Continuing west from St. Michaels, State Highway 264 begins a slow, steady ascent to the summit of the Defiance Plateau. Since Window Rock sits at an elevation of 6,862 feet above sea level, I would guess that St. Michaels is slightly higher than that.
Most of the Navajo Indian Reservation is barren desert with a distinctly red hue to the landscape, from red sand dunes to red rock formations. Other parts of the reservation are a high desert grassland studded with pinon and juniper trees, most notably Utah Juniper with its distinctive blue berries. But these areas still have the red accents to the landscape. However, the first time I ever drove the stretch of Highway 264 west of Window Rock and St. Michaels, I was stunned by what I saw! As the highway climbs up and over the Defiance Plateau, it enters a very thick forest of ponderosa pine with some aspen and spruce trees thrown in for good measure! It reminded me of the forest around Flagstaff and Flagstaff is a very thickly forested city. I am not sure what the elevation is at the highest point on Highway 264, but it is roughly about 8,500 feet above sea level. On both edges of the heavily forested area, there is a wooden sign that is next to the highway that looks identical to Forest Service signs that announce the boundary of a national forest. But these are not Forest Service signs, these signs were erected by the Navajo Division of Forestry. These signs say "DEFIANCE PLATEAU, NAVAJO NATION FOREST." This is a lush area with bountiful game and a few, small lakes, but it is still a dry forest like the one around Flagstaff is with no permanent streams, just streams that flow for short distances and then disappear underground and also plenty of dry streambeds. This forest has roughly 150 to 200 pine trees per acre, but there are probably some places with an even higher density of trees.
In subsequent trips through the Navajo Reservation, I would find other areas of the reservation that are just as heavily forested as the Defiance Plateau is, especially in the Chuska Mountains, which is why that now defunct sawmill was set up and the nearby town of Navajo, New Mexico was built to house the sawmill employees.
About 16 miles beyond the summit of the Defiance Plateau lies the town of Ganado, one of the most historic towns on the Navajo Reservation.
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Monday, November 19, 2012
Missionaries in Navajoland
Adjacent to Window Rock on the west is the town of St. Michaels. This town has about 1,300 people and it grew up around a Franciscan Mission called St. Michael (without the "s").
Construction on the mission began in 1897 and was financed by Katherine Drexel of the
Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament. Construction of the mission was overseen by Anselm Weber. He served as a missionary to the Navajos until his death in 1921. Weber and Drexel are both highly respected in Navajo society to the this day. Weber was a member of the Ohio Franciscans and the Navajos turned to this group shortly after they returned to their traditional homeland after spending five horrific and tumultuous years at Bosque Redondo near
Fort Sumner, New Mexico.
This was the destination of "The Long Walk" of 1863 that was forced on the Navajos and other tribes, particularly the Mescalero and Chiricahua Apaches, by the federal government. Upon their return to "Navajo Land," the surviving members of the tribe turned to the Ohio Franciscans for help with re-establishing their lives and for help dealing with the United States government. Their previous dealings with Spanish missionaries didn't work out because the Spanish showed a blatant disregard for the Navajo belief system, but Anselm Weber showed alot of respect for Navajo beliefs and customs. Under Weber's direction, Navajo beliefs and customs were interwoven with Catholic teachings to create a "white man's religion"
that the Navajos were willing to accept.
Today, on the grounds of the St. Michael Indian School, there is a circular chapel with a dirt floor, with the door facing east to greet the rising sun, that was designed to represent a traditional Navajo hogan, although a hogan is usually eight-sided and not circular. The original mission school is now the Visitor's Center.
Anselm Weber immersed himself into learning the Navajo language and he wrote the first Navajo dictionary using the English alphabet. Anselm was also instrumental in getting the federal government to establish this area as part of the Navajo Indian Reservation in 1907. The original reservation, which was established in 1868, was farther north and much smaller than it is today. The original reservation was nearly evenly split by the Arizona/New Mexico border. The original part of the reservation is depicted by a brown rectangle on the tribal flag. In the late 1800s, even though this area was not part of the Navajo Reservation, it was heavily populated by Navajos because it was part of their traditional homeland.
The Navajo name for St, Michaels is "ts'ihootso," which means "yellow meadow." When the Spanish arrived, they renamed it "Cienaga Amarilla," which means the same thing.
Katherine Drexel, who financed the school's construction, named it St. Michael. I am not sure how the "s" was added to the town's name when it is not part of the school's name.
Today, St. Michaels functions as a suburb of Window Rock, the tribal capital. There is a Navajoland Inn&Suites on the west side of town(formerly a Days Inn). This is one of only two motels in the Window Rock vicinity. Next door to the motel is a Dennys Restaurant. This is the only Denny's on the Navajo Reservation.
Construction on the mission began in 1897 and was financed by Katherine Drexel of the
Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament. Construction of the mission was overseen by Anselm Weber. He served as a missionary to the Navajos until his death in 1921. Weber and Drexel are both highly respected in Navajo society to the this day. Weber was a member of the Ohio Franciscans and the Navajos turned to this group shortly after they returned to their traditional homeland after spending five horrific and tumultuous years at Bosque Redondo near
Fort Sumner, New Mexico.
This was the destination of "The Long Walk" of 1863 that was forced on the Navajos and other tribes, particularly the Mescalero and Chiricahua Apaches, by the federal government. Upon their return to "Navajo Land," the surviving members of the tribe turned to the Ohio Franciscans for help with re-establishing their lives and for help dealing with the United States government. Their previous dealings with Spanish missionaries didn't work out because the Spanish showed a blatant disregard for the Navajo belief system, but Anselm Weber showed alot of respect for Navajo beliefs and customs. Under Weber's direction, Navajo beliefs and customs were interwoven with Catholic teachings to create a "white man's religion"
that the Navajos were willing to accept.
Today, on the grounds of the St. Michael Indian School, there is a circular chapel with a dirt floor, with the door facing east to greet the rising sun, that was designed to represent a traditional Navajo hogan, although a hogan is usually eight-sided and not circular. The original mission school is now the Visitor's Center.
