt. Derby, sailing with supplies and the disassembled Uncle Sam , a 65-foot long side-wheel paddle steamer tug, (also built by Domingo Marcucci), to

10736-424: The additional expense of Mexican custom duties that would be levied on anything landed on Mexican territory. In November 1852, the Uncle Sam , a 65-foot long side-wheel paddle steamer , also built by Domingo Marcucci, became the first steamboat on the Colorado River. It was brought by the schooner Capacity from San Francisco to the delta by the next contractor to supply the fort, Captain James Turnbull . It

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10912-457: The aid of Johnson's steamboats. The California Column launched its campaign to cut off the Confederate Army of the New Mexico Campaign and retake Confederate Arizona in 1862, and based its subsequent occupation of New Mexico Territory on its depot in Arizona City, again provisioned by Johnson's steamboats. When Fort Mohave was reoccupied by California Volunteers in 1864 it was supplied as before by Johnson's steamboats. These Federal contracts were

11088-433: The area west of the river through the mountains and for a distance along its length to the north and south of the canyon. In late 1863, a stamp mill begun by Col. James Russell Vineyard of Los Angeles was completed in the canyon, at what became El Dorado City , to process the ore of its mines and cut out the cost of shipping the ore, cutting costs in half. Johnson losing his downstream ore trade and making fewer trips up to

11264-423: The barge in the wake of the boat towing it. In early May, Trueworthy took the Esmerelda up river for the first time with the Black Crook in tow making it to Fort Yuma in three days, eight hours. With Johnson Company raising freight rates to and from his mines in El Dorado Canyon and the Freeman District in late 1863, and with the potential freighting profits to be made competing with it, Alphonso F. Tilden, of

11440-439: The barge in the wake of the boat towing it. In early May, Trueworthy took the Esmerelda up river for the first time with the Black Crook in tow making it to Fort Yuma in three days, eight hours. With Johnson & Company raising freight rates to and from his mines in El Dorado Canyon and the Freeman District in late 1863, and with the belief that there were freighting profits to be made competing with it, Alphonso F. Tilden, of

11616-440: The base of Johnson's revenue but it was soon greatly supplemented by a mining boom. Prospecting and mining in the El Dorado Canyon , in what was then western New Mexico Territory (present day Nevada), had been going on from at least 1857 if not earlier. 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. The canyon

11792-405: The business from San Francisco, invested his new wealth in the California Steam Navigation Company , and became its president in 1865. Management of the steamboat fleet at the river was delegated to Issac Polhamus its senior captain. However the Colorado River business based on government contracts for the military was now being overwhelmed by the trade from the mines and settlements dependent on

11968-416: The business, and the steamship Newbern was retained by the partners Hartshorne and Wilcox who formed the California and Mexican Steamship Line running from San Francisco to Mexican cities on the west coast. John Bermingham another former partner of the CSNC, was its president. With the sale of the company Yuma became the home port of the river steamers. Ships no longer called at Port Isabel, and in 1878 it

12144-405: The call to dismantle the dam and drain Lake Powell in Lower Glen Canyon. Today, Glen Canyon and Lake Powell are managed by the U.S. Department of the Interior within Glen Canyon National Recreation Area . Studies indicate a chronology for the Lower Glen Canyon prehistory, "from pre-A.D. 1 to the 15th century and recorded history from 1776 to the present". Most of the ceramic material found in

12320-413: The canyon wall and the boat pulled through with a line run to her capstan. 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. She passed through the hands of Arizona Navigation Company , another company the creditors tried to form hoping to salvage

12496-432: The canyon. "Home Base" pueblos in the nearby highlands on Cummings Mesa and Paiute Mesa are believed to have supported temporary farming and hunting parties, who used an extensive trail system in the main canyon which is still in use today. "Stone tool manufacturing appears to have been an important industry for the entire Glen Canyon region, perhaps one of the major reasons for occupation". Cryptocrystalline rocks fill

12672-485: The canyon. Cultural similarities are based on the presence or absence of certain types of ceramic wares. Group types of pottery, including Kayenta (Tusayan and Tsegi Orange Ware), Virgin (San Juan Red and White Wares), with Fremont , and Mesa Verde or Anasazi types of White and Desert Gray Ware, were found mostly on the right bank of the Colorado. Basketmaker II is characterized by a lack of pottery, as well as above-ground and underground cists lined with slabs. There

12848-530: The canyon. Several camps were founded in the canyon. San Juan , or Upper Camp were at the top of the canyon, near modern Nelson, Nevada . Midway down the canyon near the Techatticup Mine were Alturas and Louisville . At the mouth of the canyon was the landing Colorado City . Later during the American Civil War, in 1862, Lucky Jim Camp was formed along Eldorado Canyon above January Wash , south of

13024-431: The company. The landings sprang up to supply wood for the steamboats, so the crew would not need to gather wood as they proceeded up river, as the crew of the Uncle Sam had been obliged to do. These landings were each located at about the distance a steamboat could travel up and down river each day on that section of river. Steamboats did not travel at night, due to the danger of running onto sandbars or into snags on

