April
24 - 26, 2004
Photography by Bernie, John & Colleen
Text adapted from
Glenn Paddon's Trip Report
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The boaters for this adventure
were: Bernie (N6FN), Stan (W9FQN), John Lee (KT6E), Glenn Paddon (KE6ZLY),
Colleen and
Al Donlevy (W6GNI).
Trip Organizers: Bernie & Glenn
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| A Journey
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History |
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Romance and |
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Steamboats |
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Loading
our boats and other gear onto the jet boat. |
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Rivers have always been a source
of romance and adventure and the Colorado river is no exception.
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We
started our trip at Fishers Landing (Castle Dome Landing.) We
loaded our canoes and kayaks aboard our steamboat, (a boat with two 454 cu
inch V8 engines) and climbed aboard; so jump on the boat and go with us as
we take our adventure up and back down the Colorado River.
Fisher's
Landing is in the same location where the early day town of
Castle Dome Landing was established. Castle Dome Landing's post office was
established December 17,1875 and discontinued June 16, 1884. Castle
Dome Landing was the supply and shipping depot for mines in the
nearby Castle Dome Mountains. It was the first stop for the
steamboats on their way up the Colorado River. A small but active town,
Castle Dome Landing had a store, hotel, saloon, stage agency, smelting
furnace, and a justice of the peace. As the mines played out there
was no longer a need for a supply town. Today the site is covered by
water after the building of the Imperial Dam. |
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Our
Steamboat pilot was Ron, the owner of Yuma River Tours and as we went up
river he told us some of the River's history and stories of the
people who lived along the river during the days of the Steamboats.
It took us about one hour to go the 31 miles to the sand bar where we and
our water crafts were dropped off near the abandoned mining town of Clip.
The
town of Clip was located on the Arizona side of the river and was a
shipping point for the silver mine of the same name. The town had a
population of about 200 hearty souls. The post office was
established on Feb 6, 1884 and only lasted four years. The town also
had a general store. The silver mine produced more than a
million $ by 1887. |
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Unloading our gear
31 miles up river. |
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After
we waved good-by to our pilot Ron we loaded our two canoes and two kayaks
and started paddling down the mighty Colorado River.
John,
KT6E and myself, Glenn, KE6ZLY, in my canoe. Bernie, N6FM, and Al,
W6GNI, in Stan's canoe. Stan, W9FQN, was in his own kayak he had just
finished building and was on it's maiden voyage and Colleen was paddling
her own kayak. |
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Stan
& Colleen getting ready to launch |
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John
and Glenn paddling down river |
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After
leaving our sand bar our next stop was Draper Ranch on the California
side of the river. Mr Draper raised hogs and made smoked
sausages from the hogs and the wild
burrows. He sold them to the people on the steamboats and miners along the river. All that is left of
his ranch is his smokehouse and some interesting relics of the past.
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Draper smokehouse &
local characters |
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Our
next stop was some petroglyphs near the river just up from Lighthouse
Rock. We had a GPS waypoint for this but still had a little
trouble finding them. There were several sets of petroglyphs
telling the stories of the Native Americans who lived along the river.
The
one I liked best was one with three circles like a target. The
first circle was what you were born with, the second telling what you did
with what you were born with, the third telling what you ended up
with in life. |
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One of many petroglyphs |
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Stan
getting into the kayak he built |
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Our last stop for the day was Adobe Lake and at the end of the lake was Norton's Landing our camping spot for the night.
Norton's Landing, is a historic steamboat site that was once a thriving mining
town for shipping ore from the Red Cloud Mine.
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Al in front, and Stan up ahead |
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Norton's
Landing is now owned by Yuma River Tours and has been restored to look like
a rustic old mining ghost town. There are old wagons and parts of
wagons and old mining equipment and lots of old tools everywhere. There were piles of ore here and there.
It
was just like a museum.
It sure was a fun place to camp. There
were
NO TRESPASSING signs all over but we were invited by Ron,
the owner of Yuma River Tours to spend the night there, and
we were glad we got into camp early so we had plenty of time to
look the place over.
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Norton
Landing resident miner |
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We had the camp to ourselves and so
it
was very peaceful. The only sounds were the wild burrows and the
bull frogs. There were so many bull frogs telling us their story
at
the same time it sounded like a truck going by in the distance. |
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View from Norton's Landing
Campsite |
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The
next morning, Sunday, we were on the water around 8:00am and
we had all day to go 16 miles and it was a beautiful day.
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Bernie & Al
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Glenn
and his bent over 2 meter antenna |
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Colleen and her kayak |
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We
checked out a couple of different areas at Picacho State Park - a popular
boater camping spot.
In
the period of the steamboats Picacho was a very active mining area
and the town of Picacho was one of the important stops for the
Steamboats.
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Picacho State Park Camping
Ramada |
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After
leaving Picacho we stopped briefly at Island Lake and on
down the river a short distance to the Watchman's Cabin at the
Eureka mine.
We had a GPS waypoint for the cabin so we
went
right to it. It was very interesting with a lot of mining relics.
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Eureka Mine Watchman's Cabin |
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Golden Dream Mine Equipment |
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Inside
the Watchman's Cabin |
Our
next stop was the Golden Dream mine and some petroglyphs near
by. The petroglyphs are easy to find if you know where to to
look but if you don't know where to look you will go right
by
and never see them, as you have to look out over the bank to
see
them. The Golden Dream Mine is very interesting. There
is
an old ball mill, some old trucks and the remains of an old
separating table
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At Golden Dream Mine |
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The
last seven or so miles from the mining areas we visited, to our
termination point at Fisher's Landing were uneventful but very beautiful.
After
returning home from this river trip my thoughts keep going back
to the river and reliving those early day adventures along the
Colorado River in the late 19th and early 20th century.
Camping
at Norton's Landing helped my imagination to really get in gear.
As I went off to sleep in the stillness of the night I could hear
the wagons thundering down the wash carrying silver ore from
the mine to Norton's Landing. Of course, the thundering wagons
were really the bull frogs.
Report
By:
Glenn Paddon - KE6ZLY
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