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he 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 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 3 36 40 23 452 466 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 3 36 37 fort whipple 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 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 3 41 rise of opposition lines 1863 edit 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 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 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 3 40 41 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 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 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 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 the steamers could possibly carry up in any reasonable time 24 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 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 3 41 merchants and miners held a protest meeting at la paz on december 1 1863 it condemned johnson company as 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 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 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 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 3 41 43 44 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 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 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 3 44 competition consolidation and monopoly edit competition 1864 1866 edit 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 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 the necessity to have to gather up their own firewood or establish their own system of wood yards 25 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 3 44 47 soon after the esmeralda and its barge began running on the river the mohave was launched in may giving johnson 3 boats to carry goods just as the flood waters came making rapid and heavily laden trips possible 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 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 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 3 47 48 trueworthy had to tie up his boat at eldorado canyon and ride to salt lake city to sell his cargo consolidation 1866 1867 edit 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 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 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 26 despite her triumph at reaching the new head of navigation at callvile esmerelda upon her return to arizona city was seized by the sheriff of yuma county for debts owned by thomas e trueworthy s company 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 the river until she was retired to port isabel in 1873 3 48 49 colorado steam navigation company 1867 1877 edit colorado ii in a tidal dry dock in the shipyard above port isabel sonora 2 colorado the second stern wheel steamboat of that name running on the colorado river for the george a johnson company and colorado steam navigation company between 1862 and 1878 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 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 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 3 49 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 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 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 the river 3 53 57 60 71 27 railroads and the decline of the steamboats edit cocopah ii at yuma arizona 28 a stereoscopic picture of the cocopah the second stern wheel steamboat of that name running on the colorado river for the colorado steam navigation company between 1867 and 1879 this photo was taken between 1877 and 1879 because the southern pacific railroad bridge built across the colorado river in 1877 can be seen in the background the railroad took away the freight business making the cocopah obsolete and it was retired in 1879 and dismantled in 1881 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 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 m...