13200-451: The discovery of the Gila Placers by Jacob Snively came the first Arizona gold rush in 1858–1859, which created the ephemeral Gila City just east of Fort Yuma on the Gila River . Early in 1859, placer gold was found eighteen miles above Fort Yuma at the Pot Holes on the west bank of the Colorado River in California. In August 1859 Johnson retired the General Jesup and replaced it with

13376-492: The distance a steamboat could travel up and down river each day on that section of river. Steamboats did not travel at night, due to the danger of running onto sandbars or into snags on the ever changing river. The boats would be refueled at the landings while tied up overnight. The wood-yards were owned by Yankees , who hired the Cocopah from local rancherias , to cut the wood (usually cottonwood or mesquite ), transport it to

13552-556: The east and south of the original strike near what came to be the town of La Paz . La Paz was located next to the Laguna de La Paz on a branch of the Colorado in the Spring of 1862. Following the high water later that year the river changed course to the west isolating the Laguna de La Paz landing from steamboat traffic. A new landing developed 4 miles (6.4 km) southwest of La Paz at Olivia, later Olive City in early 1863 and miners there formed

13728-738: The estuary above the river mouth made this loading operation difficult and sometimes dangerous for the vessels engaging in it. Some 20 miles (32 km) above that anchorage the first steamboats were assembled until the later 1860s. There, the tidal conditions were not so violent but the tide could aid in launching the craft. From 1854, between the delta anchorage and Fort Yuma were the wood-yard steamboat landings of Port Famine 40 miles (64 km) above Robinson's Landing, Gridiron , 17 miles (27 km) above Port Famine, Ogden's Landing 28 miles (45 km) above Gridiron, Pedrick's 24 miles (39 km) above Ogden's Landing, and Fort Yuma 31 miles (50 km) above Pedrick's. With reliable transportation to

13904-472: The estuary anchorage. 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. By December 1855, Johnson had John G. North build and bring in sections a new steamboat from San Francisco to the Delta estuary. There North assembled and launched

14080-475: The estuary to the fort in only four or five days. Costs were cut to $ 75 per ton. A second reason for the speed of the new steamboat beside its powerful engine was the establishment of the wood-yards along the river between the delta and Fort Yuma. The landings sprang up to supply wood for the steamboats, so the crew would not need to gather wood as they proceeded up river, as the crew of the Uncle Sam had been obliged to do. These landings were each located at about

14256-480: The estuary waiting to be brought up river. Between ten and fifty tons of ore waiting to be brought down to the estuary at each of the landings up river above Arizona City. Some of this cargo had been waiting for couple of months and most would have to wait until May and the rise of the Colorado. From the beginning the Johnson Company rates were considered excessive compared to those on other Western rivers. Additionally merchants at La Paz 280 miles up river objected to

14432-400: The ever-changing river. The boats would be re supplied with cut wood at the landings while tied up overnight. The wood-yards were owned by Yankee 's, who hired the Cocopah from local rancherias , to cut the wood (usually cottonwood or mesquite ), transport it to the wood-yards and load it onto the boats. Cocopah men often also served as deck hands on the boats, having lived along and on

14608-500: The extreme conditions of the Colorado River during their earlier frustrated attempts to bring supplies up that river to Fort Yuma . At that time Fort Yuma was one of the most remote and difficult to reach places in the United States. It had been at first supplied from San Francisco to San Diego by sea and from there overland across the Colorado Desert at the exorbitant rate of $ 500 per ton. The expense of land transport drove

14784-457: The face of extreme tides in the estuary or strong currents, shifting sand bars or low water in the river. Hauling supplies from the estuary worked but was less satisfactory than the 185 mile San Diego route over land. Firstly it was a violation of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo for American troops to intrude into Mexican territory. Secondly, on top of already costly land shipping was the prospect of

14960-406: The face of extreme tides in the estuary or strong currents, shifting sand bars or low water in the river. Hauling supplies from the estuary worked but was less satisfactory than the 185 mile San Diego route over land. Firstly it was a violation of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo for American troops to intrude into Mexican territory. Secondly, on top of already costly land shipping was the prospect of

15136-834: The fort in the Providence Mountains of California, silver was found and the Rock Springs Mining District was established in April 1863 and the Macedonia Mining District in September 1864. 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. First the landing at Mohave City

15312-692: The fort in the Black Mountains were established in 1863. The Sacramento Mining District 37 miles from Fort Mohave were established by soldiers in September 1863, to the east beyond the Black Mountains in the southern end of the Cerbat Mountains . A party led by John Moss founded the Waubau Yuma Mining District in the Hualapai Mountains 50 miles east of Fort Mohave. West of the fort in the Providence Mountains of California, silver

15488-428: The fort with beef and barley. That same year gold was found up river. By 1854, copper mines were developed along the river 40 miles (64 km) above Fort Yuma. The ore provided George A. Johnson & Co. with their first commercial cargo to take to the estuary anchorage. 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,

15664-468: The fort, new settlements developed in the vicinity of the fort. Colorado City and Jaeger City a mile below Fort Yuma at Jaeger's Ferry . In 1858, 1 mile (1.6 km) above Colorado City, across the river from Fort Yuma, Arizona City was founded, (renamed Yuma in 1873). In 1865, a better location for an anchorage, and a port and shipyard was established at Port Isabel, Sonora , 157 miles (253 km) below Fort Yuma and 7 miles (11 km) east of

