El Dorado (side-wheeler)

El Dorado was a 153 ton side-wheel steamship, was ordered by Captain J. W. Wright and built by Thomas Collver, it was originally to be named Caribbean, however she was sold while still on the stocks to Howland & Aspinwall, who were building up a fleet of steamers on the Atlantic Ocean. [1]^:201[2]^:42,43[3]^:133,135 [4]^:336 [5]

Aspinwall Steam Transportation Line

After news of the California Gold Rush was arrived, George W. Aspinwall, of Philadelphia then had Thomas Young in Wilmington, Delaware, have El Dorado rigged as a 3 masted schooner to sail around Cape Horn to San Francisco Bay. Upon reaching San Francisco in February 1850, Aspinwall had Domingo Marcucci take down the masts and rigging to convert it for running as a steamboat on the Sacramento River between San Francisco and Sacramento. The Aspinwall Line had El Dorado running twice weekly on this run against the 326.75 ton Mckim and 755 ton Senator of Simmons, Hutchinson & Company.[6]

By that spring the El Dorado had been switched to the run to Stockton making connections with the Captain Sutter which was put on the run up the San Joaquin River to Grayson City and the Tuolumne River to Tuolumne City with the Georgiana.[7] The steamer Captain Sutter was run daily on this route until June, 1850, when she was sent to run in the Sacramento River above Sacramento.[8]^:85,86

Faced with the mushrooming numbers of steamers appearing on all the rivers, the Aspinwall Steam Transportation Line offered the El Dorado, Captain Sutter, its other steamboats and its other boats and barges for sale from November, 1850.[9]

Later Owners

El Dorado was purchased by June 1851 by the San Francisco Towboat Company run by James Blair formerly manager of the Aspinwall Line in San Francisco. El Dorado and steam tugs Firefly and Redding were used for towing ships in San Francisco Bay, "to the heads at all times or to any part of the bay and harbor."[10]

References

1. T. C. Purdy, Report on Steam Navigation in the United States, Census Reports Tenth Census: Report on the agencies of transportation in the United States, including the statistics of railroads, steam navigation, canals, telegraphs, and telephones, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1883, pp.653-724, Pacific Coast, pp.680-689
2. Jerry MacMullen, Paddlewheel Days In California, Stanford University Press, Stanford, 1970.
3. Erik Heyl, Early American Steamers - Volume 1, Erik Heyl, 1953
4. Charles R. Schultz, Forty-niners 'round the Horn, University of South Carolina, Columbia, 1999
5. Admeasurement, Steam Boat El-Dorado of Philadelphia by Thomas Young, edition published in 1849 in English and held by 1 WorldCat member library worldwide. Admeasurements of Steamboat El Dorado, built in Wilmington, Del. by Thomas Young for Geo. W. Aspinwall, Esq. of Philadelphia. Gives length, breadth, depth, tonnage and rigging details. One sheet signed by Young, ship carpenter; one sheet calculations only, unsigned; and one sheet signed by Jacob B. Vandever, measurer of vessels at the port of Wilmington
6. Daily Alta California, Volume 1, Number 52, 28 February 1850, P.1, Col. 3
7. Daily Alta California, Volume 1, Number 127, 27 May 1850
8. Tinkham, George H., History of San Joaquin County, California: with biographical sketches of leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, California, 1923
9. Daily Alta California, Volume 1, Number 296, 24 November 1850 P.1 Col. 1
10. Daily Alta California, Volume 2, Number 181, 9 June 1851, P1C2 SAN FRANCISCO TOWBOAT COMPANY. Steamer EL DORADO; steam tug FIREFLY, steam tug REDDING. Ship, towed to the heads at all times or to any part of the bay and harbor. Orders left at the office of JAMES BLAIR, Agent, Corner Sacramento and Front sts.