In 1868, Joseph W. Young wrote, "These Indians were considered about the worst specimens of the race. They lived almost in a state of nudity and were among the worst thieves on the continent. But through the kind, though determined, course pursued towards them by our brethren who have been among them, they are greatly changed for the better, and I believe I may safely say that they are the best workers of all the tribes. They are, nevertheless, Indians, and much wisdom is required to get along with them pleasantly. Brother Andrew Gibbons is worthy of honorable mention, because of the good influence that he maintains over these rude men."
In November, 1870, the Indians were reported "very hostile and saucy." The Chemehuevis and Mohaves were at war. A band of the former, about 100 or more, came into the Muddy Valley. In December a band of Wallapai came for a friendly visit.
Utilization of the Colorado River
The Colorado River drains nearly all the lands of present Mormon settlement, mainly lying betwixt the Rockies and the Sierras. The Colorado, within the United States is reckoned as only inferior to the Mississippi-Missouri and Columbia, with an annual flow sufficient to supply for irrigation needs about 20,000,000 acre feet of water. It has a drainage area of 244,000 square miles and a length of 1700 miles. It is of torrential character, very big indeed in the late spring and early summer and very low most of the remainder of the year. In years, not far distant, there will be storage dams at many points, to hold back the springtime floods from the melting of the snows of the Rockies, and from the river's flow will be generated electric power for the turning of the wheels of the Southwest. All this is in plans made by the League of the Southwest, a body now headed by Governor Campbell of Arizona. But these things are of the future, and it is the past we especially are considering.
Several attempts were made during and prior to the Civil War to make of the Colorado a highway through which Utah, southern Nevada and northern Arizona might have better transportation. The scheme was not a wild one by any means, though handicapped by the difficulties of both the maximum and minimum flows.
Inspector General J.F. Rusling had recommended that military supplies for the forces in Utah be brought in by way of the Colorado River.
Fort Yuma was visited late in 1854 by Lieut. N. Michler, of the
Topographical Engineers, who wrote:
"The belief is entertained and strongly advocated that the Colorado will be the means of supplying the Mormon territory, instead of the great extent of land transportation now used for that purpose.
"Its headquarters approach the large settlements of Utah and may one day become the means of bearing away the products of those pioneers of the far West. With this idea prominent in the minds of speculators, a city on paper, bearing the name of 'Colorado City,' had already been surveyed, the streets and blocks marked out and many of them sold. It is situated on the east bank, opposite Fort Yuma."
From 1858 to about 1882, even after the Santa Fe railroad had reached Needles, there was much traffic on the Colorado. Supplies went by river to the mines, which sent downstream occasional shipments of ore. Military supplies went by water to Fort Mohave or to Ehrenberg, the latter point a depot for Whipple Barracks and other posts. Salt came down stream from the Virgin River mines, for use mainly in the amalgamation processes of the small stamp mills of the period.