15840-634: The garrison and provisions at Fort Yuma and strengthened its fortifications, all with supplies brought from San Francisco with the aid of Johnson's steamboats. The California Column launched its campaign to cut off the Confederate Army of the New Mexico Campaign and retake Confederate Arizona in 1862, and based its subsequent occupation of New Mexico Territory on its depot in Arizona City, again provisioned by Johnson's steamboats. When Fort Mohave

16016-567: 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. Only Sonora miners familiar with dry wash techniques stayed and made it pay. 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. These diggings had been previously worked by Spanish miners from Mission San Pedro y San Pablo de Bicuñer in 1781. In August 1859 Johnson retired

16192-517: The high water in the summer of 1866. Esmeralda with a barge and ninety tons of freight, under Trueworthy's former first mate Captain Robert T. Rogers. After three months, the Esmeralda reached the landing at Callville on October 8, 1866. She was slowed by lack of firewood and (at what became known as the Ringbolt Rapids ), with insufficient power to ascend the rapids, a ringbolt had had to be set in

16368-520: The interior of Arizona, was reduced to a minor settlement with only a wood-yard for the passing steamboats. The silver mines and mills in Eldorado Canyon were booming, and to serve it better, ring bolts were installed in Boulder Canyon in 1879 to allow steamboats to pass beyond Callville up to the mouth of the Virgin River at Rioville . They picked up salt from mines near Rioville to be delivered to

16544-469: The interior to skyrocket. Ore from the mines to be shipped out to be processed was piling up on the docks of the landings along the river. The Cocopah made round trips up river from Arizona City to the La Paz landings during the high water mouths of May and June at its full capacity of sixty tons of freight in four days, amounting to four hundred tons a month. However, as the river level subsequently declined

16720-428: The landing at Callville on October 8, 1866, after three months. She was slowed by lack of firewood and (at what became known as the Ringbolt Rapids ), with insufficient power to ascend the rapids, a ring bolt had had to be set in the canyon wall and the boat pulled through with a line run to her capstan. Despite her triumph at reaching the new "head of navigation" at Callvile, Esmerelda upon her return to Arizona City,

16896-486: The main canyon because of alleviation and slope wash burying. Houses, when found, are mostly sandstone slab with mortar, having one to seven rooms. "Well constructed mealing bins which usually denote permanency were lacking in the Lower Glen Canyon. In contrast, on Cummings Mesa at Surprise Pueblo, there was one entire room devoted to mealing bins…". In the highlands, granaries were near or incorporated into permanent pueblos, compared with smaller ones near temporary sites in

17072-445: The main canyon was probably made in the highlands, although it is possible some pottery was manufactured in Lower Glen Canyon. Clay deposits are found along the river, and some crude pottery specimens may have been made there. Only four burials were found in Lower Glen Canyon at three sites. Trash dumps are not very common at most sites. This is more evidence to suggest the seasonal rather than permanent occupation of hunters and farmers in

17248-527: The main canyon, a large number of chipped implements, ranging from small arrowheads to large knives, are found. Finished tools, and possibly blanks taken to the mesa, were probably used for trade. Around 1956, archaeologists and biologists from the University of Utah and the Museum of Northern Arizona including Gene Field Foster , using National Park research grants, planned an emergency survey of Glen Canyon, which

17424-782: The majority on both sides of the river. The majority of sites, mostly Navajo camps, feature lithic garbage or ceramics, or both. Talus sites are rarely recorded. Most of the cultural remains found are chipped stone tools (lithic materials), including projectile points, scrapers, drills, knives, choppers, and ground stone tools and manos (grinders). The collection of sherds are mostly Tusayan Gray Ware and Tusayan White Ware. Petroglyph panels are found throughout Glen Canyon. "Pecked and incised figures depict mountain sheep, human figures, birds, human handprints and animal tracks. Geometric figures range from circles and spirals to highly complex rectilinear patterns. The human figures have triangular bodies. Painted figures have been reported for both sides of

17600-407: The mines. The meeting voted to send a representative to San Francisco with a petition calling for the establishment of an opposition steamboat line on the Colorado River. In San Francisco, their representative Samuel "Steamboat" Adams convinced the Chamber of Commerce to endorse a rival line. Merchants of the city raised $ 25,000 by subscription, and Adams persuaded Captain Thomas Trueworthy , to send

17776-408: The modern site of Davis Dam . Running low on food he turned back after viewing the river ahead continuing another 40 miles (64 km) and believed he had proved the river could be navigated as far as the Virgin River which he believed to be only 75 miles (121 km) away. Ives was disappointed to find Johnson had gone ahead of him when his boat reached Fort Yuma and he followed after him. However

17952-601: The necessity to have to gather up their own firewood or establish their own system of wood-yards. The Johnson Company also cut shipping charges to La Paz landing to $ 40 a ton, in an attempt to pacify the merchants there. 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. Her owner Trueworthy, complained Johnson's pressure on insurance brokers in San Francisco prevented him from getting insurance on his boat and cargo. Soon after

