In a compilation made by Andrew Jenson is found definite statement that the settlement made by Anson Call on the Colorado was "as agent for the Trustee in Trust (the President) of the Church in December, 1864, according to a plan which was conceived of at that time to bring the Church immigration from Europe to Utah via Panama, the Gulf of California and up the river to this landing." In conjunction with this, a number of leading merchants of Salt Lake City combined to build a warehouse on the Colorado, with a view to bringing goods in by the river route. This company also constituted Anson Call its agent. November 1, Call was directed to take a suitable company, locate a road to the Colorado, explore the river, find a suitable place for a warehouse, build it and form a settlement at or near the landing. All these things he accomplished. At St. George he employed Jacob Hamblin and son, Angus M. Cannon and Dr. Jas. M. Whitmore.
The journal of travel tells of leaving the mouth of the Muddy, continuing down the Virgin twelve miles, thence up what was named Echo Wash, twelve miles, and thence twenty miles, generally southwestward, to the Colorado, a mile below the narrows, above the mouth of Black Canyon, where, on December 2, was found a black rocky point, considered a suitable spot for the erection of a warehouse, above high-water mark. This later was named Callville.
With the exception of a small bottom around the warehouse site, the country was considered most barren and uninviting. Two and a half miles down the river was the mouth of Las Vegas Wash, up which Call and party traveled to old Fort Vegas, where a half-dozen men were found established. In the company's journeyings, El Dorado Canyon was found occupied by miners and there were some adventurers on Cottonwood Island, a tract of bottom land nearby. The expedition was ferried across the Colorado to Hardy's Landing, 337 miles above Yuma. Hardy had a rather extensive establishment, with a store, warehouse, hotel, blacksmith shop, carpenter shop and several dwelling houses. Possibly notable was the launching at that time of the barge "Arizona," fifty feet long and ten feet wide, sharp at both ends and flat-bottomed.
By river there was a visit to Fort Mohave. This, garrisoned by forty soldiers of the California Column, was of log and willow houses, the latter wattled and daubed with mud. There was reference by Call to the Colorado River mosquito, described as "very large."
Returning to Call's Landing, there were measured off forty lots, each 100 feet square, and a start was made by leaving Thomas Davids and Lyman Hamblin, on December 18, to dig the foundation of the warehouse.
This expedition made a preliminary survey of the Muddy and declared settlement upon the stream entirely feasible.
Wm. H. Hardy of Hardyville, or Hardy's Landing, was not at home when Anson Call visited in December, but returned soon thereafter and, January 2, 1865, started northward with his new barge, propelled by poles and oars and a sail. A distance of 150 miles by river was made in twelve days. Though later some jealousy was expressed over the activities at Callville, Hardy proffered all possible assistance and expressed belief that from July to November steamers could ply from the mouth of the Colorado to Call's Landing. The warehouse was built, but appears to have been little used. Capt. Geo. A. Johnston had submitted the Church authorities formal proposals to ship direct from New York to the mouth of the river, in barques of about 600 tons burden, preferably arriving at the river mouth in the fall. The cost of freight from New York to the river mouth was set at $16 a ton, and the cost to El Dorado Canyon at $65, but, figuring currency at 50 cents, the freight was estimated to cost $7.16 per 100 pounds in currency.
In March, 1865, Capt. Thos. E. Trueworthy, told of opposition at Hardy's Landing to the establishment of Callville. He had started for Call's Landing with 100 tons of freight, including 35,000 feet of lumber, to find that Call had returned to Utah. Trueworthy left his boat and cargo below Callville and went on to Salt Lake. He stated the trip from the mouth to Call's Landing would take a boat a month, there being difficulty in passing rapids and in finding wood for fuel.
Historian B.H. Roberts states:
"There was shipment of some goods from that point, though at first there were some disappointments and dissatisfaction among the Salt Lake merchants who patronized the route. Two steamboats, the Esmeralda and Nina Tilden made the trip somewhat regularly from the mouth of the Colorado to Call's Landing, connecting with steamships plying between the mouth of the Colorado and San Francisco. The owners of the river boats carried a standing advertisement in the Salt Lake Telegraph, thus seeking trade, up to December 1, 1866. Doubtless the certainty of the early completion of the transcontinental railroad from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean stopped the development of this southwest route for immigration and freight, via Utah's southern settlements and the Colorado River."