In 1856 Johnson persuaded the California Legislature to pass a resolution supporting an expedition up the river. Using that resolution, he talked Secretary of War Jefferson Davis into asking Congress for funding. The $70,000 appropriation passed, and the new administration elected in November asked for bids. Johnson offered General Jesup for $3,500 per month or Colorado for $4,500, but new Secretary of War John B. Floyd named one of his relatives to the job, young topographical engineer Lieutenant Joseph Christmas Ives.

Ives ordered the construction of a stern-wheeler, the 54-foot Explorer. The little iron-hulled boat, built in Philadelphia, was tested on the Delaware River to mixed reviews at best. Undaunted, Ives had Explorer dismantled and shipped by way of Panama to the mouth of the Colorado during the summer of 1857. It had a peculiar profile with a howitzer on one end and a cabin on the other. Its oversized boiler took up a full third of the deck, but its engine was underpowered for the task of navigating the powerful Colorado. The expedition’s artist, Balduin Möllhausen, described the craft as a ‘water-borne wheelbarrow,’ and the Cocopahs and Yumas laughed at the diminutive size, calling it a ‘chiquito boat.’

On December 31, 1857, Ives and Explorer left the Gulf of California to find the limit to navigation. Unknown to Ives, George Johnson left Fort Yuma on the same day with the same goal. Annoyed by the rejection of his commercial bid, Johnson had decided he wanted the glory of the discovery. Adding impetus to his resolve was the deteriorating situation between the Mormons and the federal government. The War Department felt it was possible that the U.S. Army would need to transport troops up the Colorado to Utah, so the acting commander at Fort Yuma ordered Lieutenant James L. White and 14 other soldiers to go along on the voyage. The optimistic Johnson took only 25 days’ worth of rations. Also aboard were trapper Paulino Weaver, Yuma Chief Kae-as-no-com (sometimes called Pascual) and a dozen other civilians.

The Colorado River above Yuma looked much the way it did below the fort. Meandering along through miles of banks dotted with cottonwood trees and mesquite bushes, the voyagers spotted occasional fields of corn and beans cultivated by the Mohave (or Mojave) Indians. It surprised Johnson that problems arose from shallow sandbars that were difficult for the side-wheeler General Jesup to navigate, not from the rapids he’d expected. The river was lower than usual, increasing the sandbar hazards. Furthermore, wood was not readily available for fuel.

By January 21, 1858, the boat had reached the first rapids on the river at the head of Pyramid Canyon. The rapids could be easily navigated, but it would take time. With few rations left, Johnson decided against General Jesup continuing upriver. Instead, he and Lieutenant White took a skiff a few miles up into Cottonwood Valley to a spot with a good view of another 40 miles of unobstructed river ahead. They estimated the distance to the mouth of the Virgin River at about 75 miles and decided that the Colorado was navigable for 400 miles above Fort Yuma. Because of their shortage of supplies, they couldn’t test that theory, but they felt sure the Mormon settlements were within easy reach of trade boats or troop-carrying boats if needed.

Two days later, Johnson turned General Jesup around and headed south, pleased to have beaten Ives this far upriver. On their first stop for wood, the crew and passengers were startled to look up and see the profiles of camels on the bluff overlooking the river. Camels? In the high desert of what was then western New Mexico Territory?

The camels were no mirage. Lieutenant Edward F. Beale had successfully lobbied for $30,000 in funding from Congress to try out the famous ships of the desert. He felt their strength and stamina, coupled with a lower need for water, made them ideal for this terrain. With the support of Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, funding for the Camel Military Corps was approved in December 1853. It took several years to acquire camels and drivers from Egypt, transport them to Texas and train local men to handle the smelly and opinionated beasts. Beale’s camel caravan strode across the territory from Camp Verde, Texas, up the Rio Grande and across the 35th parallel to reach the point where the present states of Arizona, California and Nevada come together.

Beale was just as surprised to see the steamboat as her passengers were to see his camels. After all, General Jesup was the first such craft to reach this far north on the Colorado. In his written report, Beale said, ‘Here, in a wild, almost unknown country, inhabited only by savages, the great river of the West, hitherto declared unnavigable, had for the first time borne upon its bosom that emblem of civilization, a steamer.’ Beale was delighted to see the boat for another reason. Camels could not ford a river the size of the Colorado if they were fully loaded. An amused Johnson agreed to ferry the personnel and cargo across the river into California while the camels and mules swam the chilly water unhampered by packs.

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