Handbook on Texas Online
The Kate Ward was the first steamboat to operate on the Colorado River.
In June 1844 the La Grange Intelligencer announced that a local merchant, Samuel Ward, was to build a steamboat for use on the Colorado.
The engine and other equipment had already been bought in Pittsburg and were to be shipped to Matagorda by July 15.
The boat would be assembled at the head of the raft, which obstructed navigation on the lower part of the river, and was to be in operation by Nov. 1.
The article praised Ward for his part in selling the stock of the Colorado Navigation Company, which had been rechartered in January 1844 for the purpose of clearing the raft.
Plans for construction of the steamer evidently changed, however, for the next relevant notice of a steamboat concerns the launching of the Kate Ward at Matagorda, near the mouth of the Colorado, on June 21, 1845.
The vessel was said be owned by “Messrs. [George W.] Ward and Robinson” or by “Mr. Ward and Co. of Matagorda and a Mr. Robertson of Columbus.”
The Kate Ward, named for Ward’s sister, was described as 110 feet long, 24 feet across at the beam, and capable of carrying 600 bales of cotton. It was reckoned that with such a cargo she would draw three feet of water, but at her launching she was said to draw only five inches.
Several months later, an identical announcement in two Houston newspapers reported that the Kate Ward, which was “intended to ply between the head of the raft and the landings above was nearly completed.”
Kate Ward got past the raft and she arrived in Austin on March 8, 1846, her first and only visit to the capital.