Anselm Weber immersed himself into learning the Navajo language and he wrote the first Navajo dictionary using the English alphabet. Anselm was also instrumental in getting the federal government to establish this area as part of the Navajo Indian Reservation in 1907. The original reservation, which was established in 1868, was farther north and much smaller than it is today. The original reservation was nearly evenly split by the Arizona/New Mexico border. The original part of the reservation is depicted by a brown rectangle on the tribal flag. In the late 1800s, even though this area was not part of the Navajo Reservation, it was heavily populated by Navajos because it was part of their traditional homeland.
The Navajo name for St, Michaels is "ts'ihootso," which means "yellow meadow." When the Spanish arrived, they renamed it "Cienaga Amarilla," which means the same thing.
Katherine Drexel, who financed the school's construction, named it St. Michael. I am not sure how the "s" was added to the town's name when it is not part of the school's name.
Today, St. Michaels functions as a suburb of Window Rock, the tribal capital. There is a Navajoland Inn&Suites on the west side of town(formerly a Days Inn). This is one of only two motels in the Window Rock vicinity. Next door to the motel is a Dennys Restaurant. This is the only Denny's on the Navajo Reservation.
Monday, October 29, 2012
A Planned Community
Sixteen miles north of Window Rock is the town of Navajo, New Mexico. This town is located on Navajo Highway 12 and sits just inside New Mexico. The town is only about one-third mile from the Arizona border.
Navajo was a planned community that was built by Navajo Forest Products Industries in the 1960s to provide housing for employees of the new sawmill that had been built to harvest the lumber from the nearby Chuska Mountains. The mill went out of business in the 1980s and now sits silent, looking almost spectral, leaving the nearby town to wither away into the dust.
The town of Navajo was drawn up on blueprints and was built from scratch in the
pinon/juniper grassland. Most people do not think of forest land when they think of the Navajo Reservation, but there is, particularly in the Chuska Mountains and on the Defiance Plateau and in other high elevation locales as well. This is why the sawmill and the accompanying town of Navajo were constructed, to provide a source of income and jobs for the tribe.
During its heyday, the town of Navajo had about 3,200 people. Now it has about 1,800, but the population loss has slowed to a trickle. The town perseveres even though its primary reason for existence has disappeared. It survives because of the schools. All grades are represented, kindergarten through 12th grade. All of the schools, as well as the school district itself, are called
Navajo Pine. The town also continues to survive because of the rather large supermarket called
Navajo Pine Supermarket. The school district, the gas station and the supermarket provide the jobs in this impoverished community. Many people commute to other towns to work.
The most vivid memory I have of Navajo is the non-functional traffic lights at the intersection of
Cleveland Boulevard (Navajo Highway 12) and Cedar Avenue. The traffic lights have been sitting there, turned off and non-operational, for close to ten years that I know of, ever since I went through Navajo for the first time. Seems like they could be taken down instead of just sitting there being exposed to the harsh winters and the summer monsoons. Meanwhile, Cedar Avenue, the street that was once busy enough to warrant traffic lights at the intersection with the highway, runs past mostly abandoned houses now and the street is full of giant potholes, some of them one to two feet deep.
I am impressed that Navajo, New Mexico survives when its sole reason for existence went out of business nearly thirty years ago.
Navajo was a planned community that was built by Navajo Forest Products Industries in the 1960s to provide housing for employees of the new sawmill that had been built to harvest the lumber from the nearby Chuska Mountains. The mill went out of business in the 1980s and now sits silent, looking almost spectral, leaving the nearby town to wither away into the dust.
The town of Navajo was drawn up on blueprints and was built from scratch in the
pinon/juniper grassland. Most people do not think of forest land when they think of the Navajo Reservation, but there is, particularly in the Chuska Mountains and on the Defiance Plateau and in other high elevation locales as well. This is why the sawmill and the accompanying town of Navajo were constructed, to provide a source of income and jobs for the tribe.
During its heyday, the town of Navajo had about 3,200 people. Now it has about 1,800, but the population loss has slowed to a trickle. The town perseveres even though its primary reason for existence has disappeared. It survives because of the schools. All grades are represented, kindergarten through 12th grade. All of the schools, as well as the school district itself, are called
Navajo Pine. The town also continues to survive because of the rather large supermarket called
Navajo Pine Supermarket. The school district, the gas station and the supermarket provide the jobs in this impoverished community. Many people commute to other towns to work.
The most vivid memory I have of Navajo is the non-functional traffic lights at the intersection of
Cleveland Boulevard (Navajo Highway 12) and Cedar Avenue. The traffic lights have been sitting there, turned off and non-operational, for close to ten years that I know of, ever since I went through Navajo for the first time. Seems like they could be taken down instead of just sitting there being exposed to the harsh winters and the summer monsoons. Meanwhile, Cedar Avenue, the street that was once busy enough to warrant traffic lights at the intersection with the highway, runs past mostly abandoned houses now and the street is full of giant potholes, some of them one to two feet deep.
I am impressed that Navajo, New Mexico survives when its sole reason for existence went out of business nearly thirty years ago.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Window Rock, part 2
The heart of Window Rock is the intersection of State Highway 264 and Navajo Highway 12. Most of the businesses in town are clustered around, or near, this intersection. This intersection is only half a mile from the New Mexico border. This area is where you will find such businesses as McDonalds, Church's Fried Chicken, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Taco Bell, Burger King, etc.
About half a mile north of this intersection, at the next set of traffic lights, is
Window Rock Boulevard. Window Rock Boulevard is lined with Tribal government buildings and ends in a circle where the Navajo Nation Capital Building, Navajo Nation Legislative Council Chambers and the Navajo Nation Department of Justice are located. There are other streets radiating off of the circle that contain other tribal government buildings as well. One of these streets is a dirt street. The street is unpaved, and yet it is lined with tribal government buildings.
The Legislative Council Chambers is shaped like a hogan, the traditional, eight-sided Navajo dwelling, with the main door facing east to greet the rising sun, just as it would in a traditional hogan. This building, however, is constucted of native stone instead of the usual mud and wood.
