Colorado river steamboat history

Great link!
Port Isabel is located north of El Golfo de Santa Clara, on the Sonora side of the river.
A Nomad made it a quest to find the remains using Google Earth.




From Wiki:
Port Isabel was a seaport established in 1865 during the American Civil War in Sonora, Mexico near the mouth of the Colorado River on the Sea of Cortez to support the increased river traffic caused by the gold rush that began in 1862 on the Colorado River and the Yuma Quartermaster Depot newly established in 1864 to support the Army posts in the Arizona Military District.

Port Isabel replaced Robinson's Landing as the place where cargo was unloaded in the river from seagoing craft on to flatbottomed steamboats and carried up to Fort Yuma and points further north on the river.[1]

Port Isabel, was situated on the east bank of the Colorado River on its channel east of Montague Island about 2 1⁄2 miles from its mouth, at the first good landing place, the shores below being of very soft mud. Port Isabel, served as a location for repairing the river steamers and barges. Additionally about 2 miles above Port Isabel was a site called Ship Yard, which had a few frame buildings where steamboats could be constructed or repaired.

The arrival of the Southern Pacific Railroad in Yuma in 1877 signaled the end of Port Isabel. Trade by sea was replaced with cargo carried by rail. In 1878, George Alonzo Johnson sold his Colorado Steam Navigation Company to the Southern Pacific Railroad. Yuma then became the head of navigation for steamboats operating on the river. Port Isabel was abandoned in 1879.

Isabel Slough

Port Isabel was where the ocean going ships transferred cargo to the river going steamers. Below is a link to an aerial photo showing what's remaining, the photo I think it says is from the 1970s. Isabel docks did replace Robinson's Landing though they were not in the same exact location as a following map shows.

https://d.library.unlv.edu/digital/collection/p17304coll4/id...

Edited to add a map showing Port Isabel and the mouth of the Colorado River


This is from page 61 in Richard Lingenfelter's Steamboats on the Colorado - cover of which is shown on the Digital Desert website link.

Expanding on David's Wiki article - "The dry-dock, machine shop, and carpenter shop maintained by the Colorado Steam Navigation Company was located about eight or ten miles from the mouth of Isabel Slough, named after the schooner Isabel, reputed to be the first vessel ever to venture up this arm of water from the Gulf.....The Company diked off in an area of marshland covering some twelve to fifteen acres on the southeast side of the slough, and there they built their installations to take care of the building and repair of their steamers and barges. As the Company prospered the dock-yard flourished, nd it is alleged that there were accommodations here for a potential force of three hundred to five hundred workmen. (endnote 126)" - remnants of this possibly shown in the UNLV linked map?

The above paragraph from page 122 "Fued on the Colorado" by Arthur Woodward and the citation endnote 126 of the source is to Charles G. Johnson's "History of the Territory of Arizona and the Great Colorado of the Pacific", 1869.

A 20 page article in American Neptune quarterly from July 1941 titled "The Arizona Fleet" by Hazel Emery Mills, is loaded with good info on the steamboat operations up and down the river.

Finally, pages 71 to 75 in "Captain Isaac Polhamus II Desert Mariner" you may find reference to what you are looking for. Book may be available via library loan?


John M







[Edited on 9-20-2021 by John M]

[Edited on 9-20-2021 by John M]

Secondary source

Quote: Originally posted by John M

Baja Ted - a quite detailed history of the steamboat period was in two consecutive issues of the California Historical Society Quarterly. There is a lot of info in these articles mentioning Ehrenberg, Port Isabel, the ocean going craft as well as good stuff on all of the Colorado River steamboats. Title: Steam Navigation on the Colorado River (parts 1 & 2) Author: Francis Hale Leavitt Part 1 - is Vol. 22, No 1 Part 2 - is Vol. 22, No 2

The La Paz AZ. 1862 gold rush had a lot of miming equipment brought from San Francisco up the Colorado river after NorCal use in the 1850's.
Some of that equipment from S.F. was found by a friend & I near the La Paz ghost town site. Story goes a 4 lb. nugget was the start.

La Paz Arizona Territory - egads - NOT Baja