Signs Of The Past

I guess I will start my tour of Yuma County at the eastern border, on Interstate 8, the "main drag" of Yuma County. The eastern border of the county is near milepost #81, which means it is 81 miles from the point where the interstate crosses the Colorado River into California. However, that is not the widest part of the county. From the farthest reach of the county, north of San Luis, it is a distance of 92 miles from the eastern border.
  The eastern border of Yuma County is a long, continuous line that runs for approximately 300 miles from the border with Mexico to the southernmost reach of the Colorado River when it flows through the Grand Canyon. This southernmost reach of the Grand Canyon has Grand Canyon National Park on one side of the river and the Hualapai Indian Reservation on the other side. This is the far, western end of the canyon that few people see. This long, continuous line separates Yuma, La Paz and Mohave Counties on the west and Pima, Maricopa, Yavapai and Coconino Counties on the east.
  Back to the hot sands of Yuma County. Most maps show a town called Aztec in the far eastern part of the county, but Aztec is a ghost town. The townsite is marked by a square canopy that used to cover gas pumps. This ghost of the desert sits forlornly by the side of a busy freeway. There is only a concrete slab to mark the site of the gas station's building. There are a few other concrete slabs, foundations and some debris scattered  along the road north of the interstate. It doesn't appear that Aztec ever had much of a population. It was most likely just a gas stop and probably had a couple other tourist related businesses to serve travelers on U.S. Highway 80 and its replacement, Interstate 8. I doubt Aztec ever had more than 40 or 50 people.
  Six miles west of Aztec is Dateland. Dateland has a unique tourist attraction that I will mention in the next installment of this blog.