All of these tribal governent buildings are in Arizona, barely. Window Rock Boulevard runs
roughly north-south, but on a slight angle. The street is about 2/3 of a mile long. The farthest east of the tribal government buildings are only about 50 yards from the New Mexico border. The streets that run past other tribal government buildings, Morgan Drive for example, are paved but in generally poor condition with alot of potholes.
Directly outside the front entrance of the Navajo Nation Capitol Building in the Window Rock formation, which lends its name to the town. This rock with a hole through it is an arch, or
natural bridge in the making, but it is not eroded enough to qualify as either. It is amazing how perfectly round that hole is. There is a small tribal park in front of the rock formation with
picnic tables.
On the eastern edge of Window Rock is the Navajo Nation Museum, which is a fascinating museum depicting tribal history, I highly recommend a visit there. Near the tribal museum is the Navajo Nation Zoo. The zoo has never been popular with the Navajo people because they don't believe in keeping animals captive, but the zoo is still open. It only has about 40 animals and they are all native to the reservation. Animals such as black bear, bobcat, cougar, gila monsters, skunks, golden eagles, deer and elk, among others, are on display at the zoo. The first animal
was a black bear that was left behind after the Navajo Nation Fair in 1963. The other animals are victims of injuries from vehicles or power lines.
Adjacent to the zoo is a botanical garden that is a very interesting place to visit.
Also in Window Rock are KTNN and KWRK radio stations. KTNN is an "AM" station. It went on the air in 1983 and was the firsr radio station to be owned and operated by an Indian tribe, now there are many. It plays country music and also broadcasts some Navajo ceremonial chants. They also broadcast alot of sporting events such as Northern Arizona University football and basketball games, Phoenix Sns games and alot of high school sporting events on the reservation. KTNN has a powerful signal that can be picked up over 500 miles away! KWRK is an "FM" station that also plays country music. Window Rock is also the headquarters for the Navajo Times newspaper. This newspaper was originally owned by the tribal government and it was established by the tribal government , but, in recent years, the newspaper has become an independent, free standing business.
Window Rock sits at an elevation of 6,862 feet above sea level. That means it is only 44 feet lower than Flagstaff, yet it is not heavily forested like Flagstaff is.
When I spent the night in Window Rock in March of 2009, I stayed at the Quality Inn
Navajo Nation. When I looked out my room window on the east side of the motel, I was able to see a convenience store that is in New Mexico. That is how close to the state border I was. The restaurant at the Quality Inn Navajo Nation is a popular meeting place for tribal government officials and any other dignitaries who happen to be visiting Window Rock.
About half a mile north of this intersection, at the next set of traffic lights, is
Window Rock Boulevard. Window Rock Boulevard is lined with Tribal government buildings and ends in a circle where the Navajo Nation Capital Building, Navajo Nation Legislative Council Chambers and the Navajo Nation Department of Justice are located. There are other streets radiating off of the circle that contain other tribal government buildings as well. One of these streets is a dirt street. The street is unpaved, and yet it is lined with tribal government buildings.
The Legislative Council Chambers is shaped like a hogan, the traditional, eight-sided Navajo dwelling, with the main door facing east to greet the rising sun, just as it would in a traditional hogan. This building, however, is constucted of native stone instead of the usual mud and wood.
All of these tribal governent buildings are in Arizona, barely. Window Rock Boulevard runs
roughly north-south, but on a slight angle. The street is about 2/3 of a mile long. The farthest east of the tribal government buildings are only about 50 yards from the New Mexico border. The streets that run past other tribal government buildings, Morgan Drive for example, are paved but in generally poor condition with alot of potholes.
Directly outside the front entrance of the Navajo Nation Capitol Building in the Window Rock formation, which lends its name to the town. This rock with a hole through it is an arch, or
natural bridge in the making, but it is not eroded enough to qualify as either. It is amazing how perfectly round that hole is. There is a small tribal park in front of the rock formation with
picnic tables.
On the eastern edge of Window Rock is the Navajo Nation Museum, which is a fascinating museum depicting tribal history, I highly recommend a visit there. Near the tribal museum is the Navajo Nation Zoo. The zoo has never been popular with the Navajo people because they don't believe in keeping animals captive, but the zoo is still open. It only has about 40 animals and they are all native to the reservation. Animals such as black bear, bobcat, cougar, gila monsters, skunks, golden eagles, deer and elk, among others, are on display at the zoo. The first animal
was a black bear that was left behind after the Navajo Nation Fair in 1963. The other animals are victims of injuries from vehicles or power lines.
Adjacent to the zoo is a botanical garden that is a very interesting place to visit.
Also in Window Rock are KTNN and KWRK radio stations. KTNN is an "AM" station. It went on the air in 1983 and was the firsr radio station to be owned and operated by an Indian tribe, now there are many. It plays country music and also broadcasts some Navajo ceremonial chants. They also broadcast alot of sporting events such as Northern Arizona University football and basketball games, Phoenix Sns games and alot of high school sporting events on the reservation. KTNN has a powerful signal that can be picked up over 500 miles away! KWRK is an "FM" station that also plays country music. Window Rock is also the headquarters for the Navajo Times newspaper. This newspaper was originally owned by the tribal government and it was established by the tribal government , but, in recent years, the newspaper has become an independent, free standing business.
Window Rock sits at an elevation of 6,862 feet above sea level. That means it is only 44 feet lower than Flagstaff, yet it is not heavily forested like Flagstaff is.
When I spent the night in Window Rock in March of 2009, I stayed at the Quality Inn
Navajo Nation. When I looked out my room window on the east side of the motel, I was able to see a convenience store that is in New Mexico. That is how close to the state border I was. The restaurant at the Quality Inn Navajo Nation is a popular meeting place for tribal government officials and any other dignitaries who happen to be visiting Window Rock.
