SS California (1848)

SS California, Pacific Mail's first ship on the Panama City to San Francisco route.
History
Name:	California
Laid down:	4 January 1848
Launched:	19 May 1848
Fate:	Wrecked Pacasmayo Province, Peru 1895
General characteristics
Length:	203 feet (62 m)
Beam:	33.5 feet (10.2 m)
Draft:	14 feet (4.3 m)
Depth of hold:	20 feet (6.1 m)
Propulsion:	2 × 26 feet (7.9 m) dia. side paddle wheels

SS California was one of the first steamships to steam in the Pacific Ocean and the first steamship to travel from Central America to North America. She was built for the Pacific Mail Steamship Company which was founded April 18, 1848 as a joint stock company in the State of New York by a group of New York City merchants: William H. Aspinwall, Edwin Bartlett, Henry Chauncey, Mr. Alsop, G.G. Howland and S.S. Howland. She was the first of three steamboats specified in a government mail contract to provide mail, passenger, and freight service from Panama to and from San Francisco and Oregon.

In the first decades of the United States' existence, legislators generally did not believe the federal government had the power or authority to build roads, canals or other internal improvements, as the U.S. Constitution did not specify this as a legitimate federal role. Internal infrastructure improvements were thought to be the responsibility of private enterprise or the states. One way around this prohibition was to heavily subsidize mail contracts since this duty traditionally belonged to the federal government. Since about 89 percent of the federal government's income then was in the form of excise taxes on imports (also called custom duties or Ad Valorem taxes of about 25%) there was only a limited amount of money available.

Prior to 1848, Congress had already appropriated money to help subsidize mail steamers between Europe and the United States. A congressional mail contract from East Coast cities and New Orleans, Louisiana to and from the Chagres River in Panama was won by the U.S. Mail Steamship Company in about 1847. The often wildly variable Chagres was the Atlantic terminus of the trans-Isthmus trail across the Isthmus of Panama. After disembarking from their paddle steamer on the Atlantic side, travelers ascended the Chagres River about 30 miles (48 km) by native canoes or dugouts before switching to mules to complete the roughly 60-mile (97-km) journey. In the rainy season (June–December) the trail often degenerated into a very muddy ordeal.