''Colorado'', 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 third 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 ...

, and first stern-wheel steamboat put on that river, in December 1855. The ''Colorado'' was a 120 foot long, stern-wheel steamboat, built for the George A. Johnson & Company in San Francisco by John G. North a well known builder of steamboats in California.Scott, Erving M. and Others, ''Evolution of Shipping and Ship-Building in California, Part II'', Overland Monthly and Out West Magazine, Volume 25, February 1895
p. 123 It was equipped with an 80-horsepower steam engine capable of carrying up to 70 tons of cargo while drawing only 2 feet of water. North subsequently disassembled and shipped in sections by sea to the estuary of the Colorado River. There North unloaded, reassembled and launched in it in December, 1855 under the command of Captain Isaac Polhamus. More powerful than Johnson's first steamboat, the side-wheeler ''General Jesup'', it made faster runs between the estuary and

Fort Yuma Fort Yuma was a fort in California located in Imperial County, across the Colorado River from Yuma, Arizona. It was established in 1848. It served as a stop on the Butterfield Overland Mail route from 1858 until 1861. The fort was retired from ...

with larger cargoes against strong currents in the river. As a stern-wheeler it was narrower, with a lesser draft, so was better equipped to avoid or pass over

sandbar In oceanography, geomorphology, and geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material, and rises from the bed of a body of water close to the surface or ...

s and through the narrower

slough Slough () is a town in Berkshire, England, in the Thames Valley, west of central London and north-east of Reading, at the intersection of the M4, M40 and M25 motorways. It is part of the historic county of Buckinghamshire. In 2021, the ...

s that sometimes occurred on the ever-changing course of the old

Colorado River Delta The Colorado River Delta is the region where the Colorado River once flowed into the Gulf of California (also known as the Sea of Cortez) in eastern Mexicali Municipality in the north of the state of Baja California, in northwestern Mexico. The ...

. Besides running cargoes between Fort Yuma from the estuary, it was used with the ''General Jesup'' to carry supplies and soldiers up river during the 1858-59

Mohave War The Mohave War was an armed conflict between the Mohave people and the United States from 1858 to 1859. With the California Gold Rush of 1849, thousands of American settlers headed west through Mohave country and into California. The influx of m ...

and for the establishment of

Fort Mohave Fort Mohave was originally named Camp Colorado when it was established on April 19, 1859 by Lieutenant Colonel William Hoffman (U.S. Army), William Hoffman during the Mohave War. It was located on the east bank of the Colorado River, at Beale's ...

. The steamboats were engaged to carry the troops and supplies up river for at $500 per day. Richard E. Lingenfelter, Steamboats on the Colorado River, 1852-1916, University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 1978
At the end of its service life the first ''Colorado's'' hull was dismantled in April, 1862. Its engine and boiler was removed and used to equip the new, larger stern-wheeler ''Colorado'' that was built and launched under the guns of Fort Yuma, in Arizona City, for fear of an attack by

Confederate A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

raiders.

References

Merchant ships of the United States Steamboats of the Colorado River Stern-wheel steamboats of California Ships built in San Francisco 1855 ships {{California-transport-stub