Delta Towns

DELTA HISTORY – The Beginning

Indians had lived in the historic California Delta for centuries when the Spaniards first found it in 1772. The region was heavy from spring rains and from their view atop Mount Diablo they thought it to be a huge inland lake. French trappers arrived in 1832, and mountain men like Jedidiah Smith trekked its high ground. But it was the discovery of gold on the American River in Coloma in 1848 that hastened the reclamation and settlement of the Delta. Starting in ’49, paddlewheeler steamboats brought Argonauts to the fledgling waterfront towns of Sacramento and Stockton, who then went overland to the mines. The California Gold Rush was on. History was in the making.

History records that some men disillusioned by their unsuccessful quest for gold, saw gold of another sort if the rich swamplands of the California Delta could be protected from inundation. The first crude levees were built by hand in the early 1850s, but most of them held for no more than a season or two. In the 1870s, the clamshell dredge was developed. It could take solid bottom mud (“slickens”) from the waterway bottoms and deposit it ashore to construct levees of some substance. The California Delta’s reclamation pace soon quickened and by the 1930s it was considered complete. Over 550,000 acres on some 55 man-made islands had been brought to the plow. (But alas, there was no moment in history in which they stopped and looked back at the project and declared, “Boys, reclamation of the Delta is now declared complete.”)

Steamboat service between Sacramento, Stockton and San Francisco was convenient and comfortable in that time in history. At one time or another, over 300 paddlewheeler steamboats sloshed their way through Delta waters. During the wet season, it was possible to steam up the San Joaquin River to as far as the outskirts of Fresno, and up the Sacramento River to above Red Bluff. Paddlewheeler pilots would take shortcuts across flooded islands, in what they referred to as “wheatfield navigation.”

The Transcontinental Railroad made history when it was completed in 1869 (the actual final link was the completion of a railroad drawbridge at Mossdale), freeing a work force of some 12,000 persons. Many of them were Chinese who settled in the California Delta to help with levee construction, farming, cannery work, and other chores. Their contribution was great and they left an indelible mark on the history of the California Delta. Chinatowns became an established part of most every river town and city in this area.

By the 1920s, the automobile had arrived. There was a flurry of ferry construction (in one swoop, San Joaquin County installed 18 cable drawn ferries) and bridge-building. Although there had long been ferries in the Delta to take folks on foot or horseback, and horse-drawn wagons and buggies across the waterways, the ferries now also had to be constructed to handle automobiles and trucks. The horse-drawn buggies and wagons were fast being relegated to history. The Lauritzen brothers established what had to be the most exciting of the ferries when they established ferry service from Antioch to Sherman Island. After only a few years, their ferry was replaced by the first Antioch Bridge, a giant lift bridge that in its up position could clear the Stockton bound freighters.

The railroads, which had proven to be tough competition for the steamboats, by the 1930s were finding formidable competition from the refrigerated trucks that could haul Delta produce more conveniently and for less money. By the 1930s, steamboat activity in the Delta was about finished — two of the last of the historic breed, the handsome Stockton built Delta King and Delta Queen (launched in 1927) sternwheelers were taken out of regular service just prior to WWII. The Delta King serves as an elegant restaurant and inn at Old Sacramento, while the Delta Queen sloshes along quite ably in the Mississippi River system.

Fishing and boating had always been a favored pastime for Deltaphiles. After WWII, Californians began to discover the Delta’s recreational possibilities. The regular waterway dredging for levee maintenance, also deepened the waterways, making it possible for deep-draft cruisers to explore the off-beat waterways of the Delta sloughs, rivers and channels. The Stockton Deepwater Channel was completed in 1933, and since then freighters from around the world have been calling on the Port of Stockton. The dug Sacramento Ship Channel was completed in 1963, firmly establishing the Port of Sacramento (located in West Sacramento) in the shipping business. Channels for both of these ports have been further deepened so the ports could handle larger ships.

Pioneers in the California Delta recreation business who made their mark in the history books and still have second- and third-generation family members toiling in the Delta today include Korth’s Pirates Lair, Perry’s Boat Harbor, Vieira’s Resort, and the Andronico family at Frank’s Marina on Bethel Island. Another pioneer family, Bruno Giovannoni (of Bruno’s Yacht Harbor on Andrus Island) has a grandson today who is a windsurfing aficionado and part owner in Windcraft on Sherman Island, and he sells Delta real estate. Vestiges of the California Delta’s vibrant history are not difficult to find today. Museums, large and small are found here and there. Five ferries still exist and may be ridden on free. Drawbridges 50 to 100 years old still function. Beautiful old homes, carefully restored, can be viewed, especially along the Sacramento River.

