Frontier Highway

Long before rails were laid across the Mojave Desert and legendary Route 66 became the gateway to the wonders of the southwest desert, the Colorado River served as the artery of commerce in the Southwest. The river carried people and freight, and served as a lifeline for remote mining camps, ranches and military outposts.

Steamboats navigating up from the mouth of the Colorado River on the Gulf of California, pushed against swift currents, sandbars, and untamed waters. From the 1850s until completion of the railroad bridges spanning the river these were the backbones of frontier development in northwestern Arizona and the eastern Mojave Desert.

The first steamboat, Uncle Sam, launched in 1852, demonstrated what was possible. The 65-foot side-wheeler hauled supplies that would otherwise have taken weeks long grueling, expensive overland treks.

Throughout the 1850s and 1860s the number of steamers plying the river exploded exponentially. At times river traffic congestion challenged the capacity of river ports.

The Cocopah, launched in 1859, was among the most powerful of these early boats. At 140 feet long and with a shallow draft perfect for the river’s ever-shifting channels, she could carry up to 100 tons of cargo upriver against strong currents and low water seasons.

The steamboat era on the Colorado River transformed frontier logistics. Before the railroad crossed the desert these boats were the cheapest, fastest way to move freight from mining equipment, building supplies, food, livestock, mail, ore, and even passengers hundreds of miles inland. They connected the estuary with river ports that were linked to the territorial capital in Prescott and other remote communities.

Navigation of the ever-changing river was challenging. Innovation allowed boats to travel further north past obstacles such as Black Canyon’s Ringbolt Rapids and the nearby Roaring Rapids. At Ringbolt Rapids, boat crews drilled iron ring bolts into the sheer canyon walls, looping heavy cables through them so paddle steamers could winch themselves upriver against the surging water. It was a gritty combination of human and engine power that epitomized frontier ingenuity.

River ports scattered along the river became bustling hubs of commerce and exchange. Ehrenberg, founded in the 1860s along the river’s banks in western Arizona, quickly became a key stopping point for both steamboats and travelers heading inland.

Ehrenberg and Colorado River ports provided many immigrants with unprecedented opportunities. Shortly after arriving in America, and after several failed business enterprises in California, the family of Senator Barry Goldwater partnered with a Los Angeles doctor, Wilson W. Jones. They established a store and freight company in Gila City twenty miles upriver from Yuma.

One of the Goldwater brothers, Michael, became a citizen of the United States on July 29, 1861. Shortly afterwards he accepted an offer from Bernard Cohn, a member of the Los Angeles City Council, and became manager of a store in La Paz, another river port.

One of the Goldwater’s’ brother’s friends was engineer and map-maker Herman Ehrenberg. On a freight run from the river to Prescott, the body of Ehrenberg was discovered along the tail. In his honor the Goldwater’s named a new Colorado river port Ehrenberg and opened a store there. For a short time, Joe Goldwater served as the town’s postmaster.

Early steamboat captains supported Ehrenberg growth, and it soon eclipsed older landings like La Paz. Further up the river, Hardyville was established in 1864 by William Harrison Hardy as a steamboat landing.  

Hardyville, near present day Bullhead City, quickly became a thriving frontier outpost with a warehouse, ferry service, and later, the first post office in the region. It also served as the Mohave County seat from 1867 to 1872 and was a nexus for cargo heading into the Cerbat Mountains mining districts and beyond.

Polhamus Landing, just a few miles upriver, would later compete with Hardyville by offering miners a closer freight point. This is an example of how dynamic and competitive frontier river traffic could be.

These river ports weren’t just places to unload goods. Many served as early county seats, serving administrative and logistical roles long before more permanent inland towns rose.

Railroads eventually pushed farther into Arizona and Nevada in the 1880s and blunted the dominance of river transport. Still, the Colorado River’s role as a frontier highway persisted for decades. Even after railroads reached Yuma in 1877 and Needles, California in the early 1880s, steamboats continued to work sections of the river well into the early 20th century, especially where railroads hadn’t yet reached.

The river, however, is only half the story. Once goods and people landed at river ports, they had to get upriver or into the interior. The construction of wagon roads and establishment of freight companies provided ambitious entrepreneurs with fresh opportunities.

In 1865, the Ehrenberg Road was cut from the river landing northeast toward Camp Date Creek, Skull Valley, and the American Ranch Stage Station, where it joined a toll road onward toward Prescott and Fort Whipple. At the time this was the Arizona territorial capital and a key military post.

Parallel to this, the road from Hardyville to Prescott, often referenced as the Hardyville Toll Road or the Mojave-Prescott Road was built. Constructed in the mid-1860s, this route funneled freight wagons, stagecoaches, and prospectors into the interior of the territory.

These roads used to transport ore from remote mines to river ports for shipment fueled the growth of mining camps in the Cerbat, Music, and Peacock Mountains. In every definition of the word, they were frontier highways.

To protect these vital arteries of commerce military posts like Fort Mohave were established on the river. Other military outposts were established along the important roads at Beale Springs, Willow Grove and other key locations. From these outposts, soldiers guided wagons, protected mail routes, and provided a sense of stability that encouraged settlement and commerce.

In the story of the American Southwest, the Colorado River was more than an important source of water for agriculture and river ports. This river shaped the economic life of an entire region. And it nurtured mining booms, and the establishment of ranching communities. In the tapestry of frontier history, the Colorado River was a transformative thread in the history of the southwest.

You can learn more about the Colorado River Valley through blogs on The River 250 website, and at Jim Hinckley’s America.