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Window Rock
Window Rock is the capital of the Navajo Indian Reservation. It is situated on the eastern border of Arizona in the southeastern part of the reservation. Bordering Window Rock on the west is St. Michaels, a town that developed around a Catholic mission school. Bordering
Window Rock on the east is Tse Bonito, New Mexico. Four miles north of Window Rock is
Fort Defiance, which developed around a United States Cavalry fort.
Until a few years ago, the Navajo Reservation boundary ran along the state border on the east edge of Window Rock up to a point just north of Highway 264, then the reservation boundary turned east and went into New Mexico. This meant that Tse Bonito was not on the reservation even though it was almost exclusively populated by Navajos. This area was mostly Navajo land even though it was not formally part of the reservation. It was, in fact, an unofficial part of the reservation. It was commonly referred to as "The Checkerboard" because it consisted of alot of tribally owned land interspersed with non-Navajo land such as state owned land, federal land and privately owned land. The population of this area was still predominantly Navajo and many of the towns had Chapter Houses, which are somewhat similar to county courthouses in the fact that they serve as administrative centers of chapters, which are subdivisions of the Navajo Reservation. I will have more to say about Navajo Chapters in a later blog. Anyway, towns in New Mexico such as Crownpoint, Pueblo Pintado, Lake Valley, Nageezi and Vanderwagen were located in the Checkerboard Area, but were not officially on the Navajo Reservation, yet they were chapter seats of the Navajo Reservation. A few years ago, approximately 2006 or 2007, this Checkerboard Area was officially made part of the reservation, although most maps still do not indicate it is as such. I have a map that does indicate it and I guard it jealously. This new part of the reservation has been shown on the tribal flag for decades.
So, until recently, the reservation's capital was located right on the very edge of the reservation, but that is no longer the case.
Window Rock is located in a very beautiful setting and it is a great place for a government town.
This beautiful setting was part of the reason why the Bureau of Indian affairs chose to establish an Indian Agency here in the first place. That plus the fact that it was located a day's ride from the railroad at Gallup, New Mexico. That made it more accessible in the days when horses and stagecoaches were the most common modes of travel.
Window Rock on the east is Tse Bonito, New Mexico. Four miles north of Window Rock is
Fort Defiance, which developed around a United States Cavalry fort.
Until a few years ago, the Navajo Reservation boundary ran along the state border on the east edge of Window Rock up to a point just north of Highway 264, then the reservation boundary turned east and went into New Mexico. This meant that Tse Bonito was not on the reservation even though it was almost exclusively populated by Navajos. This area was mostly Navajo land even though it was not formally part of the reservation. It was, in fact, an unofficial part of the reservation. It was commonly referred to as "The Checkerboard" because it consisted of alot of tribally owned land interspersed with non-Navajo land such as state owned land, federal land and privately owned land. The population of this area was still predominantly Navajo and many of the towns had Chapter Houses, which are somewhat similar to county courthouses in the fact that they serve as administrative centers of chapters, which are subdivisions of the Navajo Reservation. I will have more to say about Navajo Chapters in a later blog. Anyway, towns in New Mexico such as Crownpoint, Pueblo Pintado, Lake Valley, Nageezi and Vanderwagen were located in the Checkerboard Area, but were not officially on the Navajo Reservation, yet they were chapter seats of the Navajo Reservation. A few years ago, approximately 2006 or 2007, this Checkerboard Area was officially made part of the reservation, although most maps still do not indicate it is as such. I have a map that does indicate it and I guard it jealously. This new part of the reservation has been shown on the tribal flag for decades.
So, until recently, the reservation's capital was located right on the very edge of the reservation, but that is no longer the case.
Window Rock is located in a very beautiful setting and it is a great place for a government town.
This beautiful setting was part of the reason why the Bureau of Indian affairs chose to establish an Indian Agency here in the first place. That plus the fact that it was located a day's ride from the railroad at Gallup, New Mexico. That made it more accessible in the days when horses and stagecoaches were the most common modes of travel.
Monday, September 24, 2012
The Rock With The Hole Through It
In the 18 years I lived in Arizona, I had occasion to visit alot of Indian Reservations. And since I traveled in New Mexico alot, I have visited many of that state's Indian Reservations as well. If my count is accurate, and I believe it is, I have visited 58 Indian Reservations, most of those being in Arizona and New Mexico.
I lived at worked at the Grand Canyon for nearly two decades. The Grand Canyon is in northwestern Arizona and, since the Navajo Reservation is so big, it is difficult to go anywhere in northern Arizona without going through the reservation. The Navajo Reservation covers about 24,000 square miles, which makes it about the size of West Virginia. The Navajo Reservation lies in 3 states; Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, with the majority of it being in Arizona. It is split roughly 70% Arizona, 28% New Mexico and 2% Utah, by my estimation.
I guess the logical place to begin my writings about my travels on the Navajo Indian Reservation is in the reservation's capital, Window Rock.
Window Rock is in Arizona, but lies on the border with New Mexico. The eastern city limits are concurrent with the state border. I know someone who thinks the name "Window Rock" sounds like the name of a town on the Flintstones. Actually, the ceremonial name for what is now known as Window Rock was "Ni Alnii 'Gi.". This Navajo phrase meant "Center of the World." Alot of Anglos took exception to this name, but the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, John Collier, tried to get Ni Alnii 'Gi made the official name for the site when the federal government decided to establish an Indian Agency here under the auspices of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. This action met with alot of resistance, so people started using the Navajo name for the rock formation that overlooks the town "Tseghahoodzani," which means "The rock with the hole through it," as the name of the site. This name was rendered in English to be "Window Rock" and the name stuck.
This rock formation is very impressive. The name is extremely accurate because there is, indeed, a giant hole, or window, that goes all the way through the rock. This hole was eroded by wind over the eons and it is near the top of the rock formation. It is basically an arch or natural bridge in the making, but it is not eroded enough yet to classify as either one of those things. The hole in the rock is in Arizona, but barely. The New Mexico border is about 200 yards east of the hole in the rock.
In these Navajo names that I typed, there are several punctuation marks that are on, or above, the letters that I am unable to do on the computer. For example, there should be a diagonal slash across the top half of the "L" in the ceremonial name of this site.