The Lauritzens — Delta Pioneers.

Lauritzen Yacht Harbor, located in Antioch on the south side of the San Joaquin River downstream of the Antioch Bridge, just celebrated its 40th birthday in 1999. But the Lauritzen family has deep roots in boating in the Delta and the marina is owned and operated by third-generation family members, brother and sister Margaret Lauritzen-Lane and Christian (Chris) Lauritzen III.

In earlier times the Lauritzen Transportation Co. ran a fleet of passenger boats on regular schedules picking up passengers at landings throughout the Delta region. They helped tame the Delta. When the new-fangled automobile became prolific, Lauritzens helped make the Delta accessible by operating a car ferry between Antioch and Sherman Island. The ferry service thrived until in 1926 when it was replaced by the first Antioch Bridge, a lift-type drawbridge. Lauritzens went on to operate tugboats, barges, cranes and other heavy equipment on the river. In fact it was a Lauritzen tugboat that towed the purloined paddlewheeler Delta King from Stockton to Sacramento back in 1969, with Chris II at the wheel and Chris III onboard as a roustabout.

Chris has long been a volunteer reserve member of the Contra Costa Sheriff Water Patrol, and a strong advocate of boating safety. The marina Website, www.lauritzens.com, is heavy with useful information on boating, including the best weather information of any site in the Delta.The marina has open and covered berthing, dry-boat storage, pumpout, launching, fuel (regular and premium), and other facilities. They open early in the morning here to accommodate anglers going out after the big ones.

Delta Farmer Sonny Welser & His B-25 Bomber

The other night I watched the movie “Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo” about General Jimmy Doolittle (then a Lt. Colonel) and his men’s daring Apr. 18, 1942 bombing run over Tokyo and other Japanese cities during WWII. They flew sixteen “Mitchell” B-25B bombers off the aircraft carrier Hornet. Fifteen Mitchells ran out of fuel and crashed; one diverted to a safe landing at Vladivostok in the Soviet Union. The movie made me think about the Delta.

First, General Jimmy Doolittle was one of many honored guests over the years at Barron Hilton’s duck club on Venice Island. He enjoyed duck hunting and other activities here.

Second, I remember sitting at the bar at the old Delta Tavern in the hamlet of Holt when farmer Sonny Welser announced he was purchasing a B-25 bomber and having it flown in and parked next to the clubhouse he maintained on his Roberts Island ranch for the Holt Marching and Chowder Society.

This was an invitation-only men’s club. They had great feeds with only the finest foods. They had some high-stakes poker games I am told. They drank a lot of whiskey. I don’t think they ever marched. Sonny liked to declare that they were always available to march in parades in Holt. Holt never had any parades.

I figured the impending bomber purchase was just bar talk. But Sonny built a landing strip out on his ranch, and I expect that it was longer than the deck of an aircraft carrier.

One day at the Delta Tavern bar, Sonny announced the B-25 bomber was arriving the next day. Sure enough, it did. I saw it. I took photos of it. I would judge this to have happened about 1975, give or take a year or two. Although Sonny can remember the bomber’s number (N3438G) he can’t remember just when he bought it or when he sold it.

Surely the club members must have enjoyed it. Although I had been invited, I never did make it to one of the club feeds. I’d judge Sonny owned the aircraft for a couple of years.

(A sidenote: In 1969 eighteen B-25s flew to Guaymas, Mexico to film the movie version of Joseph Heller’s novel Catch-22. Paramount planned to film for six weeks but ended up taking three months to shoot the bomber scenes. The movie opens with a mass takeoff of all eighteen of the B-25s.)

There was always a rumor that Sonny also had a German Panzer tank hidden out on the ranch. Rumor had it that the tank was still fitted with its cannon, and this made it illegal and this is why Sonny had it hidden out. I have talked to people who claim they saw the tank. Sonny would neither confirm nor deny his ownership of such a tank. With Sonny, you could believe this to be a true story. Hal Schell

Steamboats

The Delta waterway labyrinth includes some 1,000 miles of navigable waterways. There are few Deltaphiles who can claim to have traveled every one of those miles by boat. Thus, there always is a bit of the feel of exploration when you set out for a cruise in the Delta, whether it be by boat in the historic waterways, or by car or RV on the “asphalt sloughs” with elegant early style homes as the one on the left tucked comfortably behind the levees.

