Explorer's Rock was a large rock in the Colorado River that was a hazard to navigation at the mouth of the

Black Canyon of the Colorado The Black Canyon of the Colorado is the canyon on the Colorado River where Hoover Dam was built. The canyon is located on the Colorado River at the state line between Nevada and Arizona. The western wall of the gorge is in the El Dorado Mountai ...

between

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

and

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

during the 19th century. It got its name from incident where the iron hulled steamboat ''Explorer'' struck it doing some damage, during the expedition of Lieutenant

Joseph C. Ives Joseph Christmas Ives (25 December 1829 – 12 November 1868) was an American soldier, botanist, and an explorer of the Colorado River in 1858. Biography Ives was born in New York City on Christmas Day, 1829. He graduated from Bowdoin College ...

, Corps of Topographical Engineers to explore the

Colorado River The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid drainage basin, watershed that encompasses parts of ...

of the West in 1857 and 1858. Explorer's Rock, was 4 miles above El Dorado Canyon. This location is just east of Squaw Peaks.

History

Explorer's Rock located at the entrance to the Black Canyon of the Colorado was one of the significant hazards to navigation to

steamboats 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 ...

barges Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed boat, flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by Pusher (boat) ...

, and other shipping when ascending or descending the Colorado River between El Dorado Canyon and Callville or Rioville, in the 19th Century. It lay above a short rapid below the mouth of the canyon just below the surface in a reach of still water. Ives describes the circumstances of the collision: Ives and his boat captain David C. Robinson examined the hidden rock: A Report of the Chief of Engineers U.S. Army in 1885 suggested the upper portion of the rock be blasted away to clear the hazard to navigation but this was never done.

The Site Today

Explorer's Rock lies in place but under the deeper waters of

Lake Mohave Lake Mohave is a reservoir on the Colorado River between the Hoover Dam and Davis Dam in Cottonwood Valley defining the border between Nevada and Arizona in the United States. This 67 mile stretch of the Colorado River flows past Boulder City, ...

References

{{Colorado River system Colorado River History of Arizona History of Nevada