I have been to Window Rock 5 times, and have spent the night there twice. I have not been there as often as I have other major towns on the reservation because it was not on my travel routes. In fact, until 2006, I had only been there one time and I just passed through on the highway. I don't know why I just passed through because that is not what I usually do when I travel. I usually explore each and every town I go through. I must have been running late that time, in the mid 1990s. I must have been on my way to Gallup, New Mexico for the night.
I lived at worked at the Grand Canyon for nearly two decades. The Grand Canyon is in northwestern Arizona and, since the Navajo Reservation is so big, it is difficult to go anywhere in northern Arizona without going through the reservation. The Navajo Reservation covers about 24,000 square miles, which makes it about the size of West Virginia. The Navajo Reservation lies in 3 states; Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, with the majority of it being in Arizona. It is split roughly 70% Arizona, 28% New Mexico and 2% Utah, by my estimation.
I guess the logical place to begin my writings about my travels on the Navajo Indian Reservation is in the reservation's capital, Window Rock.
Window Rock is in Arizona, but lies on the border with New Mexico. The eastern city limits are concurrent with the state border. I know someone who thinks the name "Window Rock" sounds like the name of a town on the Flintstones. Actually, the ceremonial name for what is now known as Window Rock was "Ni Alnii 'Gi.". This Navajo phrase meant "Center of the World." Alot of Anglos took exception to this name, but the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, John Collier, tried to get Ni Alnii 'Gi made the official name for the site when the federal government decided to establish an Indian Agency here under the auspices of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. This action met with alot of resistance, so people started using the Navajo name for the rock formation that overlooks the town "Tseghahoodzani," which means "The rock with the hole through it," as the name of the site. This name was rendered in English to be "Window Rock" and the name stuck.
This rock formation is very impressive. The name is extremely accurate because there is, indeed, a giant hole, or window, that goes all the way through the rock. This hole was eroded by wind over the eons and it is near the top of the rock formation. It is basically an arch or natural bridge in the making, but it is not eroded enough yet to classify as either one of those things. The hole in the rock is in Arizona, but barely. The New Mexico border is about 200 yards east of the hole in the rock.
In these Navajo names that I typed, there are several punctuation marks that are on, or above, the letters that I am unable to do on the computer. For example, there should be a diagonal slash across the top half of the "L" in the ceremonial name of this site.
I have been to Window Rock 5 times, and have spent the night there twice. I have not been there as often as I have other major towns on the reservation because it was not on my travel routes. In fact, until 2006, I had only been there one time and I just passed through on the highway. I don't know why I just passed through because that is not what I usually do when I travel. I usually explore each and every town I go through. I must have been running late that time, in the mid 1990s. I must have been on my way to Gallup, New Mexico for the night.
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Bagdad, Arizona
I watched a high school football game in Bagdad on Halloween, 2008. There are usually school security guards or security personnel at football games and Bagdad was no different. What was different, however, was seeing a security guard from the mining company on duty at the game. The security guard had a patch that said "Freeport McMoran" on both of his sleeves. There was also a Yavapai County Sheriff's Deputy on duty at the game.
Life in a company town is more orderly than it is in "regular" towns. Not only because of the sameness of most of the housing stock, but there is more of an equality in incomes among the residents of the town. Oh, I realize there are different pay scales depending on the position within the company, but there is still a much smaller discrepancy in incomes in a company town than there is in a "regular" town. Most everybody in town knows what the inside of most the houses in town look like because most of the houses are the same. The only houses that are different belong to mining company managers and supervisors.
The supermarket in town was once operated by the mining company, but now is operated by Basha's Supermarkets, a Chandler, Arizona based supermarket chain that operates almost exclusively in Arizona except for one store in New Mexico and one store in California. It is still owned by Freeport McMoran, however, and I am sure they get a percentage of the profits. The transition from company store to supermarket chain seems to coincide with the buyout of Cyprus Bagdad Copper Company by Phelps Dodge, which was, in turn, purchased by Freeport McMoran.
The supermarket is part of Copper Plaza Shopping Center. This shopping center used to include Stockmen's Bank, but it closed and there are now, in its place, two credit unions, the Arizona State Credit Union and the Basha's Employees Credit Union. There used to be a one screen movie theater in this shopping center, but it closed in the mid 1990s and is now part video arcade and part video rental store. There are two convenience stores in Bagdad, one closes at approximately 5:00 or 6:00p.m. and the other closes at 10:00 p.m.
There are a few small cafes in town, but they seem to have limited hours. When I watched that football game in Bagdad in 2008, I ate at the deli at Basha's because none of the cafes seemed to be open.
Just like many small towns across America are dominated by a county courthouse or a City Hall in the middle of town, Bagdad is dominated by the Corporate Offices for Freeport McMoran's Bagdad Mining District.
Main Street in Bagdad runs east-west through town and, just past the high school, enters the mine. It is a big, open pit copper mine. It runs on a round-the-clock schedule.
The high school is actually a high school/middle school combination and there is an elementary school on the north side of town.
Bagdad sits at an elevation of 4,101 feet above sea level. The highway into town makes a steep climb to reach Bagdad. In fact, the junction of Highways 96 and 97, four miles east of town, sits in a saguaro cactus studded landscape while Bagdad, just a short distance away, sits at too high of an elevation for saguaros to grow. The saguaros just east of Bagdad are among the highest elevation saguaros in existence.
There is a clinic in Bagdad, next to the mine entrance, but it used to be a full fledged, 11 bed hospital. The pharmacy in the clinic is operated by Fry's Food and Drug, which is another Arizona supermarket chain that is headquatered in Tolleson. Fry's runs the pharmacy in Bagdad while Basha's runs the supermarket.
Life in a company town is more orderly than it is in "regular" towns. Not only because of the sameness of most of the housing stock, but there is more of an equality in incomes among the residents of the town. Oh, I realize there are different pay scales depending on the position within the company, but there is still a much smaller discrepancy in incomes in a company town than there is in a "regular" town. Most everybody in town knows what the inside of most the houses in town look like because most of the houses are the same. The only houses that are different belong to mining company managers and supervisors.
