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California Steam Navigation Company
The California Steam Navigation Company was formed in 1854 to consolidate competing steamship companies in the San Francisco Bay Area and on the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers. It was successful in this effort and established a profitable near-monopoly which it maintained by buying out or bankrupting new competitors. In response to the Fraser Canyon gold rush and economic growth in the Pacific Northwest, the company expanded to ocean routes from San Francisco north to British Columbia. Similarly, as California's economy grew, the company offered service from San Francisco south to San Pedro and San Diego. It exited these markets in 1867 when competition drove prices to unprofitable levels. While the California Steam Navigation Company was successful throughout its life in suppressing steamboat competition on its core Bay Area and river routes, it could not control the rise of railroads. These new competitors reduced the company's revenue and profit. Finally, in 1871, the c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 came into practical usage during the early 1800s; however, there were exceptions that came before. Steamships usually use the prefix designations of "PS" for ''paddle steamer'' or "SS" for ''screw steamer'' (using a propeller or screw). As paddle steamers became less common, "SS" is assumed by many to stand for "steamship". Ships powered by internal combustion engines use a prefix such as "MV" for ''motor vessel'', so it is not correct to use "SS" for most modern vessels. As steamships were less dependent on wind patterns, new trade routes opened up. The steamship has been described as a "major driver of the first wave of trade globalization (1870–1913)" and contributor to "an increase in international trade that was unprecedented in hu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) was a gold rush that began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California from the rest of the United States and abroad. The sudden influx of gold into the money supply reinvigorated the American economy; the sudden population increase allowed California to go rapidly to statehood, in the Compromise of 1850. The Gold Rush had severe effects on Native Californians and accelerated the Native American population's decline from disease, starvation and the California genocide. The effects of the Gold Rush were substantial. Whole indigenous societies were attacked and pushed off their lands by the gold-seekers, called "forty-niners" (referring to 1849, the peak year for Gold Rush immigration). Outside of California, the first to arrive were from Oregon, the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) and Latin America in late 1848. Of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paddle Steamer
A paddle steamer is a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine that drives paddle wheels to propel the craft through the water. In antiquity, paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses were wheelers driven by animals or humans. In the early 19th century, paddle wheels were the predominant way of propulsion for steam-powered boats. In the late 19th century, paddle propulsion was largely superseded by the screw propeller and other marine propulsion systems that have a higher efficiency, especially in rough or open water. Paddle wheels continue to be used by small, pedal-powered paddle boats and by some ships that operate tourist voyages. The latter are often powered by diesel engines. Paddle wheels The paddle wheel is a large steel framework wheel. The outer edge of the wheel is fitted with numerous, regularly spaced paddle blades (called floats or buckets). The bottom quarter or so of the wheel travels under water. An e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
California Pacific Railroad Company
The California Pacific Railroad Company (abbreviated Cal. P. R. R. or Cal-P) was incorporated in 1865 at San Francisco, California as the California Pacific ''Rail Road'' Company. It was renamed the California Pacific Railroad ''Extension'' Company in the spring of 1869, then renamed the California Pacific Railroad later that same year. Its main railroad from Vallejo to Sacramento was completed six months prior to the May 1869 golden spike ceremony of the Central Pacific/Union Pacific Transcontinental Railway. Beginning January 1869, the company operated a passenger ferryboat (''New World'') from San Francisco to Vallejo and thence a railroad to Sacramento. It also had a branch from Adelante (later Napa Junction, now American Canyon) to Calistoga and another from Davis to Marysville. The Cal-P operated independently from 1865 to 1876. It was then operated by the Central Pacific and was finally sold to the Southern Pacific. Amtrak's ''Capitol Corridor'' follows the original C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Senator (1848 Ship)
''Senator'' was a wooden, Paddle steamer, side-wheel steamship built in New York City, New York in 1848. She was one of the first steamships on the California coast and arguably one of the most commercially successful, arriving in San Francisco at the height of the California Gold Rush, California gold rush. She was the first ocean-going steamer to sail up the Sacramento River to reach the new gold fields. After more purpose-built river steamers became available, ''Senator'' began a 26-year long career sailing between San Francisco and Southern California ports. Age and improving technology finally made the ship unsuitable for passenger service by 1882. Her machinery was removed and she was converted into a Hulk (ship type), coal hulk. She ended her days in New Zealand, where she was broken up sometime around 1912. Construction ''Senator'' was built in 1848 at the shipyard of William H. Brown at the foot of 12th Street on the East River in lower Manhattan. She had a wooden h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pacific (1850)
SS ''Pacific'' was a wooden sidewheel steamer built in 1850 most notable for its sinking in 1875 as a result of a collision southwest of Cape Flattery, Washington. ''Pacific'' had an estimated 275 passengers and crew aboard when she sank. Only two survived. Among the casualties were several notable figures, including the vessel's captain at the time of the disaster, Jefferson Davis Howell (1846–1875), the brother-in-law of former Confederate President Jefferson Davis. The sinking of ''Pacific'' killed more people than any other marine disaster on the West Coast at the time. Design and construction ''Pacific'' was commissioned by Major Albert Lowry, Captain Nathanial Jarvis, and her builder, William H. Brown. She was built in Brown's shipyard at the foot of Twelfth Street on the East River in New York. Her hull was oak and live oak timbers fastened together with iron and copper nails. ''Pacific'' had a vertical beam steam engine generating . Her engine had a cylinder wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orizaba (1854 Ship)
