James Turnbull (steamboat captain)

James Turnbull was the first steamboat captain on the Colorado River. His voyages supplying the Army at Fort Yuma demonstrated that the river was navigable by steamboats.

After obtaining a contract to supply the fort, James Turnbull sailed with supplies and the disassembled Uncle Sam, a 65-foot long side-wheel paddle steamer tug, to the Colorado River Delta, in the schooner Capacity. There he had the vessel re-assembled at a landing in the delta in two months. Turnbull then successfully brought supplies up the Colorado River 120 miles in 15 days from the Colorado River Delta to Fort Yuma, where he arrived December 3, 1852. He then took some passengers from the fort up the river for a few miles as a celebration of the success before returning to bring up more supplies.^[1]

Equipped with only a 20 horsepower engine, the Uncle Sam could only carry 35 tons of supplies, It made trips for four more months up and down the river to finish carrying the supplies from the Capacity to the fort reducing its time for a round trip to 12 days. Negligence caused it to sink at its dock below Fort Yuma, and was then washed away before it could be raised, in the spring flood of May 1853. Turnbull who meanwhile had returned to the Delta from San Francisco with another cargo and a more powerful engine for the Uncle Sam. Finding it lost he returned for a new hull, while the army sent wagons to recover the cargo from the delta. However Turnbull disappeared from San Francisco, leaving creditors unpaid. Turnbull later turned up in Mazatlan, Mexico, where he ran a small steamboat for many years and attempted to promote the building of a canal. However Turnbull had shown the worth of steamboats to solve Fort Yuma's supply problem and to successfully navigate the Colorado River, an example that was soon followed by George Alonzo Johnson.^[2]

References

↑ Richard E. Lingenfelter, Steamboats on the Colorado River, 1852-1916, University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 1978, pp.10-11
↑ Lingenfelter, Steamboats, pp.11

Steamboats of the Colorado River

Particular vessels	Cochan Cocopah I Cocopah II Colorado I Colorado II Esmerelda Explorer General Jesup General Rosales Gila Mohave I Mohave II Nina Tilden Retta Searchlight St. Vallier San Jorge Uncle Sam

Steamboat Lines	California Development Company Colorado Steam Navigation Company George A. Johnson & Company Gulf of California Steamship Company Green, Grand & Colorado River Navigation Company Mexican-Colorado Navigation Company Pacific & Colorado Steam Navigation Company Philadelphia Silver and Copper Mining Company Stacy Brothers Union Line U.S. Reclamation Service

Water routes	Colorado River

Steamboat owners and captains	James Turnbull George Alonzo Johnson David C. Robinson Isaac Polhamus Thomas E. Trueworthy John Alexander Mellon

Builders	Austin Hills Domingo Marcucci John G. North Henry Owens Patrick Henry Tiernan

Shipyards	Port Isabel, Sonora Yuma, Arizona Territory

List of vessels	List of Steamboats on the Colorado River

Steamboats in other areas	Steamboats of California

Steamboats of California

Particular vessels	Annie Abernathy Antelope Aquilo (yacht) City of Sacramento Bayocean Black Hawk Capital Captain Sutter Chrysopolis City of Seattle Delta King Delta Queen Eureka El Dorado El Primero George E. Starr Georgiana Goliah Hartford Governor Dana Issaquah Jack Hays Klamath (inland steamboat) Ocean Wave Magdalena McKim Mint Monarch New World Pioneer Rabboni Rosalie Sacramento San Rafael SS Senator Sitka Wallamet Washington Washoe Wilson G. Hunt Yosemite

Ferries of San Francisco Bay	Clinton Contra Costa Oakland Piedmont Solano Thoroughfare Transit Ukiah

Steamboat Lines	Aspinwall Steam Transportation Line California Steam Navigation Company Contra Costa Steam Navigation Company George A. Johnson & Company Pacific Mail Steamship Company Simmons, Hutchinson & Company

Water routes	California Coast Colorado River San Francisco Bay Sacramento River San Joaquin River

Steamboat owners and captains	Joseph Barnard Benjamin M. Hartshorne George A. Johnson William Leidesdorff Charles Minturn James Turnbull Issac Warren

Builders	Domingo Marcucci John G. North Henry Owens Austin Hills Patrick Henry Tiernan

Shipyards	Hunters Point North's Shipyard Potrero Point Rincon Point Steamboat Point Sutter Iron Works Tichenor's Ways Union Iron Works Yerba Buena Cove

Lists of vessels	List of Steamboats on the Colorado River List of Steamboats and Steam Ferries on San Francisco Bay List of Steamboats on the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers and their tributaries

Steamboats in other areas	Columbia River Willamette River Oregon Coast Yaquina Bay and river Coquille River Cowlitz River Puget Sound Lake Washington Grays Harbor Chehalis River Hoquiam River Willapa Bay Columbia River (Wenatchee Reach) Lake Crescent Arrow Lakes Upper Fraser River Skeena River

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