18128-596: The necessity to have to gather up their own firewood or establish their own system of wood-yards. The Johnson Company also cut shipping charges to La Paz landing to $ 40 a ton, in an attempt to pacify the merchants there. 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. Her owner Trueworthy, complained Johnson's pressure on insurance brokers in San Francisco prevented him from getting insurance on his boat and cargo. Soon after

18304-494: The next contract to supply the fort. Johnson and his partners, all having learned a lesson from their failed attempts ascending the Colorado and with the example of the Uncle Sam , brought the parts of a more powerful side-wheel steamboat, the General Jesup , with them to the mouth of the Colorado from San Francisco. There it was reassembled at a landing in the upper tidewater of the river and reached Fort Yuma, January 18, 1854. This new boat, capable of carrying 50 tons of cargo,

18480-433: The now inflated prices, leaving behind identical shipments consigned to the merchants. However even these shipments ended in November when an extreme fall in the river left the Cocopah stranded on a sandbar thirty miles above La Paz. Merchants and miners held a protest meeting at La Paz on December 1, 1863. It condemned the Johnson Company as a monopoly, that was trying to drive the miners out in order to gain control of

18656-476: The opposition steamboat business but that failed. When the last attempt of salvaging the Opposition steamboat line failed, Esmerelda and Nina Tilden were sold in the fall of 1867, to George A. Johnson & Company. Underpowered and small for the Colorado River, the company had the boat dismantled in 1868. The Nina Tilden continued in use on the river, until she was retired to Port Isabel in 1873. In 1869,

18832-569: The pair of ships, the voyage was made every 20 days. However later that year, Montana ran aground and had to be towed back to San Francisco for 3 months of repairs. Back in service, she caught fire near Guaymas , on December 14, 1876, and was a total loss. She was replaced in January 1877 with SS Montana ' s sister ship the SS Idaho under Captain George M. Douglass. The companies steamships brought in more earnings than those of all their steamboats on

19008-559: The possibility of bringing troops into Utah by steamboat up the Colorado River. Fort Yuma's commander provided rations, a mountain howitzer and a detachment of 15 soldiers. With the soldiers and 15 armed civilians Johnson had also set off from the fort on December 31. The large crew aided in gathering wood for fuel along the way, and twenty one days later, Johnson's party had reached the first rapids in Pyramid Canyon , over 300 miles (480 km) above Fort Yuma and 8 miles (13 km) above

19184-603: The proposed Echo Park Dam in Dinosaur National Monument . While Flaming Gorge Dam was built as an alternative to the proposed Echo Park and Split Mountain dams within Dinosaur National Monument, Glen Canyon lacked any protection as either a National Park or Monument. Without that protection, Glen Canyon Dam was authorized and constructed. In 1962, the Sierra Club's David Brower and many others floated

19360-448: The rapids above Fortification Rock convinced Ives that the river at Fortification Rock was the practical head of navigation 550 miles (890 km) above the mouth of the river: Ives' party returned easily in 6–7 hours, believing that a steamboat of shallower draft than Explorer , in higher water, could reach the area of Fortification Rock. Following its return to Fort Yuma, Johnson bought the Explorer , took out its engine and used it as

19536-407: The rations, then proceeded to the mouth of the Colorado River, stopping only at Cabo San Lucas and Guaymas . The Invincible arrived at the river mouth on December 25. Captain Wilcox then ascended the river but with difficulty. Invincible drawing 8 feet of water was grounded at every ebb tide which was extreme in the Colorado River Delta . The expedition encountered difficulty in the estuary of

19712-600: The reduction furnaces downriver for the next eight years. For a short time, the mining company also used a shallow draft sloop, the Sou'Wester , to bring salt downriver in the low water season. In the Trigo Mountains to the south, the new Silver Mining District and the towns of Clip and Nortons Landing opened up in the early 1880s, but they had their own mills so they and the Picacho District mines provided little business to

19888-468: The rise of the Colorado. A letter to the editor of the Arizona Miner, April 26, 1864 blames the backlog on the newly arrived merchants who, unaware of the necessity of getting their goods to the river during the July, August, September, and October, high water period, when large volumes of cargo can be quickly delivered, had "...delayed until the river had gone down and were then crowded in more rapidly than

20064-527: The river as far as the Black Canyon. In 1860, gold was found across the Colorado River from Potholes in Arizona, in placers at La Laguna . The strikes that followed in the next four years would make George A. Johnson and his two partners wealthy. By March 1861, the secession crisis had led to the closing of the Butterfield Overland Mail . February 19, 1861, the Bascom Affair led to the first of

20240-562: The river bed only to see them washed out by the river. Pilings were only driven into the mid river section with the help of a pile driver mounted on Barge No. 3, towed and held in position by the Mohave II . It was completed on August 9, 1883. As a result, by September 10, 1886 traffic and profits on the upper river had declined to the point Western Development Company sold Colorado Steam Navigation Company to its two remaining captains Isaac Polhamus and Jack Mellon. Glen Canyon Glen Canyon

20416-436: The river for a lifetime, they were well qualified to spot river hazards in a timely manner. In August 1854, while trying to make time up river against the current, the boiler of the General Jesup exploded, killing her engineer, named Jackson, and seriously scalding two others. By December 1854, the boat was running again, with new machinery sent down from San Francisco. In an era where boiler explosions were common, this

