Steam Navigation on the Colorado River
By Francis Hale Leavitt
(Concluded)
The Peak of the Colorado River Trade
BY 1864, Colorado River navigation had run the gauntlet of experimentation and had proved its importance in the development of the Southwest. During the next six years it experienced a period of rivalry and expansion. In 1870 began its third important phase, which might fittingly be called the peak period of the river trade. These years are characterized by the addition of new steamers to the river fleet and by the introduction of a scheduled ocean steamer service from the coast cities of California to the mouth of the Colorado, replacing the slower and more unreliable wind-driven vessels. Scheduled service from San Francisco tended to induce regular sailings inland on the part of the river steamers, and, though it was not always possible to adhere to the schedules, that goal was more nearly approximated during this period than at any other time in the history of river navigation. The expansion period had failed to establish trade with Callville, but trips to El Dorado Canyon, some forty miles below, were made with a semblance of regularity during the next twenty years. It was on this five-hundred-mile stage, stretching from the mouth of the Colorado to El Dorado Canyon, that the drama of steam navigation reached its climax.
Some idea of the scope of ocean transportation at the commencement of the peak period may be obtained from a survey of the list of vessels sailing from San Franciso to the mouth of the Colorado. Whereas, between 1857 and 1864 the vessels known to have been engaged in the ocean trade each year averaged nine, the average for the seven years ending in 1870 was nineteen. A glance at the steamer service on the river shows a similar trend. Before 1864 two steamers could handle the traffic to the interior, but during that year five were engaged in this service. The effect of this increased trade on the mining industry, and consequently upon the growth of Arizona itself, cannot be overestimated. Steamer service made mining profitable, since it offered a reliable means of getting unrefined ore to the San Francisco market and supplies and machinery in return. Prior to 1864 Yuma had been the only river port of importance, but, as mining developed during the next seven years, river ports at Castle Dome, Mineral City, Ehrenberg, Olive City, La Paz, Aubrey, El Dorado, and Hardyville mushroomed into existence. As a distribution center Yuma carried on a thriving business. From here military supplies were dispatched to Mohave and the army posts of the interior. Hardly a day passed that the heavily laden freight wagons of William B.
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