Page:California Historical Society Quarterly vol 22.djvu/168

 source of constant irritation to Arizona merchantmen. The first of these was the insistence of the company that all freight bills be paid in coin. Money of any description was scarce in Arizona, and such an order only added to the gravity of the situation. In spite of repeated protests and appeals over a period of years, this regulation was never altered. Of greater consequence was the problem of freight rates based on the measurement of crated freight rather than upon actual weight. This regulation was first put into effect shortly before 1859 and continued in spite of numerous heated arguments down to the closing days of navigation on the river. Although the cost of freight varied over a period of years, the cost of "measured" freight seemed always to react to the disadvantage of the importer. In 1859 the rate was set at 62 /z c a cubic foot. Thus freight charges on a piece of furniture weighing 200 pounds and crated in a container 4 feet square would be I40, based on measurement, whereas, the amount, if estimated on the actual weight at the established rate of $6^ a ton, would have been only S6.50. In 1874 ^^^ Miner carried an interesting example of just such a case. A "panning out" of bllls shown us this morning, gives the followiQg results: Forty packages of goods, measuring 148 feet gave, according to the company's way of figuring, 7,400 pounds, while according to the bill of the freighter who brought the goods here from Ehrenberg, the same forty packages weighed just 4,786 pounds, and for which number of pounds he charged freight. Anyone can see that there is, in these weights, a difference of 2,614 pounds, for which the shipper has to pay the Colorado Steam Navigation Company. . .^^s

In the beginning, steam navigation on the Colorado River had largely been the outgrowth of a demand for some means of supplying the military forces stationed in Arizona. From 1851 troops were kept constantly on duty in the territory, their numbers ranging from twelve to fifteen hundred. When steam service to San Francisco began, all troop movements to and from Arizona were carried over this route.^^^ No information is available as to the number of arrivals and departures over a long period of time, but notes covering the year 1872, taken from the files of a number of Arizona papers, may be considered typical of any year during this period. In February 1 872, it was reported that the Colorado had arrived at Arizona City with 125 recruits.^^^ In March, 300 more were reported to have left San Francisco on the Newbern for the Colorado. ^^^ In April, 136 recruits with their wives and laundresses left the river for San Francisco.^**^ In July, the Newbern arrived with 300 troops and some passengers,^ *^ and on her return voyage in August she brought 200 troops to Port Isabel and returned to San Francisco with the same number.^*- On November 2, she was expected at the river with 200 additional men,^*^ and again on the twenty-seventh she left San Francisco with 150 more.^** These figures reveal that the Colorado Steam Navigation Company collected fares on more than 1,611 recruits during the year, and this number in all probability did not represent a complete accounting. While the regular passenger fare was $75 first class and