Category: Resources

Major Powell – Colorado River Steamship

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The Major Powell was a small experimental twin-screw steam launch built and launched in 1891 at Green River, Utah, on the Green River. It was named for Major John Wesley Powell, the one-armed Civil War veteran and explorer who led the first scientific boat expeditions down the Green and Colorado Rivers in 1869 and 1871–72.

It was owned and operated by the Green Grand & Colorado River Navigation Company (headed by B. S. Ross). The company’s goal was to establish excursion steamers carrying tourists from the Denver & Rio Grande railroad at Green River, Utah, down the Green River to its confluence with the Colorado (then often still called the Grand) and a short distance into Cataract Canyon, with plans for a hotel near the head of the cataracts.

Build and Design Principles

The vessel measured about 35 feet in length, 8 feet in beam (some accounts note 8–10 feet), with a draft of roughly 26 inches and a capacity of about 3 tons. It featured an open deck covered by a canvas canopy. Propulsion came from two 6-horsepower coal-fired steam engines, each driving one of a pair of twin screws (propellers).

Design priorities reflected the harsh realities of the upper Green and Colorado Rivers in the canyon country:

  • Shallow draft to handle low water, sandbars, and rocky channels.
  • Twin-screw propulsion for better maneuverability in narrow, winding canyons and against variable currents, rather than traditional paddlewheels (more common on the lower Colorado).
  • Compact size and light construction suitable for assembly after rail shipment and operation in remote, undeveloped terrain.
  • Open-deck simplicity for excursion passengers rather than heavy freight capacity.
  • Protective adaptations after early problems: iron guards were added to the screws after rocks damaged the propellers on the first trial run in fast, shallow water. The boiler was later converted from coal to wood (local cottonwood) because coal was scarce and heavy to transport in the canyons.

These choices made it a practical prototype for testing commercial steam navigation in an environment far more challenging than the lower Colorado River (where larger sternwheelers had operated for decades hauling freight and passengers between the Gulf of California and points upstream toward present-day Lake Mead). The Major Powell was underpowered for strong upstream currents and required constant attention to fuel and channel conditions.

Operational History

Launched in August 1891, the boat’s first trial was unsuccessful due to propeller damage. After the iron guards were fitted, its first successful voyage began around April 15, 1892, under the command of local rancher Arthur Wheeler (with a small crew). It descended the Green River through Labyrinth and Stillwater Canyons to the confluence and a short distance down the Colorado to the first cataract at the head of Cataract Canyon. Returning upstream proved difficult: the underpowered engines struggled against the current, coal ran low, and the boat was tied up at Wheeler’s ranch (about 22 miles below Green River). The crew walked overland to announce the success in town on July 3, 1892.

A second voyage followed after the conversion to wood fuel. The round-trip river time between the ranch and the first cataract was only about four days, but the full expedition took roughly a month because of the labor of cutting and loading cottonwood. Later accounts also describe additional trial or excursion efforts into 1893.

Despite these limited successes, the boat was dismantled in 1894 for its machinery (reportedly used in a wrecking plant at Green River). The hull was left behind and washed away in a subsequent flood.

Role in Expanding Trade Along the Colorado River

The Major Powell played only a minor and ultimately unsuccessful role in commercial development. Its purpose was primarily tourism and excursion traffic rather than freight or bulk trade. The company hoped to open a scenic passenger route linked to the railroad, but the combination of underpowered engines, fuel logistics, shifting channels, sandbars, and the formidable cataracts prevented sustained commercial service.

On the broader Colorado River system, steam navigation had already been established decades earlier on the lower river (from the mouth near the Gulf of California upstream past Yuma and toward the Mohave region). There, larger shallow-draft sternwheelers carried significant freight (supplies, mining equipment, goods) and passengers, supporting settlement, mining, and military posts until railroads largely displaced them. The upper Green and Colorado canyons remained far more difficult; the Major Powell was among the earliest (and essentially experimental) attempts to apply steam power there. It demonstrated that limited powered travel was possible under favorable conditions but did not lead to a viable trade route or fleet of excursion steamers. Subsequent upper-river boats in the early 20th century (such as the Undine, Cliff Dweller, and others) similarly struggled and left no lasting commercial impact before railroads, roads, and later dams transformed the region.

