''Explorer'' was a small, custom-made stern-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. The term ''steamboat'' is used to refer to small steam-powered vessels worki ...

built for Second lieutenant Joseph Christmas Ives and used by him to carry the U. S. Army

Corps of Topographical Engineers Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was formally introduced March 1, 1800, when Napoleon ordered Gene ...

expedition to explore the

Colorado River The Colorado River () is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The river, the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), 5th longest in the United St ...

above Fort Yuma in 1858. Richard E. Lingenfelter, Steamboats on the Colorado River, 1852-1916, University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 1978

History

After inquiring about the cost of chartering one of the Colorado River steamboats of George Alonzo Johnson and finding their rates too high, Lt. Ives ordered a steamboat built in 1857: :"In the latter part of June I ordered of Reaney, Neafie & Co., of

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, an iron steamer, fifty feet long, to be built in sections, and the parts to be so arranged that they could be transported by railroad, as the shortness of time required that it should be sent to California, via the

Isthmus of Panama The Isthmus of Panama, historically known as the Isthmus of Darien, is the narrow strip of land that lies between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, linking North America, North and South America. The country of Panama is located on the i ...

. About the middle of August the boat was finished, tried upon the Delaware, and found satisfactory, subject to a few alterations only. It was then taken apart, sent to New York, and shipped on board of the California steamer which sailed on the 20th of August for Aspinwall. Mr. A. J. Carroll, of Philadelphia, who had engaged to accompany the expedition as steamboat engineer, went out in charge of the boat." Joseph C. Ives, REPORT UPON THE COLORADO RIVER OF THE WEST, EXPLORED IN 1857 AND 1858 BY LIEUTENANT JOSEPH C. IVES, CORPS OF TOPOGRAPHICAL ENGINEERS, UNDER THE DIRECTION OP THE OFFICE OF EXPLORATIONS AND SURVEYS, A. A. HUMPHREYS, CAPTAIN TOPOGRAPHICAL ENGINEERS, IN CHARGE. BY ORDER OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR, GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON, 1861; PART I. GENERAL REPORT
After being transported by the

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across the Isthmus to the Pacific Ocean, the ''Explorer'' was shipped again by steamship from

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up to San Francisco. From there expedition sailed with the parts of the steamboat on the deck of the

schooner A schooner ( ) is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel defined by its Rig (sailing), rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more Mast (sailing), masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than t ...

''Monterey'' to the

Colorado River Delta The Colorado River Delta is the region where the Colorado River once flowed into the Gulf of California (also known as the Sea of Cortez) in eastern Mexicali Municipality in the north of the state of Baja California, in northwestern Mexico. The ...

where it arrived November 30. There Ives oversaw its reassembly and launch on December 30, 1857, at Robinson's Landing,

Baja California Baja California, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California, is a state in Mexico. It is the northwesternmost of the 32 federal entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1952, the area was known as the North Territory of B ...

David C. Robinson Morgan Creek Entertainment, LLC is an American film production company, former sales agent and investor, that has released box-office hits including '' Young Guns'', '' Dead Ringers'', '' Major League'', '' True Romance'', '' Ace Ventura: Pet Det ...

, owner of the landing and a pilot for George Alonzo Johnson, was made captain of the boat. After Ives used the ''Explorer'' to ascend the Colorado River, he sent it back to Fort Yuma with Richardson. There it was put up for auction and sold to George A. Johnson for $1000. He had its engine and paddle wheel removed and used it for a barge to carry firewood to steamboat landings. In 1864 it broke free from it moorings at Pilot Knob and was carried away 60 miles down river into the Delta where it sank in a slough, sometimes seen by passing steamers, until the river moved away from the location and it was hidden by the delta foliage and lost. Its wreck was found in 1929, by a survey party, in a dried up slough miles away from the new course of the river. A mere skeleton remained, its iron plates long ago removed to make comales for baking tortillas.

References

External links

Southwestexplorations.com: "Ives's steamboat, the ''Explorer'', commanded by Captain Robinson, steaming upriver past Chimney Peak, in 1858"
— ''from a lithograph by expedition artist Balduin Möllhausen''. Steamboats of the Colorado River Stern-wheel steamboats of California 1857 ships Ships built by Neafie and Levy {{Nevada-transport-stub