''Cocopah'', was a

stern-wheel A paddle steamer is a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine driving paddle wheels to propel the craft through the water. In antiquity, paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, whereby the first uses were wh ...

paddle-steamer A paddle steamer is a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine driving paddle wheels to propel the craft through the water. In antiquity, paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, whereby the first uses were wh ...

, the fifth steamboat on the

Colorado River The Colorado River () is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The river, the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), 5th longest in the United St ...

, first put on the river in August 1859. The ''Cocopah'' was built in 1859 for the George A. Johnson & Company in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

for $35,000. It was the largest steamboat yet used on river being 140 feet long and 29 feet wide, with a powerful engine that could carry up to 100 tons of cargo upriver against strong currents in the river. Additionally it had a draft of a mere 19 inches, with a full cargo, making it ideal for dealing with the snags and sandbars of the river especially in the low water time of the year. ''Cocopah'' was built to replace

Johnson Johnson may refer to: People and fictional characters *Johnson (surname), a common surname in English * Johnson (given name), a list of people * List of people with surname Johnson, including fictional characters *Johnson (composer) (1953–2011) ...

's first steamboat, the side-wheeler ''General Jesup''. Richard E. Lingenfelter, Steamboats on the Colorado River, 1852–1916, University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 1978
The ''Cocopah'' was disassembled and brought down from San Francisco to the mouth of the Colorado River then unloaded onto a steamboat and taken up river to be reassembled at Gridiron Landing in

Sonora Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora (), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is divided into Municipalities of Sonora, 72 ...

. It was launched there in August 1859. It was subsequently captained by

David C. Robinson Morgan Creek Entertainment, LLC is an American film production company, former sales agent and investor, that has released box-office hits including '' Young Guns'', '' Dead Ringers'', '' Major League'', '' True Romance'', '' Ace Ventura: Pet Det ...

, a long time employee of Johnson's, who had recently captained the ''Explorer'' in an exploration of the Colorado River over 500 miles up river above Fort Yuma to the mouth of

Las Vegas Wash Las Vegas Wash is a 12-mile-long stream (an "arroyo" or "wash") which feeds most of the Las Vegas Valley's excess water into Lake Mead. The wash is sometimes called an ''urban river'', and it exists in its present capacity because of an urban pop ...

(now under

Las Vegas Bay Las Vegas Bay is a bay at the western edge of Lake Mead in the U.S. state of Nevada. The bay is located within the Lake Mead National Recreation Area to the northeast of the city of Henderson, Nevada, near the junction of Lake Mead Drive and Lak ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

). The ''Cocopah'' remained in use on the Colorado until 1867, when it had its boiler and engine removed and was hauled out onto the bank to serve as housing for workmen at the port and ship building settlement at

Port Isabel, Sonora Port Isabel was a seaport established on Port Isabel Slough in 1865 during the American Civil War in Sonora, Mexico in the mouth of the Colorado River on the Gulf of California. It was founded to support the increased river traffic caused by the ...

References

{{Steamboats of the Colorado River Merchant ships of the United States Steamboats of the Colorado River Stern-wheel steamboats of California Ships built in San Francisco 1859 ships