In short, the Major Powell stands as a short-lived technological and promotional experiment—an ambitious but underpowered effort to commercialize the scenic upper canyons that John Wesley Powell had first explored by rowboat a generation earlier. It highlighted both the possibilities and the severe practical limits of steam navigation on those waters.

Colorado I – Colorado River Steamship

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The Colorado I (also known simply as the Colorado) was a stern-wheel paddle steamer—the third steamboat overall on the Colorado River and the first sternwheeler to operate there. It played a key early role in commercial navigation on the lower Colorado, helping supply military posts, support settlement and mining, and prove the viability of sternwheelers for the river’s shallow, shifting, sandbar-choked waters.

Construction and Launch

George A. Johnson & Company (the dominant early operator on the river) commissioned the vessel. It was built in San Francisco by the noted California steamboat builder John G. North, then disassembled, shipped by sea in sections to the Colorado River estuary (in Mexican territory at the river’s mouth on the Gulf of California), reassembled, and launched in December 1855.

Captain Isaac Polhamus Jr. (who would become one of the most experienced pilots on the river and later command several other vessels in the fleet) took command.

Specifications

  • Type: Stern-wheel paddle steamer (wooden hull).
  • Length: Approximately 120 feet.
  • Engine: 80-horsepower steam engine.
  • Cargo capacity: Up to about 60–70 tons of freight (sources vary slightly; some list ~60 tons, others up to 70).
  • Draft: Less than 2 feet when loaded (ideal for the Colorado’s shallow conditions and frequent sandbars).
  • Other details such as exact beam are sparsely recorded in surviving accounts, but as a sternwheeler it was narrower and better suited than sidewheelers for navigating the river’s narrower channels and sloughs.

Compared with Johnson’s earlier sidewheeler General Jesup (launched 1854, ~104 feet, 50 hp, ~50-ton capacity), the Colorado I was more powerful, carried larger loads, and handled the strong currents and obstacles more effectively. Sternwheel design also allowed techniques such as reversing the wheel to help free the hull from sandbars.

Role on the Colorado River

Steamboats on the lower Colorado (from the Gulf of California upstream toward the Virgin River area) began in 1852 primarily to supply the isolated U.S. Army post at Fort Yuma more cheaply than overland freight. Early sidewheelers like the Uncle Sam (1852) and General Jesup proved the concept, but shifting sandbars, low water, strong currents, and tidal bores in the delta made the work difficult and hazardous.

The Colorado I improved efficiency on the core run between the estuary (where ocean vessels transferred cargo, often midstream to avoid Mexican customs) and Fort Yuma. It made faster upstream trips with larger cargoes. It also towed barges at times, further increasing payload.

Beyond routine freight (supplies, goods for settlers and mines), it supported military operations. During the 1858–59 Mohave War and the establishment of Fort Mohave, the Colorado I and General Jesup carried troops and supplies upriver under contract (reportedly at $500 per day). It contributed to the broader expansion of river commerce that later served mining booms (including areas like Eldorado Canyon) and settlement in what became Arizona, California, Nevada, and adjacent Mexican territory.

Johnson’s company held a near-monopoly for years; the Colorado I was an important part of the early fleet that generated substantial profits before competition and, later, railroads arrived. Navigation remained adventurous—pilots frequently dealt with grounding, low water, and the need for wood fuel from riverside yards often staffed by local Indigenous people (including Cocopah).

Ultimate Fate

After roughly six years of hard service (frequent groundings, wear from sandbars, and the river’s harsh conditions), the hull of the Colorado I was worn out. It was dismantled in spring 1862 (sources commonly cite April 1862; some secondary accounts mention August) at or near Fort Yuma / Arizona City.