20592-539: The river from the Picacho District in the Chocolate Mountains . It was served by the Williamsport landing 47 miles (76 km) up river from Fort Yuma. In the fall of 1863 another landing developed at Mineral City , 1 mile downstream from Olive City where the recently created freight wagon road across the desert from San Bernardino , the Bradshaw Trail , crossed the river at Bradshaw's Ferry . Fort Whipple

20768-424: The river gathering wood along the way. On January 30, Ives and Robinson met Johnson returning and he shared information about the conditions on the river above them. Robinson piloted the Explorer above the point reached by Johnson into the Black Canyon of the Colorado , where they struck a rock that damaged the boat, 40 miles (64 km) above where Johnson reached. Ives named that rock Explorer's Rock . While

20944-493: The river mouth on the eastern outlet of the river. In 1873, Lerdo Landing appeared on the river, 3 miles (4.8 km) above Port Famine, to connect the pioneering agricultural settlement of Colonia Lerdo to the steamboat traffic on the river. Port Isabel remained in use until 1879, when the railroad came to Yuma, Arizona making it the head of navigation and made Port Isabel and the woodlot landings below Yuma obsolete. From 1853, ranches were developed nearby up river to supply

21120-441: The river mouth, believed the fort to be nearby instead of 120 miles away and attempted to continue up the river to reach the fort with the ship's longboat. Two days later they met the fort commander, Major Samuel P. Heintzelman coming down the river in a boat. Arraignments were made to unload the ship at its anchorage on the shore of Sonora and loaded onto wagons sent from the fort on 28 January. Wilcox and Derby then returned with

21296-675: The river port at Arizona City. When Federal troops were withdrawn and desperate for protection from the Apache, the southern half of New Mexico Territory declared for the Confederacy late in 1861. In response to the establishment of Confederate Arizona , California Volunteers of the Union Army took control of the Yuma ferries, built up the garrison and provisions at Fort Yuma and strengthened its fortifications, all with supplies brought from San Francisco with

21472-422: The river, until she was retired to Port Isabel in 1873. After the rival boats were sidelined Johnson & Company had no further competition. Port Isabel Slough was found by Captain W. H. Pierson of the schooner Isabel in 1865. This slough was an anchorage, sheltered from the tidal bore, permitting safe transfer of cargoes and a few miles farther up was another slough ideal for a shipyard. Here Port Isabel

21648-405: The river. Once the backlog of cargo was relieved by the Colorado , Johnson looked for ways to keep his boats from being idle. He knew that Brigham Young wanted to establish a route to the Mormon settlements in Utah from the sea up the Colorado River and that merchant interests had been interested in establishing trade with the Mormons by the river route since 1852 when the Uncle Sam came to

21824-595: The river. The fate of the Colorado Steam Navigation Company would be determined by the Southern Pacific Company founded in San Francisco, in 1865 by a group of businessmen led by Timothy Phelps with the aim of building a rail connection between San Francisco and San Diego. The company was purchased in September 1868 by the Big Four : Crocker, Hopkins, Huntington and Stanford, that had created

22000-485: The river. Worse, the Johnson Company had failed to increase its carrying capacity on the river. Despite rebuilding the worn Colorado I into the larger Colorado II in 1862, Johnson still only had two steamboats on the river as they had from 1859. By late 1863, supplies for the mines and settlements 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

22176-399: The river. Additionally there was the claim that the river was navigable by steamboat as far as the Virgin River by the fur trapper Antoine Leroux who had successfully rafted down the Colorado from the Virgin River in 1837. In 1856, George A. Johnson was instrumental in getting the support for Congressional funding a military expedition up the river. With those funds Johnson expected to provide

22352-575: The river.... Petroglyph panels of such quality are lacking from the highland regions adjacent to Glen Canyon". The recorded history of the canyon begins with the Dominguez–Escalante expedition in 1776, during which Spanish explorers first documented the existence of Glen Canyon. The expedition members crossed the Colorado River in Glen Canyon at the site now known as the Crossing of the Fathers . In

22528-411: The sea up the Colorado River and that merchant interests had been interested in establishing trade with the Mormons by the river route since 1852 when the Uncle Sam came to the river. Additionally there was the claim that the river was navigable by steamboat as far as the Virgin River by the fur trapper Antoine Leroux who had successfully rafted down the Colorado from the Virgin River in 1837. Johnson

22704-489: The side-wheel steamship, SS Newbern under Captain A. N. McDonough. 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. Newbern was so successful that they added the former Pacific Mail side-wheel steamship SS Montana , under Capt. Captain William Metzger, in 1874. With

22880-479: 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. However even these shipments ended in November when an extreme fall in the river left the Cocopah stranded on a sandbar 30 miles (48 km) above La Paz. Merchants and miners held a protest meeting at La Paz on December 1, 1863. It condemned Johnson & Company as

23056-607: The steamboat Esmerelda under Captain Charles C. Overman and the Victoria , a four-masted schooner converted from a barge, to the Colorado River to establish the Union Line there. The Victoria was to be a store ship at the mouth of the river, but she was soon broken up by the tidal bore soon after it reached the mouth of the Colorado in March. After Overman arrived at the river mouth he built

