Yuma, AZ
As the Colorado River exits the mountains to the north about 20 miles from Yuma historically it wandered across a wide swath of land before finally exiting southwest into Mexico and the Gulf of California. Each spring massive floods inundated the plain, depositing rich silt that has been home to people for thousands of years. Because the river wandered each spring it was not easy to cross except one place where the river is squeezed between two small granite outcroppings. Not only did miners heading to the California Gold Rush cross here but the river actually proved to be navigable by shallow steamboat all the way from the Gulf of California nearly to the Grand Canyon. In 1864 the US Army established the Yuma Quartermaster’s Depot to supply forts along the river drainage. In 1876 the Yuma Territorial Prison was built and a year later in 1877 the railroad came to town. Laguna Dam was built in 1909 signaling the end of the steamboat era and the beginning of the modern agricultural exploitation of the Yuma area. The final “brick” in the foundation of modern Yuma came in 1915 when the “Ocean to Ocean” bridge was built over the Colorado. Yuma is one of the hottest places in the nation and is a windy, dusty town with a number of interesting things to explore.
Yuma Quartermaster Depot State Park
The grounds of the Yuma Quartermaster Depot are now a state park on the southern bank of the Colorado River. While the river has changed dramatically many of the original buildings of the depot have not. The depot was not a fort, Fort Yuma was located on the other side of the river. Instead it was a collection of buildings around a large central open area. Entering the park through the Visitor Center the south side of the complex consists of the Corral House. Only the near four rooms are from the original structure, the far end is an addition built in 1909 by the Bureau of Reclamation when the Yuma Project, the first large scale irrigation effort that began with the construction of Laguna Dam, was developed.
Looking north across the center lawns the large storehouse is on the left and the Quartermaster Office, home and kitchen are on the right.
The Army maintained the depot until 1883 at which time various other federal agencies occupied the buildings until 1902 when President Theodore Roosevelt dedicated the complex to use by the US Customs Office which occupied the buildings until 1955. The Quartermaster’s house (left) and kitchen (right) were built in 1859 with two feet thick adobe walls surrounded by 10 feet wide verandas on all sides.
The kitchen building on the right (detached as a precaution against fire) consists of two rooms, a kitchen and a room for the help to live in. Visitors can’t actually enter the rooms, there is a small glassed-in entry that you stand in, thus accounting for the reflection in the pictures.
The larger Quartermaster’s House consists of four rooms connected with a central hall that runs the width of the house, designed to let cooler breezes off the river below to blow through the house.
On the right side of the hall are the dining room and the parlor.
To the left are the master bedroom and the children’s bedroom.
The view from the back porch would have been very different in 1876. Instead of docks lining a surging Colorado River, we now see a river bottom where what is left of the Colorado is hidden in thick brush with the interstate in the background on the other side of the river.
Just west of the Quartermaster’s home is his office, a large building of three rooms. The large central space is bracketed by a smaller room on each side. Built in 1872 the building continued to be used by the Army Signal Corps as a telegraph office and weather station even after the army discontinued use of the depot in 1883. In 1891 the telegraph office closed and the US Weather Service and US Border Commission occupied the building until 1966.
The room on the west end is preserved as a display of the way the office might have looked in the 1870’s.
Spreading across the desert south of the Depot is the town of Yuma. Yuma is really a tale of two areas. The incorporated town of Yuma which centers around the area south of the Depot and shows the slow growth of the first 100 years of its’ existence, and an unincorporated area about ten miles east of Yuma along the mountain foothills which is what most snowbirds think of when they refer to Yuma. I-8 heads due east from Yuma Crossing and rises to a pass through the mountains looming to the east. Most residential development in the last twenty years has occurred on both sides of the interstate along the foothills and while not incorporated as a town, it has all the trappings of a modern city with shopping centers, suburban subdivisions and golf courses. I focused my attention on the original town site.
Historic Yuma City Center
Extensive development of the Yuma area did not occur until the Colorado River was tamed in the early 1900’s and even then the remote location did not inspire much growth in population. It is also clear that the biggest endeavor in the center of Yuma is the pursuit of various forms of justice. A slight rise just west of the main street is dominated by a relatively new collection of massive buildings housing various forms of local, county and federal law enforcement far outweighing the needs of the local population but rather reflecting the fact that Yuma is the center of the border enforcement structure for hundreds of miles.
The small downtown commercial corridor was mostly built in the 1930’s and the art deco influence of that area is seen in the local architecture, which is often an interesting blend of Spanish and art deco.
Most of the buildings are fronted with covered walkways, reflecting the fact that Yuma suffers from oppressive heat most of the year. The ceilings of many older building walkways are embellished with patterns in the plaster.
A combination of the dry desert climate and a lack of need based upon very slow growth has led to a number of original houses from the middle to late 1800’s still standing just one street west of the main street. Below are the Sanguetti House (1870), the Pohlhaus House (1869) and the Pancrazi House (1899). Note the names of the original owners of these historic houses, clearly Yuma was a place where immigrants could get ahead!
Reflecting the proximity to the legal complex, several have been restored and are being used for law offices, including the Norton House (1891), the Brown House (1893) and an unnamed house between the two that must be from the same era.
It was a pleasant 76 degrees as I walked around Yuma but there was more than a hint that much hotter times are the norm. Desert landscaping is everywhere (the only place I saw green grass was in the Foothills as I was leaving the valley) and virtually every public parking lot that I saw had a section of covered parking to protect the cars of the lucky ones who got there first from the impact of the blazing sun.
A tip from a fellow rv’r led me to one of the more interesting stops of the trip so far.
Next up: The Center of the World and the Criminals in Yuma…
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