Alfred Henry Wilcox facts for kids

Alfred Henry Wilcox (1823-1883) was a brave sea captain who later became a very important person in the history of the Colorado River. He was a pioneer in using steamboats and steamships to transport goods and people. He was also a successful businessman, a partner in companies like the George A. Johnson & Company and the Colorado Steam Navigation Company, and even a banker.

Early Life and Sea Adventures

Alfred Henry Wilcox was born in 1823 in a place called Chatham, which is now East Hampton, Connecticut. He became a sea captain, working with the government's hydrographic service, which studies and maps water bodies.

Sailing to California

In 1848, Captain Wilcox sailed his ship all the way around Cape Horn (the southern tip of South America) to reach California. His ship carried California's very first lighthouse!

A year later, in 1849, he took command of a 120-ton schooner named the Invincible. He carried U.S. Army engineers to San Diego. Their goal was to change the path of the San Diego River so it would flow into False Bay (now called Mission Bay) instead of San Diego Bay. After this mission, he was ordered to take important supplies up the river to Sacramento for people who were struggling on the wagon trails to California.

Supplying Fort Yuma

On November 1, 1850, Captain Wilcox and his ship, the Invincible, were given a very important job. They had to deliver 10,000 food rations to a remote army post called Fort Yuma on the Colorado River. This fort was usually supplied by land from San Diego, which was very difficult and expensive. The army wanted to see if supplies could be brought by ship up the Colorado River from the Gulf of California.

Captain Wilcox, with his 12-person crew, sailed the Invincible to the mouth of the Colorado River, arriving on December 25. Sailing up the river was very hard because the ship needed 8 feet of water, and the river was often too shallow, especially when the tide went out.

On January 3, 1850, about 30 miles upriver, Captain Wilcox had to stop because the water was too shallow for his ship to pass. Local Cocopah people helped by carrying a message to Fort Yuma about the ship's arrival. After waiting for days, arrangements were finally made to unload the supplies onto wagons from the fort. The Invincible then returned to San Francisco.

Building a Steamboat Business

Captain Wilcox learned a lot from this difficult trip. In late 1852, he teamed up with George Alonzo Johnson and Benjamin M. Hartshorne to form the George A. Johnson & Company. They won the next contract to supply Fort Yuma.

This time, they decided to use a steamboat. They brought the parts of a powerful side-wheel steamboat called the General Jesup from San Francisco to the mouth of the Colorado River. There, they put it together. On January 18, 1854, the General Jesup successfully reached Fort Yuma! This new boat could carry 50 tons of cargo and made round trips to the fort in only four or five days. This cut the cost of shipping supplies from $500 per ton by land to just $75 per ton by river.

As mining boomed along the Colorado River and in Arizona Territory from 1861 to 1864, Captain Wilcox's steamboat company became very profitable, and he became quite wealthy. In 1863, he married Maria Antonia Arguello and moved to a new house near San Diego Bay. He and his wife had three children. Captain Wilcox also loved sailing and had his own yacht, the Restless.

Later Life and New Ventures

In 1867, the George A. Johnson and Company grew even bigger. They brought in more partners and created the California Steam Navigation Company. This new company included a steamship line that connected San Francisco with their steamboats at their port at Port Isabel, Sonora, at the mouth of the Colorado River. This greatly increased the company's earnings.

That same year, Captain Wilcox bought a large ranch called Rancho Santa Ysabel. He eventually had the largest sheep herd in San Diego County. When the Julian Gold Rush started near his ranch, Wilcox helped finance a new, shorter toll road to the gold fields in 1872. This road made it easier to bring heavy mining equipment to the mines. Wilcox also helped start the Commercial Bank of San Diego and became its president.

In 1877, as the railroad reached the Colorado River, Captain Wilcox and his partners sold their share of the Colorado Steam Navigation Company to the Southern Pacific Railroad. However, Wilcox and some partners kept one steamship, the SS Newbern, and formed the California & Mexican Steamship Line. They continued to run a profitable shipping business along the coast between San Francisco and ports in Mexico like La Paz, Mazatlán, and Guaymas.

In 1879, Captain Wilcox moved from San Diego to San Francisco. He passed away on August 15, 1883, after suffering from several illnesses.