23232-406: The steamboat Esmerelda under Captain Charles C. Overman and the Victoria , a four-masted schooner converted from a barge, to the Colorado River to establish the Union Line there. The Victoria was to be a store ship at the mouth of the river, but she was soon broken up by the tidal bore soon after it reached the mouth of the Colorado in March. After Overman arrived at the river mouth he built

23408-506: 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. By June 1862, the Colorado Mining District had been organized by El Dorado Canyon miners, covering

23584-479: The steamboats. Hardyville still profitably served the nearby mining districts near the upper reaches of the river, still remote from the railroad. However, in 1881, Polhamus with two merchants from Mineral Park established Polhamus Landing 5 miles (8.0 km) above Hardyville, to break Hardy's monopoly of the trade to the mines in the Cerbat Mountains. Hardyville diminished to a mill site and its post office

23760-552: The steamers could possibly carry up in any reasonable time." From the beginning Johnson & Company rates were considered excessive compared to those on other Western rivers. Additionally merchants at La Paz 280 miles (450 km) up river objected to the $ 75 per ton charged by Johnson & Company, while Williamsport 80 miles (130 km) down river paid only $ 25 per ton. Now in the summer and fall of 1863 as merchants upriver rapidly ran out of goods and prices rose astronomically. Steamboat captains and their officers took advantage of

23936-502: The success before returning to bring up more supplies. Equipped with only a 20-horsepower engine, the Uncle Sam could only carry 35 tons of supplies, It made trips for four more months up and down the river to finish carrying the supplies from the Capacity to the fort reducing its time for a round trip to 12 days. Negligence caused the Uncle Sam to sink at its dock below Fort Yuma, and

24112-585: The summer of 1865, Esmerelda of the Union Line, was consolidated with the other rival boat Tilden's Nina Tilden , into the Pacific and Colorado Steam Navigation Company , also headed by Thomas E. Trueworthy, with backing from San Francisco financiers. Trueworthy tried again to reach Callville during the high water in the summer of 1866. Esmeralda with a barge and ninety tons of freight, under Trueworthy's former first mate Captain Robert T. Rogers. The Esmeralda reached

24288-505: The transportation for the expedition but was angry and disappointed when the commander of the expedition Lt. Joseph Christmas Ives rejected his offer of one of his steamboats claiming its cost was too high. 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. There at Robinson's Landing , Ives spent

24464-474: The trips became slower and could carry less cargo. By December Cocopah could only manage eighty tons a month, barely able to make only two trips with forty tons in that time. Trips farther up river to the vicinity of Fort Mohave took at least twice as long. The same difficulty plagued the Colorado carrying cargo between the estuary and Arizona City. By the fall of 1863 there was a backlog of twelve hundred tons of freight at Arizona City or in ships anchored in

24640-479: The unusually designed Explorer was not suited to navigating the sandbar filled Colorado in its low water phase and was continually running aground, much to the delight of the Yuma who came down to the river to watch them run aground on the next sandbar and mock the crew and their boat. Robinson eventually came to use their appearance as a warning of shoals ahead and made better progress, but they made slow progress ascending

24816-473: The vicinity of Fort Mohave established the San Francisco Mining District northeast of the fort in the Black Mountains. The Sacramento Mining District 37 miles (60 km) from Fort Mohave were established by soldiers in September 1863, to the east beyond the Black Mountains in the southern end of the Cerbat Mountains . A party led by John Moss founded the Waubau Yuma Mining District in the Hualapai Mountains 50 miles (80 km) east of Fort Mohave. West of

24992-538: The vicinity of Fort Mohave took at least twice as long. The same difficulty plagued the Colorado carrying cargo between the estuary and Arizona City. By the fall of 1863 there was a backlog of twelve hundred tons of freight at Arizona City or in ships anchored in the estuary waiting to be brought up river. Between ten and fifty tons of ore waiting to be brought down to the estuary at each of the landings up river above Arizona City. Some of this cargo had been waiting for couple of months and most would have to wait until May and

25168-416: The volume of cargo necessitated putting another boat on the river. By December 1855, Johnson had John G. North build and bring in sections a new steamboat from San Francisco to the Delta estuary. There North assembled and launched the 120 foot (37 m) long, 80 hp, wood hulled Colorado . It was capable of carrying 70 tons of cargo while drawing only 2 feet of water and was the first stern-wheeler on

25344-642: The wars with the Apache , cutting Arizona off from the rest of New Mexico Territory to the east and reduced mining activity in southern Arizona to next to nothing. Federal troops were withdrawn from Fort Mohave, to secure Southern California for the Union. Others at Fort Buchanan were withdrawn to the Rio Grande to confront the Confederate advance toward Santa Fe . What little commerce came into Arizona came from Sonora or from

25520-477: The way to send supplies up river to the fort. 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. On board were 250 tons of supplies for the newly reoccupied fort and a pair of knocked down flatboats , built by Domingo Marcucci in San Francisco. These they assembled to be poled up

25696-424: The wind was favorable) a 50 by 8 foot flat boat "Arizona" 90 miles from Hardyville to Callville in 12 days. In the summer of 1865, Esmerelda of the Union Line, was consolidated with the other rival boat Tilden's Nina Tilden , into the Pacific and Colorado Steam Navigation Company , also headed by Thomas E. Trueworthy, with backing from San Francisco financiers. Trueworthy tried again to reach Callville during

