Evolution of Shipping and Ship-Building in California, Part I [pp. 5-16]

1895.] Ev,olition of S/tiipplZg,- zd'i/i.-/ li/Z'lgl if Cali/oriiz,.
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I TIH LASr ANC[IORA(;E OF 0TIF TrROPIC lIRI).
ers for the Colorado River. In the early
part of 1852 1 built a sloop called "Bianca" for the Sacramento trade. Captain Win. Kohl and myself owned her.
She was 70 feet long, I8 feet beam and
6 feet deep; she was put in command of
Captain John Hutton. About June,
I852, I built a small side-wheel steamer
for a man by the name of Turnbol, and
shipped her to the Colorado River; she
was the pioneer boat on that river, and
was called "Uncle Sam." I think Mr.
Turnhbol had a Government contract to
take freight lup the Colorado River. I
inever saw him again, so I never knew
how successful he was with the steamer.
In the early part of I853 I built a
ste-rn-wheel steamer called the " I'ke,"
tor Captain E. J. Weeks; she was built
and launched in twenty-eight days from
the time the contract was signed. When
launched, she wvas taken alongside of
Gordon & Stein's machine shop, where
XV. T. Garr-att's brass shop is now, at
the corner of Fremont and Natoma
streets, where her machinery and boiler
were put in her by the above named
firm. As soon as I launched the "Pike"
I laid the keel on the same blocks for
the first ferry boat built in San Francisco. I built her for Mr. Charles Minturn; she was a side-wheel, walking
beam, low-pressure engine, I20 feet long,
24 feet beam,and 7 feet deep. I launched
her in sixty days from the day her keel
was laid. She was named "Clinton."
Mr. George Coffee put up her machinery. At the same time I built a small
schooner-" Louisa Harker "-for the
Alviso trade, for John Ortley, who now
lives in Alviso and is running a warehouse. The same year I put up a dredge
for Mr. Charles Minturn; the same machine is still in use at Stockton. In I854
I built a schooner for myself and others,
for the Stockton freighting business,the "Kate LI. Heron. She was 6o feet
long, I8 feet beam, and 5 6-I2feet deep.
It was about this time that Mr. John G.
North built a schooner at Steamboat
Point, called the "Susan and Kate Denin." 1 Also, one built at the same time
alongside of the schooner "Theodore
1 See article l)y Captain No-th.
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