Page:California Historical Society Quarterly vol 22.djvu/166

 was shipped aboard the Victoria to the mouth of the river. On the Victoria also came three of the later river pilots, John ("Jack") Mellon, Charles Tyson, and Charles Overman. Upon their arrival they commenced work on the Black Crook, the first barge to navigate the Colorado. She was designed in San Francisco, measured 128 feet long by 28 feet wide, and was assembled in nineteen days. Later that year Tnieworthy built a second barge, the White Fawn, which was lengthened in 1 867.^^^ During the next six years the Johnson Company followed his lead and constructed barges numbered from I to 4. In later years the Pumpkin Seed,^^^ El Dorado, Colorado, Veagas, Yuma and Silas J. Lewis are known to have been in operation at one time or another.

The barge was indispensable in shallow water. Although river steamers drew but sixteen to twenty-four inches, this was too much during extremely dry periods. By transferring all or part of its load to the barge, the steamer was able to navigate in unbelievably shallow currents. During moderate stages of the river, both the steamer and the barge carried pay loads, thereby increasing the profit from the trade, much as the truck-trailer combinations do today.^^® If it was discovered at a certain mine or landing that a full return load was not available, as was often the case, the barge was left while the steamer continued her service. After a sufficient cargo had been accumulated, the barge was loaded, and the crew drifted her down to the mouth of the river without the assistance of the steamer. Here she was anchored or towed into Port Isabel to await the arrival of the ocean steamer. In this way both steamer and barge were left free to operate independently. For the return voyage upstream the barge could be reloaded and towed to any landing requiring her service. In size the barges varied widely. The smaller structures such as the Black Crook had a carrying capacity of but thirty to forty tons, while those built at a later period, when river steamers were capable of hauling larger cargoes, ranged well above one hundred tons. The largest barge on the river, the No. 4 of the Colorado Steam Navigation Company, was built in San Francisco, was assembled at Port Isabel, and arrived at Yuma on September 29, 1872. She was 165 feet long, with a 3 3 -foot beam, and a 3 7/10-foot hold, had a square stern equipped with four rudders, and boasted a carrying capacity of 1 85 tons.^ ^^

To Arizona the Colorado River was a lifeline. Across the decks of the river steamers were imported the mills, machinery, explosives, and mining tools, the military supplies and equipment for the Arizona troops, and the dry goods, furniture, and food for the populace. Some conception of the volume of the import trade up the Colorado waterway may be obtained from the following table compiled from the files of the Arizona Sentinel published at Yuma.^^^