25872-630: The wood-yards and load it onto the boats. Cocopah men often also served as deck hands on the boats. The route of the steamboats began in the Colorado River Delta, where there was at first just an anchorage near Robinson's Landing in Baja California , 10 miles (16 km) above the river mouth and 40 miles (64 km) below Fort Yuma. Here they picked up their cargoes from ships in the river, to avoid paying Mexican customs duties for landing their cargo. The extreme tides and its tidal bore in

26048-432: The worth of steamboats to solve Fort Yuma's supply problem and to successfully navigate the Colorado River, an example that was soon followed by George Alonzo Johnson and his partners. In late 1852, George Alonzo Johnson with his partner Hartshorne and new partner Captain Wilcox (formerly of the Invincible and "Sierra Nevada"), formed George A. Johnson & Company. Turnbull's financial debacle allowed them to obtain

26224-454: The worth of steamboats to solve Fort Yuma's supply problem. In late 1852, George Alonzo Johnson with his partner Hartshorne and a new partner Captain Alfred H. Wilcox (formerly of the Invincible and Sierra Nevada ), formed George A. Johnson & Company and obtained the next contract to supply the fort. Johnson and his partners, all having learned a lesson from their failed attempts ascending

26400-581: 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. Trueworthy had to tie up his boat at Eldorado Canyon and ride to Salt Lake City to sell his cargo. In

26576-426: 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. The three partners that formed the business came from various walks of life. But all had previous experience dealing with

26752-461: Was abandoned, the shipyard moved up to Yuma. From 1879, steamboat trade up river was cut as most of the freight once shipped from Yuma to Ehrenburg and Hardyville for shipment to the interior of Arizona Territory, was offloaded instead at places like Gila Bend and Maricopaville and shipped north to settlements and mines in Central and Northern Arizona, and at a lower cost. Ehrenburg, once the gateway to

26928-468: Was also found west of Aubrey City and the river in California, in the Freeman Mining District , and southeast of Aubrey City in the Harcuvar Mining District named for the Harcuvar Mountains 35 miles (56 km) east of the river and 55 miles (89 km) northeast of La Paz. New placers were found in the fall of 1862, 50 miles (80 km) south of La Paz on the California side of the river in

27104-457: Was assembled and launched in the estuary, 30 miles (48 km) above the mouth of the Colorado River. Equipped with only a 20 horsepower engine, the Uncle Sam could only carry 35 tons of supplies, taking 15 days to make the first 120 mile trip. It made many trips up and down the river, taking four months to finish carrying the supplies for the fort, improving its time up river to 12 days. Negligence caused it to sink at its dock below Fort Yuma, and

27280-645: Was discontinued in favor of the one in Mohave City on February 19, 1883. But a greater rival was coming to supplant the steamboats. In January 1880, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad (AT&SF), which had recently entered New Mexico Territory from the north, acquired control of the western division of the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad that then began a line westward from the AT&;SF line at Isleta, New Mexico to meet

27456-507: Was elected to the California legislature for San Diego in 1862. Wilcox became a banker in San Diego and lived at Rancho Melijo . Hartshorne who was president of the company operating the business from San Francisco, invested his new wealth in the California Steam Navigation Company , and became its president in 1865. Management of the steamboat fleet at the river was delegated to Issac Polhamus its senior captain. However

27632-489: Was employed by mining magnate Julius Stone to design, build, and operate a dredge in an attempt to recover Glen Canyon's flour gold. The effort failed. The following is a list of geographical and cultural features along the Colorado River in Glen Canyon. Many of these locations are now partially or entirely submerged beneath the waters of Lake Powell. River mileage is derived from the USGS 1921 Plan and Profile maps. River Mile Zero

27808-481: Was established and gold mines, mining camps and the towns of Prescott and Wickenburg were opened to the east in central Arizona at the mining districts of Agua Frio, Big Bug, Bradshaw, Hassyampa, Turkey Creek, Walnut Grove, Weaver, Wikenburg and Yavapai. These were also all primarily supplied by the La Paz - Wikenburg Road and Hardyville - Prescott Road from those landings on the Colorado River. However, by late 1863 these supplies were piling up on ships at anchor in

27984-410: Was established by 1867. The competition had caused rates to fall and service improved due to the addition more boats and the use of barges. Lower costs helped development of the territory, that in turn stimulated further trade and greater profits to the steamboat company in the following years. Given the firm grip Johnson & Company had on federal contracts on the river only the Utah trade could support

28160-429: Was found and the Rock Springs Mining District was established in April 1863 and the Macedonia Mining District in September 1864. Soldiers from Fort Mohave established the Irataba Mining District in early 1863 when they found copper five miles west of the river in the Dead Mountains of California. First the landing at Mohave City was founded near Fort Mohave. Then Irataba City , followed in January 1864 but it

28336-403: Was found in the Castle Dome Mountains to the north of it silver-lead ore was found which created the Castle Dome Mining District in spring of 1863. Castle Dome Landing was established to serve this district. In 1864, silver and gold were found in the Eureka Mining District 40 miles north of Fort Yuma across the river from the Picacho District in the Chocolate Mountains . It was served by