Its engine and boiler were salvaged and installed in the larger successor vessel Colorado II (launched 1862 at Arizona City under the protection of Fort Yuma’s guns, partly out of concern over possible Confederate threats during the Civil War). The Colorado II (about 145 feet, 179 tons, same 80 hp engine) continued in service until it was itself dismantled in 1882.

The Colorado I thus marked an important transition: the shift to sternwheelers better adapted to the Colorado, the growth of Johnson’s profitable river trade, and the reuse of machinery that extended the company’s operations. Commercial steamboating on the lower Colorado continued for decades (peaking and then declining with the arrival of railroads in the late 1870s and the eventual blocking of the channel by Laguna Dam around 1909), but the Colorado I was a foundational vessel in that era.

Cliff Dweller – Colorado River Steamship

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The Cliff Dweller was a stern-wheel steamboat that operated briefly on the Green River (a major tributary of the upper Colorado River) in Utah in the early 20th century. It belonged to a short-lived series of experimental vessels attempting commercial navigation on the challenging upper Colorado/Green River system, far upstream from the better-known lower Colorado River steamboat fleet that served Yuma, mining districts, and points north into the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Origins and Construction

The vessel began as the City of Moab, a gasoline-powered, screw-driven boat. In 1905–1906, owner John J. Lumsden (with involvement from Charles Anderson and others) had it substantially rebuilt at Halverson’s (near Green River, Utah). Workers removed the upper works and tunnels, lengthened the hull by about 10 feet, and converted it to a coal-fired stern-wheeler with steam power (two stern-wheel engines, each rated around 25 horsepower in some accounts). It was renamed the Cliff Dweller, likely referencing the prehistoric Ancestral Puebloan (cliff-dweller) ruins and landscape along the river canyons.

It was launched around November 1905 at Halverson’s. Contemporary descriptions and later lists give approximate dimensions of 70 feet in length and 20 feet in beam, with a very shallow draft of about 14 inches (light; around 16–20 inches or more when loaded with fuel such as coal). These shallow-draft characteristics were essential for the sandbars, riffles, and variable water levels of the Green River.

Role Along the Colorado River System

Unlike the commercial stern-wheelers of the lower Colorado (such as the Mohave, Gila, Cocopah, and others operated by George A. Johnson & Company and later the Colorado Steam Navigation Company), the Cliff Dweller was an upper-river experiment. Its intended purpose was commercial service—primarily linking Green River, Utah, with Moab and points toward the confluence of the Green and Grand (upper Colorado) Rivers—for freight, passengers, or related trade. The upper river was far more difficult than the lower reaches due to rapids, sandbars, fluctuating flows, and limited traffic potential.

In practice, the boat made only limited use. Its principal documented voyage occurred in August 1906 under master/pilot C. W. Anderson (with H. T. Yokey as chief engineer and a small crew that included firemen, deck officers, and a cook). The log records a cruise from Green River downstream toward the junction of the Green and Grand Rivers (reaching Valentine’s Bottom, about 20 miles from the confluence, and visiting sites such as cliff dwellings and the Cave of Winds). The return upstream involved the usual hazards: grounding on sandbars (including at Hell’s Hole and Brigham’s Aleck), the need to use a capstan or shore lines, and temporarily raising engines when the paddle wheel struck bottom. The trip carried guests rather than commercial cargo and demonstrated the difficulties of sustained operation. It made one main long trip plus a couple of shorter side trips.

These upper-river efforts (including earlier vessels such as the Undine and later ones such as the Black Eagle and Charles H. Spencer) were generally short-lived and commercially unsuccessful because of the river’s obstacles and the lack of sufficient traffic once railroads expanded.

Specifications (Approximate, from contemporary and compiled sources)

  • Type: Stern-wheel steamboat (converted from gasoline screw propulsion)
  • Length: ~70 feet (after lengthening from the earlier City of Moab configuration)
  • Beam: ~20 feet
  • Draft: ~14 inches light; higher when loaded (e.g., with coal)
  • Propulsion: Coal-fired steam; stern-wheel engines
  • Built/rebuilt: Halverson’s, Utah, 1905 (rebuild completed for 1906 operation)
  • Owner: Primarily John J. Lumsden (with partners at times)

Exact tonnage and full engine details are sparsely recorded compared with the lower-river fleet.

