In the course of his missionary endeavor, in the spring of 1858, Hamblin
took five men and went by way of Las Vegas Springs to the Colorado River,
at the foot of the Cottonwood Hills, 170 miles from the Santa Clara,
Utah, settlement. Upon this trip he had remarkable experiences. On the
river he saw a small steamer. Men with animals were making their way
upstream on the opposite side. Thales Haskell, sent to investigate,
returned next morning with information that the steamer company was of
military character and very hostile to the Mormons, that the expedition
had been sent out by the Government to examine the river and learn if a
force could not be taken through southern Utah in that direction, should
it be needed, to subjugate the Mormons. Hamblin returned to Las Vegas
Springs and thought the situation so grave that he counseled abandonment
of the Mormon settlement then being made at that point.
This record is very interesting in view of contemporary history. Without
doubt, the steamboat he saw was the little "Explorer," of the
topographical exploration of the Colorado River in the winter of 1857-8.
Commanding was Lieut. J.C. Ives of the army Topographical Corps, the
same officer who had been in the engineering section of Whipple's railway
survey along the 35th parallel. The craft was built in the east and put
together at the mouth of the river. The journey upstream was at a low
stage of water and there was continual trouble with snags and sandy
bars. Finally, when Black Canyon had been reached, the "Explorer" ran
upon a sunken rock, the boiler was torn loose, as well as the wheelhouse,
and the river voyage had to be abandoned, though Ives and two men rowed
up the stream as far as Vegas Wash.
The steamboat was floated back to Yuma, but Ives started eastward with a
pack train, guided by the Mohave chief, Iritaba, taking the same route
that had been pursued many years before by Friar Garces through the Hava
Supai and Hopi country.
It is to be regretted that Hamblin did not go on board the "Explorer,"
where no doubt he would have received cordial welcome. Even at that time,
Brigham Young undoubtedly would have been pleased to have helped in
forwarding the opening of a route to the southwestern coast by way of the
Colorado River.
Incidentally, the steamer had a trip that was valuable mainly in the
excellent mapping that was done by Ives and his engineers. Captain
Johnston and the steamer "Colorado" had been over the same stretch of
river before the "Explorer" came and had served to ferry across the
stream, about where Fort Mohave later stood, the famous camel party of
Lieutenant Beale.