28512-481: Was founded near Fort Mohave. 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 . Copper

28688-413: Was instrumental in getting Congressional funding for a military expedition to explore the Colorado River above Fort Yuma in 1856. Johnson lent Ives one of his men David C. Robinson as a pilot for the expedition. However, cut out of providing the steamboat for the 1857 expedition of Lt. Ives , Johnson at his own expense took the lead in the General Jesup heading up river first, exploring the river up to

28864-414: Was not as vulnerable, but Tilden and Trueworthy needed more commercial revenue to make a go of it. The only new business to be had by the opposition was to service the settlements Utah, up river at a landing called Callville cutting costs of transportation by $ 100 a ton, one third of the cost of the overland route from Los Angeles. Trueworthy proposed to do this at all times of the year, and tried to take

29040-493: Was not as vulnerable, but Tilden and Trueworthy needed more commercial revenue to make a go of it. The only new business to be had by the opposition was to service the settlements of Utah Territory, up river at a landing called Callville cutting costs of transportation by $ 100 a ton, one third of the cost of the overland route from Los Angeles called the Los Angeles - Salt Lake Road . Trueworthy proposed to do this at all times of

29216-511: Was not the result of negotiations over the controversial damming of the Green River within Dinosaur National Monument at Echo Park ; the Echo Park Dam proposal was abandoned due to nationwide citizen pressure on Congress to do so. The Glen Canyon Dam remains a central issue for modern environmentalist movements. Beginning in the late 1990s, the Sierra Club and other organizations renewed

29392-469: Was on the west side of the river 65 miles (105 km) above Fort Mohave near what was then considered the high water limit of navigation. George A. Johnson came up river and made a deal to supply the mines with his steamboats at $ 100 a ton, a lower price than the $ 240 a ton charged for overland freight across the Mojave Desert from Los Angeles . That fall news of the strikes brought a flood of miners to

29568-419: Was reoccupied by California Volunteers in 1864 it was supplied as before by Johnson's steamboats. These Federal contracts were the base of Johnson's revenue but it was soon greatly supplemented by a mining boom along the Colorado and in the interior of Arizona. In January 1862, Pauline Weaver discovered gold while trapping along the Arizona side of the Colorado River 130 miles above Fort Yuma. After he brought

29744-486: Was seized by the Sheriff of Yuma County, for debts owned by Thomas E. Trueworthy's company. She passed through the hands of Arizona Navigation Company , another company the creditors tried to form hoping to salvage the opposition steamboat business. This failing, Esmerelda and Nina Tilden were sold in the fall of 1867, to George A. Johnson & Company. Esmerelda was dismantled in 1868. The Nina Tilden continued in use on

29920-414: Was soon to be flooded by the new Glen Canyon Dam. Between 1958 and 1960, four investigative phases, combined with other surveys prior to 1957, discovered 250 archaeological sites within the canyon. The Lower Glen Canyon survey was completed in 1958. Excavations began during the summer of 1958 on 16 sites. A thesis emerged that prehistoric people living permanently on the highlands south of Glen Canyon and on

30096-445: 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 east of the river led to organization of the Williams Fork Mining District with its landing at Aubrey City . Copper was also found west of Aubrey City and the river in California, in the Freeman Mining District , and southeast of Aubrey City in

30272-478: Was the only such incident seen in Johnson's company or its successors until the end of steam navigation on the Colorado. From 1853, ranches were developed nearby up river to supply the fort with beef and barley. That same year gold was found up river. By 1854, copper mines were developed along the river 40 miles above Fort Yuma. The ore provided George A. Johnson & Company with their first commercial cargo to take to

30448-470: Was then considered the high water limit of navigation. George A. Johnson came up river and made a deal to supply the mines with his steamboats at $ 100 a ton, a lower price than the $ 240 a ton charged for overland freight across the Mohave Desert from Los Angeles . In response to the establishment of Confederate Arizona , California Volunteers of the Union Army took control of the Yuma ferries, built up

30624-437: Was then washed away before it could be raised, in the spring flood of 1853. Turnbull who meanwhile had returned to the Delta from San Francisco with another cargo and a more powerful engine for the Uncle Sam . He returned for a new hull, while the army sent wagons to recover the cargo from the delta again. However, Turnbull in financial difficulty, disappeared from the city leaving creditors unpaid. Nevertheless, Turnbull had shown

30800-429: Was then washed away before it could be raised, in the spring flood of May 1853. Turnbull who meanwhile had returned to the Delta from San Francisco with another cargo and a more powerful engine for the Uncle Sam. Finding it lost he returned for a new hull, while the army sent wagons to recover the cargo from the delta. However, Turnbull disappeared from San Francisco, leaving creditors unpaid. However, Turnbull had shown

30976-468: Was very successful making round trips from the estuary to the fort in only four or five days. Costs were cut to $ 75 per ton. The route made the Company $ 4,000 per trip per ship in the estuary of the Colorado River. A second reason for the speed of the new steamboat beside its powerful engine was the establishment of wood-yard landings along the river between the delta and Fort Yuma by associates contracted by

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