BajaTed
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Colorado river steamboat history
My favorite history related to Baja is about the steamboats of the Colorado river. My interest started in 2006 when I bought property in Ehrenberg AZ.
On the property was a piece of the largest chain I'd ever seen. You could see each link was hand made. One day my old timer neighbor told me the chain
came from a huge shallow draft steamboat from before the civil war and pieces are scattered all around town on various properties.
Do any of the Baja locations in the map exist today on the delta?
I sure would like to find the steamboat assembly sites and visit.
https://mojavedesert.net/steamboats/colorado-steamboats.html
Es Todo Bueno
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David K
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Mood: Have Baja Fever
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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.
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John M
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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]
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JZ
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Interesting thread.
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John M
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Secondary source
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
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BajaTed
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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 |
Thanks John,
Appreciate the references from a kindred spirit.
You would think a steamship would be an easy find, I'm still digging.
Es Todo Bueno
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BajaTed
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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. 
Es Todo Bueno
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John M
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La Paz Arizona Territory - egads - NOT Baja
Ted - (I assume) - La Paz, for awhile, was of interest for research we were doing. All the La Paz research ended up being half-dozen endnotes in a
book I wrote (edited & annotated actually).
But as you've probably found, there was a lot of interest in the town both before and after the re-routing of the Colorado. Interesting characters
too!
Being that you are into the history of the region, you probably have read way more than I but nonetheless I'll mention a couple of items.
Los Angeles Corral of the Westerners, Brand Book # 10 - two articles of interest - 1) Forgotten Road to Gold - by Harold & Lucile Weight, while it
deals with the Bradshaw Road, the list of source material is worthwhile. 2) To Arizona by Sea, 1850-1877 by John Haskell Kemble
Journal of Arizona History Vol. 24 No. 2, Summer of 1983 - La Paz, Gateway to Territorial Arizona by Pamela Renner
Gold Road to La Paz by Delmer Ross - again mostly about the Bradshaw Trail, the late Delmer Ross has a 5 page bibliography.
John
[Edited on 9-20-2021 by John M]
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