The supermarket in town was once operated by the mining company, but now is operated by Basha's Supermarkets, a Chandler, Arizona based supermarket chain that operates almost exclusively in Arizona except for one store in New Mexico and one store in California. It is still owned by Freeport McMoran, however, and I am sure they get a percentage of the profits. The transition from company store to supermarket chain seems to coincide with the buyout of Cyprus Bagdad Copper Company by Phelps Dodge, which was, in turn, purchased by Freeport McMoran.
The supermarket is part of Copper Plaza Shopping Center. This shopping center used to include Stockmen's Bank, but it closed and there are now, in its place, two credit unions, the Arizona State Credit Union and the Basha's Employees Credit Union. There used to be a one screen movie theater in this shopping center, but it closed in the mid 1990s and is now part video arcade and part video rental store. There are two convenience stores in Bagdad, one closes at approximately 5:00 or 6:00p.m. and the other closes at 10:00 p.m.
There are a few small cafes in town, but they seem to have limited hours. When I watched that football game in Bagdad in 2008, I ate at the deli at Basha's because none of the cafes seemed to be open.
Just like many small towns across America are dominated by a county courthouse or a City Hall in the middle of town, Bagdad is dominated by the Corporate Offices for Freeport McMoran's Bagdad Mining District.
Main Street in Bagdad runs east-west through town and, just past the high school, enters the mine. It is a big, open pit copper mine. It runs on a round-the-clock schedule.
The high school is actually a high school/middle school combination and there is an elementary school on the north side of town.
Bagdad sits at an elevation of 4,101 feet above sea level. The highway into town makes a steep climb to reach Bagdad. In fact, the junction of Highways 96 and 97, four miles east of town, sits in a saguaro cactus studded landscape while Bagdad, just a short distance away, sits at too high of an elevation for saguaros to grow. The saguaros just east of Bagdad are among the highest elevation saguaros in existence.
There is a clinic in Bagdad, next to the mine entrance, but it used to be a full fledged, 11 bed hospital. The pharmacy in the clinic is operated by Fry's Food and Drug, which is another Arizona supermarket chain that is headquatered in Tolleson. Fry's runs the pharmacy in Bagdad while Basha's runs the supermarket.
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
At Road's End, Part 2
I moved out to Arizona in 1990 and it wasn't long after that before I made my first trip to Bagdad. It was probably 1991 or 1992 when I made my first trip there.
I look at maps frequently and, after I noticed how Bagdad was situated at the end of a highway, I had been intrigued by it for quite some time. You have to actually be heading there to visit Bagdad, you can't just drive through Bagdad on the way to somewhere else.
The first time I visited Bagdad, I was expecting a rundown, dilapidated mining town, but that is not what I saw. Instead, I saw a very attractive, well kempt town. About 95% of the houses are Spanish style, that is white, or cream colored stucco with red shingle roofs. Some of the commercial buildings in town have red Spanish tile roofs, but the houses have red shingle roofs. I am sure the shingles are alot cheaper. On my first trip to Bagdad, I did not know that it was a company town, though I had my suspicions because of its isolated location at the end of a highway. Seeing the uniformity of the town was my first clue that it was, indeed, a company town. Also, at the time, the supermarket was operated by the mining company. It was called Cyprus Bagdad Mercantile at the time, but now it is operated by Basha's Supermarkets, a Chandler, Arizona based supermarket chain that has stores almost exclusively in Arizona except for one in Needles, California and one in Crownpoint, New Mexico. Even though Basha's operates the store now, it is still owned by the mining company, now Freeport McMoran. Basha's also operates the store in Arizona's other company town, Morenci.
The highway into Bagdad, State Highway 96, is known as Main Street in town. In fact, the highway does not actually enter Bagdad. The state maintained highway ends at the city limits and the road in town is maintained by the mining company. I have not been to Bagdad since 2008, but I have heard that the state maintained highway now ends 4 miles east of Bagdad at the junction with State Highway 97. Evidently there were some issues with Freeport McMoran over ownership of the 4 miles of road between this point and the Bagdad city limits. This makes an "end to end" highway intersection if this is indeed the case. Main Street runs all the way through Bagdad and, just past the high school, enters the mine. This is the entrance to the Freeport McMoran Bagdad Mine. It is the only entrance that I know of. There is a huge, open pit copper mine a short distance west of the high school.
The principal north-south street in Lindahl Road. This is the road that becomes a dirt road a short distance outside of town and then, beyond that, enters Prescott National Forest and is maintained by the Forest Service. After about 50 miles of tortuous mountain driving, a driver on this road, known as Forest Road 68, can make a connection to another road that provides access to the towns of Chino Valley or Prescott, depending on direction of travel.
Back in Bagdad, North Lindahl Road is a wide, 4-lane street, but South Lindahl Road is a much narrower, and quieter, residential street.
Bagdad is completely surrounded by hills and mesas and is bisected by Bridle Creek, which is usually dry. Highway 96 into Bagdad follows Bridle Creek for about 15 miles, crossing it repeatedly.
The first time I was ever in Bagdad, I remember seeing a drive in movie theater screen perched on top of Bozarth Mesa, just west of town. The second time I was there, the screen was gone. There is still a dirt road that switchbacks its way up the side of the mesa to the abandoned drive in theater. I have not explored it though because everything around here is owned by the mining comapny, so I did not want to trespass.
I look at maps frequently and, after I noticed how Bagdad was situated at the end of a highway, I had been intrigued by it for quite some time. You have to actually be heading there to visit Bagdad, you can't just drive through Bagdad on the way to somewhere else.