Today, thousands of boat owners who live in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond keep boats in the California Delta, and spend as much time as possible on board them — just messing around. If any of our members can help you make your messing around a bit more meaningful, please give them a jingle.

For nearly 100 years paddlewheeler steamboats churned their way through the myriad Delta waters, leaving a heritage that lives on through the present time. It was a colorful era, marked by steamboating characters who were bigger than life. They were adventuresome men who stood at the helm, often taking their vessels into uncharted waters; spirited men who were quick to take the challenge of a race with another steamboat, often to the peril of their passengers who were egging them on. Yes, there were boiler explosions, often at the loss of considerable life.

I estimate that some 300 paddlewheeler steamboats churned Delta waters during that era. The only one of them to live on to operate today is the Delta Queen, busy with excursion service in the Mississippi River system. The Delta Queen and her sister (brother?) riverboat Delta King were bigger-than-life projects, launched in Stockton in 1927 at a time when the heyday of steamboatin’ in the Delta was about over. The two riverboats never operated successfully from a financial standpoint. Their primary runs were between Sacramento and San Francisco — one coming and one going, passing in the night somewhere around Rio Vista. They were pressed into military service during WWII, serving as billets and to transport troops around the Bay Area. The Delta King, engineless and sunk, was rescued from her sad fate by Sacramento entrepreneurs, beautifully restored and transformed into a dockside inn and bistro at the Old Sacramento wharf.

It was a miracle of sorts that there was any steamboating at all in the early Delta. The first steamboat to make an appearance here was the tiny Sitka, 37 feet in length, off-loaded in pieces from the Russian bark Naslednich and reassembled at Yerba Buena ( San Francisco). In November of 1847, the petite sidewheeler made its way up the Sacramento River to John Sutter’s New Helvetia, taking six days and seven hours to make the voyage. The first Eastern steamboat to arrive was the Lady Washington, shipped in to Sutter’s Embarcadero on a sailing ship and there reassembled. She thrashed her way up the American River to Coloma, only to be snagged and sunk on the return voyage.

The grand 226-foot sidewheeler Senator arrived in October of 1849, taking more than seven months to make the run from her home port of New York. “For more than 30 years she was a familiar sight on the San Francisco-Sacramento run, taking time out now and then to make a run down the coast to San Diego. She soon was joined by others from the East Coast, including the Commodore Preble, the General Warren, and many more. Stocktonians were introduced to steamboating when Captain Warren arrived with the John A. Sutter in late 1849. Within three months, it is said that he had pocketed some $300,000 in profits from his steamboat runs.

Soon, both Stockton and Sacramento had more steamboat passenger-carrying capacity than they had passengers. There were fierce price wars, and at times the price of passage was as low as 25 cents rather than the $30 earlier charged by the Senator.

Travel At Your Peril

There was a push for speed too. In June of 1850, that same John A. Sutter that ran out of Stockton so profitably, exploded on a run to Marysville and became a total wreck. On November 1, 1851, the steamer Sagamore had a boiler explosion as it was departing from the wharf at San Francisco, killing or injuring 50 persons. Major John Ebbetts, who discovered Ebbetts Pass, met his maker August 15, 1854 when a boiler exploded on the steamer Secretary. Ten lives were lost when the J. Bragdon ran down and sank Comanche in Suisun Bay in 1853.

One of the Delta’s most beloved steamers was the sidewheeler Yosemite, which also was the major player in perhaps the area’s largest maritime disaster involving riverboats. The 248-foot Yosemite was pulling away from the docks at Rio Vista on the evening of October 12, 1865 when her boilers let go, killing 45 persons. Barely a year earlier, just a few miles upriver from this fine town, a boiler on the steamer Washoe exploded, killing 16 and injuring 36.

Yet these disasters did not deter steamboat travel one whit. Eventually, the occurrence of such disasters diminished, in part probably because builders learned how to make better boilers. As settlements grew along the Delta waterways, the steamboats became a dependable means of transportation. The river towns began to have sentimental feelings about their favorite steamers. At least two generations of Stocktonians could remember the first time they set foot on the sternwheelers T.C. Walker and J.D. Peters. Isleton folks were smitten with the Isleton and Pride Of The River. Sacramentans felt the “Chrissie,” the 245-foot sidewheeler Chrysopolis built in San Francisco in 1860 for the then-staggering sum of $200,000, was the classiest boat on the river. On December 31, 1861 heading downstream from Sacramento, she set a new record of five hours and 19 minutes for the Sac-S.F. run. She could carry 1,000 passengers in comfort.

