Robinson's Landing was a location in

Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. It lay on the west bank of 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 watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. s ...

northwest of the north tip of Montague Island in the

Colorado River Delta The Colorado River Delta is the region where the Colorado River flows 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 northwesternmost Mexico. The ...

, 10 miles above the mouth of the river on the

Gulf of California The Gulf of California ( es, Golfo de California), also known as the Sea of Cortés (''Mar de Cortés'') or Sea of Cortez, or less commonly as the Vermilion Sea (''Mar Bermejo''), is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean that separates the Baja C ...

.Richard E. Lingenfelter, Steamboats on the Colorado River, 1852-1916, University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 1978, pp.167-169 Named for David C. Robinson, it was the place where cargo was unloaded in the river from seagoing craft on to flatbottomed steamboats and carried up to

Fort Yuma Fort Yuma was a fort in California located in Imperial County, across the Colorado River from Yuma, Arizona. It was on the Butterfield Overland Mail route from 1858 until 1861 and was abandoned May 16, 1883, and transferred to the Department o ...

and points further north on the river from 1852 onward. Joseph C. Ives, described it as it was in 1858, in his 1861 ''Report upon the Colorado river of the West'' Joseph C. Ives, Report upon the Colorado river of the West, Washington, Government Printing Office, 1861. p.26-27, illustration p.26
/ref> The river here was subject to a severe

tidal bore Tidal is the adjectival form of tide. Tidal may also refer to: * ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple * Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim * TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music * Tidal (serv ...

that formed in the estuary about Montague Island and propagated upstream and could on occasion swamp barges, boats and ships. By 1865, a better location was found, ships offloaded their cargos on the east bank of the river at

Port Isabel, Sonora Port Isabel was a seaport established on Port Isabel Slough in 1865 during the American Civil War in Sonora, Mexico in the mouth of the Colorado River on the Gulf of California. It was founded to support the increased river traffic caused by the ...

, northeast of Montague Island. 17 miles from Robinson's landing and 57 miles below Port Famine.

References

External links

Explorations and Surveys. War Department. Map No. 1. Rio Colorado of the West, explored by 1st Lieut. Joseph C. Ives, Topl. Engrs. under the direction of the Office of Explorations and Surveys. A.A. Humphreys, Capt. Topl. Engrs. in Charge, by order of the Hon. John B. Floyd, Secretary of War. 1858. Drawn by Frhr. F.W.v. Egloffstein. Topographer to the Expedition. Topography by Frhr. F.W.v. Egloffstein. Ruling by Samuel Sartain. Lettering by F. Courtenay. From www.davidrumsey.com, David Rumsey Historical Map Collection website, accessed December 1, 2011.
1st Lieut. Joseph C. Ives Map of the Colorado River showing location of Robinsons Landing and other settlements along the Colorado River in 1858.
Robinson's Landing, Mouth of Colorado River. Colorado Exploring Expedition. General Report - Plate I. J.J. Young from a photograph by Lieut. Ives. Lith. of Sarony, Major & Knapp, 449 Broadway N.Y.
from davidrumsey.com October 27, 2014. {{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson's Landing Former populated places in Mexicali Municipality, Baja California Communities in the Lower Colorado River Valley Port cities and towns on the Mexican Pacific coast River ports Steamboat transport on the Colorado River Populated places established in 1852 1852 establishments in Mexico

See also

References

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