''Chrysopolis'', a famous side-wheel

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. Steamboats sometimes use the ship prefix, prefix designation SS, S.S. or S/S ...

that ran between

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

and

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

from 1860 to 1875 when it was rebuilt as a ferry that continued in service for more than 60 years. ''Chrysopolis'' was built in San Francisco, by shipbuilder

John Gunder North John Gunder North (December 15, 1826 – September 19, 1872) was a Norwegian born ship builder in San Francisco. During his career, he built 273 hulls of all kinds with 53 bay and river steamers, including the famed paddle steamers ''Chrysopolis' ...

in his new shipyard in the Potrero District. Launched in 1860, it was a side-wheel

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 wer ...

of 245 feet long with a 40-foot beam, displacing 1050 tons. It was equipped with a 1,357 horsepower, single cylinder, vertical-beam engine powered by two 32 ton boilers. It had two side-wheels 32 feet in diameter with 8 foot buckets (the wooden blades of a paddle wheel). It could carry 1,000 passengers and 700 tons of cargo at great speed. On December 31, 1861, it made the record setting run for a steamboat over the 120 mile distance between Sacramento and San Francisco in 5 hours and 19 minutes, making an average speed of 19.8 knots.

Rebuilt as Ferry "Oakland"

''Chrysopolis'' was rebuilt in 1875 by Patrick Henry Tiernan as the

San Francisco Bay ferry San Francisco Bay Ferry is a public transit passenger ferry service in the San Francisco Bay, administered by the San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority (WETA). In , the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday a ...

Oakland. Tiernan turned it into a double ended ferry-boat, cutting it in two and extending her length to 282 feet 7 inches overall with depth of hold amidships, 17.5 feet. It was destroyed by fire in 1940.MacMullen, Jerry, Paddle-Wheel Days in California, Stanford University Press, Stanford, 1970.

Notes

Sidewheel steamboats of California Ferries of California Ships built in San Francisco Transportation in the San Francisco Bay Area California Steam Navigation Company {{California-transport-stub