Mohave I (often simply called Mohave) was a stern-wheel steamboat that operated on the Colorado River from 1864 to 1875. It was the first vessel of that name on the river and an important workhorse in the mid-19th-century Colorado River trade, carrying freight, supplies, and passengers to support mining, military posts, and settlements in the Arizona Territory and beyond.
Description and Specifications
Mohave I was a wooden-hulled stern-wheeler built for the shallow, shifting, sandbar-filled waters of the lower Colorado River. Key dimensions and characteristics included:
- Tonnage: 193 tons.
- Length: 135 feet.
- Beam: 28–29 feet.
- Hull depth: Approximately 4 feet.
- Draft: Relatively shallow for its size, allowing it to navigate low-water conditions better than deeper-draft vessels (though exact loaded/light drafts vary slightly in sources).
- Propulsion: Stern-wheel paddle, powered by steam engines (specific horsepower not consistently recorded in primary summaries, but the vessel demonstrated strong power for the era).
- Cargo capacity: Up to about 225 tons when running alone; it commonly towed one or two barges and could handle combined loads in the range of 100+ tons of cargo on barges in addition to its own capacity.
It was constructed in sections by the noted San Francisco shipbuilder John G. North at his shipyard. The sections were transported south and assembled/launched in the Colorado River estuary (near the mouth of the river in what is now the Sonora/Baja California border area of Mexico) in late May 1864. Ownership was under George A. Johnson & Company (later reorganized as the Colorado Steam Navigation Company around 1869).
Like other Colorado River stern-wheelers of the period, it was a utilitarian working boat rather than a luxurious passenger steamer. It featured a basic superstructure suited to freight and limited passenger service in a harsh desert environment, with wood-fired boilers that required frequent refueling at wood-yards along the river (often staffed by Cocopah laborers cutting cottonwood and mesquite). The river’s extreme tides near the mouth, tidal bore, strong seasonal currents (especially during spring rise), sandbars, and low-water periods made navigation demanding; boats typically did not run at night.
History of Construction and Usage
George A. Johnson & Company had dominated Colorado River steamboating since the early 1850s, supplying Fort Yuma and later expanding upriver as mining booms developed. By late 1863, however, a surge in mining activity (gold and silver districts) created a freight backlog. High rates, shortages, and limited capacity led to discontent among upriver miners and merchants. This prompted competition from an “opposition line,” including the arrival of the stern-wheeler Esmerelda (Union Line) in 1864.
Johnson responded by ordering Mohave I. After launch in May 1864, it quickly entered service hauling freight from the Gulf of California/estuary area northward. From 1865 onward it regularly towed barges. A standout demonstration of its power and capacity occurred on a May 27–June 6, 1866 voyage under Captain Isaac Polhamus: it covered approximately 365 miles upriver from Yuma to El Dorado Canyon in a record 10 days and 2 hours while carrying 225 tons of cargo. Strong spring currents slowed progress for four of those days (only 41 miles covered in that stretch), forcing Polhamus to transfer cargo from the two barges it was towing onto the steamer itself and leave the barges behind temporarily.
Throughout its career Mohave I supported:
- Military logistics (supplying posts such as Fort Yuma and Fort Mohave).
- Mining operations (delivering machinery, provisions, and supplies; returning with ore).
- General commerce and settlement growth along the river corridor during the post-Civil War expansion of the Southwest.
It required periodic maintenance (hull work, caulking, etc.) at facilities in Yuma and Port Isabel. By the mid-1870s the boat was worn out. Railroads were beginning to compete effectively with river transport. In 1875 Mohave I was hauled out at Port Isabel, dismantled, and its machinery shipped to San Francisco to equip the Sacramento River stern-wheeler Onward (launched 1877; operated until 1909). It was succeeded on the Colorado by the larger Mohave II (launched 1876), the only double-smokestack steamboat on the river.
Ports of Call and Routes
Mohave I operated primarily on the lower Colorado River route, roughly 150–500+ miles depending on water levels and destination, from the river mouth/estuary northward. Cargo typically arrived by ocean-going schooners or steamships at the Gulf of California and was transshipped at or near Port Isabel (or earlier anchorages such as Robinson’s Landing) onto river steamers to avoid or manage Mexican customs issues and tidal hazards.
Principal ports and landings (approximate river miles above the mouth or relative to key points; distances varied with the shifting channel):
- Port Isabel (Sonora, Mexico) and nearby estuary landings/anchorages (Robinson’s Landing, etc.): Southern terminus, shipyard, and transshipment point. Active as a key facility especially from the mid-1860s.
- Fort Yuma / Arizona City (later Yuma), Arizona Territory / California: Major hub roughly 150 miles upriver. Military post, commercial center, and frequent stop.
- Intermediate wood-yards and landings below and above Yuma (examples include Port Famine, Gridiron, Ogden’s Landing, Pedrick’s, and later sites such as Castle Dome Landing).
- La Paz / Ehrenberg area (around 125–130+ miles above Yuma): Important mining and commercial points during the 1860s La Paz boom; freight rates for supplies and returning ore were significant.
- Aubrey City / Bill Williams River area.
- Fort Mohave / Hardyville / Mohave City area (roughly 300–310 miles from the mouth; Hardyville often served as low-water head of navigation for a period): Military post and transfer point for northern traffic.
- El Dorado Canyon (southern Nevada area, ~365 miles from Yuma in the noted 1866 run): Mining district destination for freight and supplies.
- Higher points such as Callville (Mormon settlement) were reached by Mohave I and other boats in high water periods in the mid-1860s, though not always regularly.
Wood-yards spaced roughly a day’s travel apart allowed overnight refueling. Downstream trips were much faster than upstream ones due to the current. The overall corridor stretched roughly 500 miles from the Gulf to upper mining camps when conditions permitted.
Mohave I helped open and sustain commerce in a remote desert region before railroads (notably the Southern Pacific reaching Yuma in 1877) gradually displaced river steamers as the primary freight mode. Its career illustrates both the ingenuity required to navigate the Colorado and the economic importance of steamboating to the early development of the Arizona Territory and adjacent areas.