Polhamus Landing, or Welton & Grounds Landing, was a

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 ...

landing in

Mohave County Mohave County occupies the northwestern corner of the U.S. state of Arizona, one of 15 counties in the state. As of the 2020 census, its population was 213,267. The county seat is Kingman, and the largest city is Lake Havasu City. It is th ...

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

, United States during 1881 and 1882.

History

By June 1881, Captain Issac Polhamus, superintendent of the Colorado Steam Navigation Company and two partners, Welton & Grounds, merchants from the booming mining camp of Mineral Park, established a new landing five miles up river from Hardyville. It had a large warehouse and other buildings, on land cut from a hill next to the river. They had also constructed a road from their landing that avoided a bad section of the road from Hardyville to Mineral Park and Cerbat and saved five miles on the route. Subsequently freighting to Hardyville dropped drastically, while freight landing at Polhamus Landing rose dramatically. Articles of The Arizona Sentinel, mention freight shipments sent to the two rival locations during the next year: * 9/09/1881 Hardyville 2,794 lbs; Polhamus Landing, 98,619 lbs * 6/10/1882 Hardyville, 880 lbs; Polhamus Landing, 22,834 lbs Mention of Polhamus Landing does not occur in The Arizona Sentinel after June 1882, indicating that both landings were supplanted by the just constructed Kingman railhead of the advancing

Atlantic and Pacific Railroad The Atlantic and Pacific Railroad was an American railroad that owned or operated two individual segments of track. One connected St. Louis, Missouri, with Tulsa, Oklahoma, and the other connected Albuquerque, New Mexico, with Needles in Southe ...

that would by May 1883 have advanced to bridge the Colorado River at

Eastbridge Eastbridge is a village in the English county of Suffolk. It is located approximately north of Leiston, from the North Sea in the parish of Theberton, immediately south of the Minsmere RSPB reserve. It borders the Minsmere River which cuts t ...

station, and link up with the

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Railroad classes#Class I, Class I Rail transport, railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was oper ...

advancing eastward to meet it at Needles.Richard E. Lingenfelter, Steamboats on the Colorado River, 1852–1916, University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 1978
/ref> Map of the 5th Operating Division of the Western Division, Atlantic & Pacific R.R., From Peach Springs to Needles. W.A. Drake, Acting Chief Engineer. Drawing No. J-2-902.
from davidrumsey.com accessed July 20, 2015. This map was one of a set of six hand-drawn maps made in 1882 on semi-transparent waxed linen with some color, illustrating the route Lewis Kingman surveyed from Albuquerque to Needles. It was intended to be printed but never was, due possibly to the chronic problems with the bridge at Eastbridge. The Arizona Sentinel of November 17, 1883 announced the firm of Welton & Grounds had been dissolved, becoming Welton & Beecher.

References

{{Mohave County, Arizona Ghost towns in Arizona Former populated places in Mohave County, Arizona 1881 establishments in Arizona Territory Populated places established in 1881