''Orizaba'' was one of the first ocean-going steamships in commercial service on the west coast of North America and one of the last side-wheelers in regular use. Her colorful career spanned the business intrigues of Cornelius Vanderbilt, civil unrest in Mexico and Nicaragua, and the Fraser River gold rush. The ship was particularly important to Southern California ports, where she called for roughly the last 20 years of her service. Construction ''Orizaba'' was built by Jacob A. Westervelt and Company at its shipyard in New York City. She was 240' (73 m) long, with a beam of 34' (10 m) and a draft of 15.4' (5.2 m). The ship measured 1,244 gross register tons. She was a 2-deck wooden sidewheel steamship. Her frames were made from oak and her planking from chestnut. Her vertical beam steam engine was coal fired. This engine was manufactured at the Morgan Iron Works at the foot of 10th Street on the East River in Manhattan. The engine had a single cylinder 65" (1.7 m) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
USCS Active
''Active'' was a survey ship that served in the United States Coast Survey, a predecessor of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, from 1852 to 1861. ''Active'' served on the U.S. West Coast. She conducted the Coast Surveys first reconnaissance from San Francisco, California, to San Diego, California, in 1852. ''Active'' sometimes stepped outside her normal Coast Survey duties to support U.S. military operations, serving as a troop transport and dispatch boat during various wars with Native Americans and during the San Juan Islands " Pig War" with the United Kingdom in 1859. She also rushed Union troops to Los Angeles, California, in 1861 during the early stages of the American Civil War. She was sold by the government in 1862 and sailed along the West Coast for a number of private companies until June 5, 1870. In a dense fog she hit a rock near the shore in Humboldt County, California and had to beach to prevent sinking in deep water. Her passengers and crew were sav ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Idaho (1866 Ship)
''Idaho'' was a wooden steamship built for Pacific Coast passenger and freight service. She was launched in 1866 and wrecked in 1889. She was one of the first ocean-going steamships to provide regular service to the northwest coast of North America. Construction ''Idaho'' was built in Bath, Maine and launched on August 11, 1866. She was a wooden ship, built of oak, yellow pine, and hackmatack. She was long, with a beam of and a draft of . She displaced 1,077 gross tons. Her primary propulsion was provided by a coal-fired steam engine which had a single 44" cylinder and a 3' stroke. The engine turned a fifty-six foot-long shaft to drive a single propeller 12 1/2' in diameter. She also had two masts and could sail. One report said she cost $250,000 to build. She was built in the shipyard of George F. and John Patten, a partnership between two brothers. As originally constructed, her interior spaces included forty three-berth staterooms, a dining salon which could seat 100, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1862 Pacific Northwest Smallpox Epidemic
Year 186 ( CLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Aurelius and Glabrio (or, less frequently, year 939 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 186 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Roman Empire * Peasants in Gaul stage an anti-tax uprising under Maternus. * Roman governor Pertinax escapes an assassination attempt, by British usurpers. New Zealand * The Hatepe volcanic eruption extends Lake Taupō and makes skies red across the world. However, recent radiocarbon dating by R. Sparks has put the date at 233 AD ± 13 (95% confidence). Births * Ma Liang, Chinese official of the Shu Han state (d. 222) Deaths * April 21 – Apollonius the Apologist, Christian martyr * Bian Zhang, Chinese official and gener ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ben Holladay
Benjamin Holladay (October 14, 1819 – July 8, 1887) was an American transportation businessman responsible for creating the Overland Stage to California during the height of the 1849 California Gold Rush. Ben Holladay created a stagecoach empire and he is known in history as the "Stagecoach King". A native of Kentucky, he also was hired as a private courier to General Alexander Doniphan of Missouri. Doniphan refused point-blank to carry out orders to kill the Mormons during the 1838 Mormon War in Missouri. His transportation empire later included steamships and railroads in Oregon. Early life Holladay was born October 14, 1819, in Nicholas County, Kentucky. His father, William Holladay (born in what is now Spotsylvania County, Virginia) was a third-generation American, descended from John "The Ranger" Holladay. William migrated to Bourbon County, Kentucky, where he was a guide for wagon trains through the Cumberland Gap. Benjamin's mother was Margaret "Peggy" Hughes. B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pacific Mail Steamship Company
The Pacific Mail Steamship Company was founded April 18, 1848, as a joint stock company under the laws of the State of New York by a group of New York City merchants. Incorporators included William H. Aspinwall, Edwin Bartlett (American consul at Lima, Peru and also involved with the Panama Railroad Company), Henry Chauncey, Mr. Alsop, G.G. Howland and S.S. Howland. History Founding The Pacific Mail Steamship Company was established to carry US mail on the Pacific leg of a transcontinental route via Panama. The federal government discussed the possibility of creating subsidies for a private shipping company, similar to the model already established in Britain for the Cunard Line and the British Mail Steam Packet Company. Such a policy served the larger objective of annexing and developing Oregon. President James K. Polk brought the Oregon Territory into the Union in 1846. Developing and maintaining the new land required the development of faster transportation and communicati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