The first time I visited Bagdad, I was expecting a rundown, dilapidated mining town, but that is not what I saw. Instead, I saw a very attractive, well kempt town. About 95% of the houses are Spanish style, that is white, or cream colored stucco with red shingle roofs. Some of the commercial buildings in town have red Spanish tile roofs, but the houses have red shingle roofs. I am sure the shingles are alot cheaper. On my first trip to Bagdad, I did not know that it was a company town, though I had my suspicions because of its isolated location at the end of a highway. Seeing the uniformity of the town was my first clue that it was, indeed, a company town. Also, at the time, the supermarket was operated by the mining company. It was called Cyprus Bagdad Mercantile at the time, but now it is operated by Basha's Supermarkets, a Chandler, Arizona based supermarket chain that has stores almost exclusively in Arizona except for one in Needles, California and one in Crownpoint, New Mexico. Even though Basha's operates the store now, it is still owned by the mining company, now Freeport McMoran. Basha's also operates the store in Arizona's other company town, Morenci.
The highway into Bagdad, State Highway 96, is known as Main Street in town. In fact, the highway does not actually enter Bagdad. The state maintained highway ends at the city limits and the road in town is maintained by the mining company. I have not been to Bagdad since 2008, but I have heard that the state maintained highway now ends 4 miles east of Bagdad at the junction with State Highway 97. Evidently there were some issues with Freeport McMoran over ownership of the 4 miles of road between this point and the Bagdad city limits. This makes an "end to end" highway intersection if this is indeed the case. Main Street runs all the way through Bagdad and, just past the high school, enters the mine. This is the entrance to the Freeport McMoran Bagdad Mine. It is the only entrance that I know of. There is a huge, open pit copper mine a short distance west of the high school.
The principal north-south street in Lindahl Road. This is the road that becomes a dirt road a short distance outside of town and then, beyond that, enters Prescott National Forest and is maintained by the Forest Service. After about 50 miles of tortuous mountain driving, a driver on this road, known as Forest Road 68, can make a connection to another road that provides access to the towns of Chino Valley or Prescott, depending on direction of travel.
Back in Bagdad, North Lindahl Road is a wide, 4-lane street, but South Lindahl Road is a much narrower, and quieter, residential street.
Bagdad is completely surrounded by hills and mesas and is bisected by Bridle Creek, which is usually dry. Highway 96 into Bagdad follows Bridle Creek for about 15 miles, crossing it repeatedly.
The first time I was ever in Bagdad, I remember seeing a drive in movie theater screen perched on top of Bozarth Mesa, just west of town. The second time I was there, the screen was gone. There is still a dirt road that switchbacks its way up the side of the mesa to the abandoned drive in theater. I have not explored it though because everything around here is owned by the mining comapny, so I did not want to trespass.
Sunday, August 19, 2012
At Road's End
In western Arizona lies the company town of Bagdad. Bagdad is a town of about 1,700 people that lies literally at the end of the road. It is located at the very end of State Highway 96. The state maintained highway ends on the east side of town near the baseball and softball fields that are used by the local high school teams. Beyond that point, the street is maintained by the mining company, as is everything else in Bagdad.
The road into Bagdad, State Highway 96, is a very narrow and winding road where one can rarely travel more than 50 miles per hour. 40 to 45 miles per hour is the norm on this road. This highway does not have any banked curves, no shoulders, no guardrails and very few of the modern amenities one would expect to find on a highway. Basically, it is a dirt road that was paved, if that makes any sense. It was once a long dirt road until sometime in the 1970s that was paved with no other improvements being made to it.
There is one other way into Bagdad by vehicle and that is on Lindahl Road. This road is only paved for 3 1/2 miles outside of Bagdad and then it becomes a dirt road that is very washboarded in places and impassable after torrential downpours or snowstorms higher up in the mountains. After Lindahl Road leaves Bagdad, it is still maintained by the mining company until it enters Prescott National Forest, at which point it is maintained by the Forest Service as
Forest Road 68. About 50 miles northeast of Bagdad, Forest Road 68 connects with Williamson Valley Road, a county maintained road that provides a connection to Chino Valley, a town of 13,000 people about 10 miles away, or Prescott, a city of 50,000 that is about 18 miles away. At the intersection with Forest Road 68, the pavement on Williamson Valley Road ends.
Leaving Bagdad on the main road, State Highway 96, it is 39 miles to the nearest road that will provide a connection to Prescott and 43 miles to State Highway 89, which is a busy road that was a federal highway, U.S. Highway 89, until September of 1992. Also four miles outside of Bagdad, State Highway 97 splits off from Highway 96 and winds 16 crooked miles to U.S. Highway 93, which is the main highway between Phoenix and Las Vegas. Despite that connection to a major highway, it is still 32 miles in one direction and 46 miles in the other direction to any type of traveler's services.
Bagdad is owned and operated by Freeport McMoran, a mining company that bought out the more well known mining giant, Phelps-Dodge, in 2007. In turn, Phelps-Dodge bought out the original owners of Bagdad, Cyprus Bagdad Copper Company sometime in the mid to late 1990s, I am not exactly sure when.
Bagdad is a very insular and isolated community and visiting this little mining town in the mountains is like a breath of fresh air because it is not commercialized like most towns today are.
In the next few emails, I will write more about Bagdad.
The road into Bagdad, State Highway 96, is a very narrow and winding road where one can rarely travel more than 50 miles per hour. 40 to 45 miles per hour is the norm on this road. This highway does not have any banked curves, no shoulders, no guardrails and very few of the modern amenities one would expect to find on a highway. Basically, it is a dirt road that was paved, if that makes any sense. It was once a long dirt road until sometime in the 1970s that was paved with no other improvements being made to it.
There is one other way into Bagdad by vehicle and that is on Lindahl Road. This road is only paved for 3 1/2 miles outside of Bagdad and then it becomes a dirt road that is very washboarded in places and impassable after torrential downpours or snowstorms higher up in the mountains. After Lindahl Road leaves Bagdad, it is still maintained by the mining company until it enters Prescott National Forest, at which point it is maintained by the Forest Service as
Forest Road 68. About 50 miles northeast of Bagdad, Forest Road 68 connects with Williamson Valley Road, a county maintained road that provides a connection to Chino Valley, a town of 13,000 people about 10 miles away, or Prescott, a city of 50,000 that is about 18 miles away. At the intersection with Forest Road 68, the pavement on Williamson Valley Road ends.