Ultimate Fate

Commercial prospects between Green River and Moab proved unviable; operators concluded the venture could not generate adequate revenue. In 1907 (accounts cite April), Lumsden sold an interest, and the boat was cut in two, shipped overland to Salt Lake City, and placed in service as an excursion vessel on the Great Salt Lake. It was renamed the Vista and operated as a tourist craft for a number of years.

The Cliff Dweller thus represents one of the more ambitious but ultimately unsuccessful attempts to extend steam navigation into the upper Colorado River basin. Its brief career illustrates both the engineering adaptations required for shallow, obstructed western rivers and the limits of steamboat economics once railroads and other transport options became available. Primary details come from contemporary logs, testimony in later legal proceedings related to river navigation, photographic records, and compiled steamboat lists (including those drawing on Richard E. Lingenfelter’s research on Colorado River steamboats).

Cocopah I – Colorado River Steamship

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The Cocopah I (often simply called Cocopah) was a stern-wheel paddle steamer and the fifth steamboat to operate on the Colorado River. It was launched in August 1859 and served until 1867.

Construction and Specifications

Built in 1859 in San Francisco for George A. Johnson & Company at a cost of $35,000 (roughly equivalent to over $1 million today), it was the largest steamboat yet placed on the river. Key specifications include:

  • Length: 140 feet
  • Beam (width): 29 feet
  • Draft: Approximately 14.5–19 inches even when fully loaded (sources vary slightly; commonly cited as a mere 19 inches with full cargo)
  • Cargo capacity: Up to about 60–100 tons (it could also tow barges carrying additional tonnage)
  • Type: Stern-wheel paddle steamer with a powerful engine suited to pushing heavy loads against strong currents

It was specifically designed to replace Johnson’s earlier side-wheeler General Jesup and to handle the Colorado’s difficult conditions—shifting sandbars, snags, shallow water (especially in low-water seasons), and strong currents. The stern-wheel configuration and shallow draft made it far better suited to these conditions than earlier side-wheel vessels.

The boat was disassembled in San Francisco, shipped to the mouth of the Colorado River, transferred to another vessel, and taken upriver to Gridiron Landing in Sonora, Mexico, where it was reassembled and launched in August 1859.

Role on the Colorado River

Operated by George A. Johnson & Company (later associated with the Colorado Steam Navigation Company), the Cocopah I played a central role in the commercial and military development of the lower and middle Colorado River corridor during the late 1850s and 1860s.

It ran routes primarily from the river’s mouth/Gulf of California area (and later the safer Port Isabel Slough) northward. Key destinations included Fort Yuma (about 120 miles upriver), La Paz/Ehrenberg area mining districts, Fort Mohave/Hardyville (roughly 300 miles), and occasionally farther during high water (toward Eldorado Canyon or similar points). Wood yards along the river, often staffed by Cocopah laborers cutting cottonwood and mesquite, supplied fuel.

Captain David C. Robinson (a longtime Johnson employee who had previously commanded the exploratory steamer Explorer far upriver) was its primary early captain.

The vessel transported freight, passengers, mining equipment, provisions, and military supplies. It supported:

  • U.S. Army posts (notably Fort Yuma and the newly established Fort Mohave after the 1858–1859 Mohave War)
  • Early gold and silver mining booms along the river
  • Settlement and commerce in what became Arizona Territory and adjacent areas

One of its early major tasks involved supporting military logistics connected with Fort Mohave (established 1859). Steamers including the Cocopah helped move troops, artillery, and supplies upriver when overland routes proved difficult. Freight rates by steamer were dramatically lower than overland teamster rates, helping open the region economically.

The Cocopah I exemplified the shift to larger, more capable stern-wheelers that made regular commercial navigation practical on the challenging Colorado.

