Port Isabel Slough
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Port Isabel Slough was a deep
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 ...
in the
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 ...
near the mouth of 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 ...
during the 19th century, within the state of
Sonora, Mexico Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora (), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is divided into 72 municipalities; the capital (and largest) city of which is ...
.


History

Until the
Great Flood of 1862 The Great Flood of 1862 was the largest flood in the recorded history of California, Oregon, and Nevada, inundating the western United States and portions of British Columbia and Mexico. It was preceded by weeks of continuous rains and snows tha ...
, what became Port Isabel Slough was a shallow tidewater slough, but the extreme flood waters of that year cut its channel much deeper, so that at low tide it still was three fathoms deep. The mouth of this slough was only 5 miles from the mouth of the river and 2 miles east of the main river at Philips Point, in the 1870s located at , marking the head of the eastern dis-tributary channel of the Colorado, separated by from the main river and the
Gulf of California The Gulf of California (), also known as the Sea of Cortés (''Mar de Cortés'') or Sea of Cortez, or less commonly as the Vermilion Sea (''Mar Vermejo''), is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean that separates the Baja California peninsula from ...
by Montague Island and Gore Island. The slough was sheltered from the extremes of the
tidal bore A tidal bore, often simply given as bore in context, is a tidal phenomenon in which the leading edge of the incoming tide forms a wave (or waves) of water that travels up a river or narrow bay, reversing the direction of the river or bay's cu ...
of the Colorado River and deep enough to prevent stranding on
shoal In oceanography, geomorphology, and Earth science, geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank (geography), bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material, and rises from the bed of a body ...
s or
mud flats Mudflats or mud flats, also known as tidal flats or, in Ireland, slob or slobs, are coastal wetlands that form in intertidal areas where sediments have been deposited by tides or rivers. A global analysis published in 2019 suggested that tidal f ...
at low tide. The west coasts of Mexico and Central America from the United States to Panama including the gulfs of California and Panama: Chiefly from surveys by the United States steamers Narragansett, Tuscarora, Ranger, and Thetis, between 1873 and 1901; United States Hydrographic Office; Government Printing Office, 1904. pp.155-157
/ref> This made it an ideal anchorage for maritime craft to load and unload their cargo and passengers from the
steamboat A steamboat is a boat that is marine propulsion, propelled primarily by marine steam engine, steam power, typically driving propellers or Paddle steamer, paddlewheels. The term ''steamboat'' is used to refer to small steam-powered vessels worki ...
s that took them up and down river without the danger from the tides that they were having to risk in the
estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime enviro ...
at Robinson's Landing. In the month of March 1865, the
schooner A schooner ( ) is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel defined by its Rig (sailing), rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more Mast (sailing), masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than t ...
''Isabel'', from
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 ...
, commanded by W. H. Pierson, found and entered this slough and discharged her cargo, to a steamboat there for the first time. Subsequently, in June 1865, the ''Isabel'' and the brig ''Laura'', unloaded cargoes there again, and the head of the George A. Johnson & Company,
George Alonzo Johnson George Alonzo Johnson (August 16. 1824 – November 27, 1903) was an American entrepreneur and politician. Biography Early life Johnson was born in Palatine Bridge, New York, to Gertrydt van Slyk (1794–1826) and George Granville Johnson ( ...
, and his manager Captain Issac Polhamus were there and saw the value of the waterway and named the slough for the ''Isabel''. Subsequently, the steamers and
sailing ship A sailing ship is a sea-going vessel that uses sails mounted on Mast (sailing), masts to harness the power of wind and propel the vessel. There is a variety of sail plans that propel sailing ships, employing Square rig, square-rigged or Fore-an ...
s and later ocean going
steamship A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a type of steam-powered vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically move (turn) propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamships ...
s loaded and off loaded their cargoes there and the steamboat company established Port Isabel miles above the mouth of the slough. Three miles above Port Isabel was Shipyard Slough, another slough tributary to Port Isabel Slough which became the site of the company tidal dry dock and shipyard, as tidal conditions were ideal for flooding and draining the dry dock there. In 1876, Captain Polhamus advertised for a company that would cut a channel for 5 miles from the Colorado River to Port Isabel Slough to cut the distance traveled by the steamers to the port. However, the plan came to naught, when the
Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Railroad classes#Class I, Class I Rail transport, railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was oper ...
bought out the company and bridged the Colorado River at
Yuma, Arizona Yuma is a city in and the county seat of Yuma County, Arizona, United States. The city's population was 95,548 at the 2020 census, up from the 2010 census population of 93,064. Yuma is the principal city of the Yuma, Arizona, Metropolitan ...
in 1877. Subsequently, the port supplanted by the rail-head at Yuma, was abandoned in 1878.


References

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External links


Schooner discharging cargo into what appears to be Barge No. 1 and the "Mohave I" at Port Isabel.
from hdl.huntington.org accessed July 28, 2015 - ''Mohave I'' ran from 1864 to 1875, barges were towed by the Johnson Company boats from 1865. These ships and barge are resting in Port Isabel Slough. Colorado River History of Sonora Lower Colorado River Valley Steamboat transport on the Colorado River