Union Line (Colorado River)

The Union Line was a transport company of steamboats of the Colorado River, owned by Thomas E. Trueworthy, operating in southeastern California, western Arizona Territory, and northwestern Mexico.

It was an opposition steamboat company to the George A. Johnson & Company on the Colorado River from 1864 to 1865. It was the first to use towed barges on the Colorado.

Establishment of the Union Line

Merchants and miners held a protest meeting at La Paz, Arizona on December 1, 1863, fed up with shortages, delayed and slow deliveries of freight to their stores and mines, by Johnson & Company, who owned the Colorado River's only two steamboats. They condemned the Johnson Company as a monopoly, that was trying to drive the miners out in order to gain control of the mines. The meeting voted to send a representative to San Francisco with a petition calling for the establishment of an opposition steamboat line on the Colorado River.

In San Francisco, their representative Samuel "Steamboat" Adams convinced the Chamber of Commerce to endorse an opposition line. Merchants of the city raised $25,000 by subscription, and Adams persuaded Captain Thomas E. Trueworthy, to send the Sacramento River steamboat Esmerelda under Captain Charles C. Overman and the Victoria, a four-masted schooner converted from a barge, to the Colorado River to establish the Union Line there.

Union Line on the Colorado River

The Victoria was to be a store ship at the mouth of the river, but she was soon broken up by the tidal bore soon after it reached the mouth of the river at the Colorado River Delta in March 1864.^[1]

After Overman arrived at the river in March 1864, he built the Black Crook, first tow barge to be used on the Colorado River. From May 1864, its success in delivering large amounts of cargo up river forced the Johnson Company to lower rates, build another steamboat and to add tow barges to his steamboats in 1864.^[1]

Union Line Consolidated

In the summer of 1865, with the steamboats Esmerelda of the Union Line and Nina Tilden of the Philadelphia Silver and Copper Mining Company (the other opposition line to the Johnson Company), was consolidated into the Pacific and Colorado Steam Navigation Company, also headed by Thomas E. Trueworthy, with backing from San Francisco financiers.

References

^ ^a ^b Richard E. Lingenfelter, Steamboats on the Colorado River, 1852–1916, University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 1978. pp. 41, 43–44

[Lingenfelter-1] Richard E. Lingenfelter, Steamboats on the Colorado River, 1852–1916, University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 1978. pp. 41, 43–44

[1]

v t e 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

v t e 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 General Frisbie Georgiana Goliah Hartford Governor Dana Ilwaco Issaquah Jack Hays Klamath (inland steamboat) Ocean Wave Magdalena McKim Mint Monarch New World Pioneer Rabboni Rosalie Sacramento San Rafael SS Senator Sitka Telephone 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
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

Establishment of the Union Line

Union Line on the Colorado River

Union Line Consolidated

See also

References