Ultimate Fate

The Cocopah I remained in service until 1867. By then it had seen heavy use; accounts note boiler repairs and eventual condemnation as unseaworthy. Its boiler and engine were removed, and the hull was hauled ashore at Port Isabel, Sonora (the company’s port and shipyard settlement near the river mouth). There it was converted into housing for workmen.

It was replaced by the larger Cocopah II (launched 1867 at Arizona City), which continued in the fleet for more than a decade until railroad competition (especially the Southern Pacific bridge at Yuma) ended the main era of Colorado River steamboating.

The Cocopah I is remembered as a pioneering large stern-wheeler that helped establish reliable steam navigation on the Colorado and supported the military, mining, and settlement expansion of the desert Southwest in the mid-19th century. Primary sources for these details include Richard E. Lingenfelter’s Steamboats on the Colorado River, 1852–1916 and National Park Service historical summaries.

Comet – Colorado River Steamship

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The Comet was a small sternwheel steamboat (paddlewheeler) that operated briefly in 1908 on the upper Green River, a major tributary of the Colorado River system, between Green River, Wyoming, and Linwood, Utah.

It was part of short-lived early 20th-century attempts to establish powered commercial navigation on the upper Green and Colorado rivers (in contrast to the longer, more successful steamboat era on the lower Colorado from the Gulf of California upstream to the Virgin River, roughly 1852–1916). These upper-river efforts faced severe challenges from low water, sandbars, swift currents, rocks, and rapids, and most vessels had very short careers.

Construction and Specifications

The Comet was built in Green River, Wyoming, by Holger (also referred to as Marius N. or Holger) Larsen and launched in July 1908 as the flagship of the newly formed Green River Navigation Company. Construction cost about $25,000. Steam engines were sourced from Chicago.

Key specifications (from contemporary lists of Colorado River system steamboats):

  • Type: Sternwheeler (stern-wheel paddle steamer).
  • Length: 60 feet.
  • Beam: 12 feet (one secondary compilation lists 20 feet; primary list data favors 12 feet).
  • Propulsion/engines: Coal-fired, two 20 hp engines.
  • Other: Shallow-draft design intended for the river’s variable conditions; cargo and passenger capacity is not precisely recorded in surviving summaries but was modest, suited to local freight and passengers rather than heavy bulk trade.

It represented an early shift on the upper Green from oar-powered craft to steam power.

Role Along the River

The Green River Navigation Company aimed to carry freight and passengers between Green River, Wyoming (a railroad town), and ranches downstream as far as Linwood, Utah (at the confluence of the Green with Henry’s Fork). This would have reduced reliance on overland freight and supported isolated ranches and communities.

Its maiden voyage was celebrated as a major local event tied to the Fourth of July 1908 festivities. It departed Green River for Linwood (accounts vary slightly on exact departure timing around July 4–7). The downstream leg was relatively successful (one report notes about eight hours), but the return trip proved disastrous: it took roughly 33 hours and was plagued by low water, sandbars, strong currents, and rocks. Passengers and crew repeatedly had to unload the boat and manually haul it past obstacles; fuel shortages forced stops at ranches for more coal.

Only a few trips were completed before operations ceased. The venture quickly proved impractical for regular commercial service.

Ultimate Fate

After its limited runs in 1908, the Comet was abandoned in the Green River a few hundred yards downstream from Green River, Wyoming (near the later site of the Highway 530 bridge area). Portions of the hull remained visible at low water for years afterward. Its bell was later salvaged and used by the local Rotary Club. A historical marker in Green River’s Island Park (Expedition Island area) commemorates the vessel and this brief chapter of river history.

The Comet’s failure mirrored other upper Green/Colorado experiments (such as the Major Powell, Undine, Cliff Dweller, Black Eagle, and Charles H. Spencer), which were similarly short-lived due to the river’s difficulties. Commercial steamboating never became viable on this stretch, unlike the lower Colorado, where vessels supported military posts, mining, and settlement until railroads and dams (notably Laguna Dam) ended the era.