Chrissie’s time bested by 11 minutes the record time set some 10 years earlier by the renowned Eastern-built steamer New World. Yet no one could best New World and her erstwhile captain Ned Wakeman when it came to courage and sheer guts. While this new 220-foot sidewheeler was still on the ways at New York Harbor, the sheriff had seized her because of a creditor’s lien. Through chicanery and the force of an armed crew, Wakeman had the boat launched with the steam up and a full load of coal on board, and headed off for San Francisco via the only route possible — round the Horn.

It was no easy voyage, and included a yellow fever epidemic in Rio de Janeiro that killed 20 of his crew (as well as 24,000 people in that city), dodging cannon balls fired from a British frigate and from Brazilian Army forces, and warding off vessel confiscation by armed sheriffs in Panama City. On July 11, 1850, New World steamed through the Golden Gate with 250 cash-paying passengers on board and enough money in her safe to pay off creditors. On New World’s first run to Sacramento April 1, 1850, Wakeman halved the best time heretofore made by any other steamer, setting a record that held for a decade.

Petite Steamers

Well, those big beautiful sidewheelers and sternwheelers garnered most of the glory, but there also was a sizeable fleet of smaller paddlewheelers that hauled freight and a few passengers on the upriver runs, and into the smaller rivers and sloughs, often in water so shallow that passengers were obliged to climb out with shovels and help dig the boats off sandbars or mudbars.

Most of these little guys were less than 100 feet in length, and you might have to dig hard to find their names mentioned in any historical tomes. These were the kind of boats that ventured up the Sacramento River to as far as Redding and Red Bluff, and when the river was heavy enough from spring rains, up the San Joaquin nearly to Fresno. They went up the Tuolume and Stanislaus Rivers, up the American, Feather and Yuba. They parted the tules on French Camp Slough, went into the South Delta to Old River, and slogged their way into Suisun City and up the Petaluma River — and to many waterways in between.

The 106-foot Empire City traveled up the Tuolumne River to its namesake city. In 1911, the 106-foot J.D. McDonald made the last run up the San Joaquin River to Firebaugh on the outskirts of Fresno, with a barge in tow. The return trip downstream was only made possible because some local irrigation districts were coaxed into releasing enough water into the river to float the vessel. Small paddlewheelers such as Esmeralda, Blossom and Islander went upstream on the San Joaquin, also navigating rivers that flowed into it. Blossom and Islander hauled the last loads of river oak wood to leave the now-gone Stanislaus River town of San Joaquin City in 1911, delivering the wood to docks in Stockton. Tiny paddlewheelers Mint, Fairy, and Game Cock made early-day runs to French Camp.

The little steamer Pert was the first to make it up the Mokelumne River to the fledgling settlement of Woodbridge, and soon was followed by the O.K. Yet these were perilous outings and reliable runs up the Mokelumne River were never established.

Although the coming of the railroads took a bite out of riverboat travel in the Delta, as well as offering competition for the hauling of freight, it was not the trains that spelled the demise of riverboating. In fact, the railroads themselves got into the steamboating business too. The automobile became established. Roads, bridges and car-hauling ferries helped make wheeled navigation of the Delta not only possible, but practical. Then the trucking business grew, and with the arrival of refrigerated trucks, these wheeled vehicles began to wrest the freight-hauling business from the railroads. This was especially true for the crops grown in the Delta.

Old-timers can tell us of the sad days when fleets of once-popular paddlewheelers languished along the Stockton waterfront, and across from Sacramento in what now is West Sacramento. Cherokee became a clubhouse for the River View Yacht Club. Fort Sutter for a while was a floating bistro on Threemile Slough, then burned on the beach in San Francisco. The T.C. Walker became the clubhouse for the Poop Deck Gun Club in the Suisun marshes. The J.D. Peters and Navajo became inland bunkhouses on Mandeville Island. Fire struck a mass of paddlewheelers languishing in West Sacramento. Others just disappeared without much notice, without ado.

Only one steamboat remains in Delta service (not including the “recreation” steamboats built by aficionados) and that’s Hal Wilmunder’s 149-foot Elizabeth Louise. The vessel was built in Wilmunder’s back yard by he and his welder pals, a labor of love over which a zillion cases of beer were consumed during production. This is a true paddlewheeler steamer, powered by vintage steam engines Wilumnder found back east. It runs occasional charters in the Sacramento area, and most years leads the Sacramento Yacht Club’s Opening Day Parade the first Sunday in May.

Note: all the material on this page was adapted from Hal Schell’s copyrighted © hardcover book, Cruising California’s Delta and all rights are reserved.