Leaving Bagdad on the main road, State Highway 96, it is 39 miles to the nearest road that will provide a connection to Prescott and 43 miles to State Highway 89, which is a busy road that was a federal highway, U.S. Highway 89, until September of 1992. Also four miles outside of Bagdad, State Highway 97 splits off from Highway 96 and winds 16 crooked miles to U.S. Highway 93, which is the main highway between Phoenix and Las Vegas. Despite that connection to a major highway, it is still 32 miles in one direction and 46 miles in the other direction to any type of traveler's services.
Bagdad is owned and operated by Freeport McMoran, a mining company that bought out the more well known mining giant, Phelps-Dodge, in 2007. In turn, Phelps-Dodge bought out the original owners of Bagdad, Cyprus Bagdad Copper Company sometime in the mid to late 1990s, I am not exactly sure when.
Bagdad is a very insular and isolated community and visiting this little mining town in the mountains is like a breath of fresh air because it is not commercialized like most towns today are.
In the next few emails, I will write more about Bagdad.
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Company Towns
Company owned towns are towns that were built by a specific industry, usually in a remote area, to provide housing and community services for the company's employees and their families. Company owned towns are usually mining communities that are built close to a mine for the specific purpose of housing employees of the mine.
In a company town, everything is owned by the company, the houses, the streets, the schools, the land, everything. There is usually a company-owned supermarket in these towns, but sometimes the company contracts out to a store chain to operate the supermarket with a certain percentage of the profits going into company coffers. The people that live in these towns pay rent to their employer by means of a paycheck deduction, they put their money in a company owned credit union or bank, eat in company owned restaurants, go to movies in a company owned theater, go to company owned schools. however, the pay scale in these towns is usually pretty high, quite a but higher than other towns nearby.
Company towns have a unique look to them. For example, all, or most, of the houses look identical to each other, same size, same style, etc. There are a few houses that are different and these are usually manager's houses or supervisor's houses. The businesses in these towns are all built according to a particular architectural style and, in the company towns I have personally been to, that architectural style is usually Spanish style, white stucco buildings with red tile roofs or red shingle roofs.
One thing I have noticed about company towns is that they are very neat, clean and orderly. They are very well tended and maintained. Very few of these towns have a traditional street grid. These towns are usually designed with curving streets.
Usually these towns are policed by the company's private security force, but sometimes the security force works in conjunction with the county sheriff's department, which may have a substation in town.
Any hospitals or clinics in these towns are company owned, but may be contracted out to a private company.
The state I lived in for 18 years, Arizona, has 2 company towns, Bagdad and Morenci, but it used to have more. One of them, San Manuel, was a company town owned by ASARCO until 2003, but now it is a "regular" town, for lack of a better term. The residents there now own their property. San Manuel is now basically a bedroom community for Tucson.
There were once other company towns in Arizona, such as Clarkdale, Ajo, Kearny and Superior, but they were given up by their respective companies years ago. One of them, Ajo, still looks like a company town even through Phelps Dodge (now Freeport-McMoran), gave it up in the 1980s. It still has the orderliness of a company town even though it no longer is. But some of this orderliness is now abandoned, such as the huge hospital on the hill in the southern part of town. The downtown plaza of Ajo has the Spanish style look that I mentioned earlier.
San Manuel still looks like a company town, but it was a company town until 9 years ago.
Kearny still looks like a company town, but it no longer is. Now it is an incorporated town with its own municipal government and police force. Other former company towns have become ghost towns when the company no longer had any use for them or were re-located because an open pit mine swallowed up the original townsite. Some of these former company towns, after being given up by the company, have fallen on hard times and are now extremely rundown, dilapidated and poverty stricken.
In a company town, everything is owned by the company, the houses, the streets, the schools, the land, everything. There is usually a company-owned supermarket in these towns, but sometimes the company contracts out to a store chain to operate the supermarket with a certain percentage of the profits going into company coffers. The people that live in these towns pay rent to their employer by means of a paycheck deduction, they put their money in a company owned credit union or bank, eat in company owned restaurants, go to movies in a company owned theater, go to company owned schools. however, the pay scale in these towns is usually pretty high, quite a but higher than other towns nearby.
Company towns have a unique look to them. For example, all, or most, of the houses look identical to each other, same size, same style, etc. There are a few houses that are different and these are usually manager's houses or supervisor's houses. The businesses in these towns are all built according to a particular architectural style and, in the company towns I have personally been to, that architectural style is usually Spanish style, white stucco buildings with red tile roofs or red shingle roofs.
One thing I have noticed about company towns is that they are very neat, clean and orderly. They are very well tended and maintained. Very few of these towns have a traditional street grid. These towns are usually designed with curving streets.
Usually these towns are policed by the company's private security force, but sometimes the security force works in conjunction with the county sheriff's department, which may have a substation in town.
Any hospitals or clinics in these towns are company owned, but may be contracted out to a private company.
The state I lived in for 18 years, Arizona, has 2 company towns, Bagdad and Morenci, but it used to have more. One of them, San Manuel, was a company town owned by ASARCO until 2003, but now it is a "regular" town, for lack of a better term. The residents there now own their property. San Manuel is now basically a bedroom community for Tucson.
There were once other company towns in Arizona, such as Clarkdale, Ajo, Kearny and Superior, but they were given up by their respective companies years ago. One of them, Ajo, still looks like a company town even through Phelps Dodge (now Freeport-McMoran), gave it up in the 1980s. It still has the orderliness of a company town even though it no longer is. But some of this orderliness is now abandoned, such as the huge hospital on the hill in the southern part of town. The downtown plaza of Ajo has the Spanish style look that I mentioned earlier.
San Manuel still looks like a company town, but it was a company town until 9 years ago.
Kearny still looks like a company town, but it no longer is. Now it is an incorporated town with its own municipal government and police force. Other former company towns have become ghost towns when the company no longer had any use for them or were re-located because an open pit mine swallowed up the original townsite. Some of these former company towns, after being given up by the company, have fallen on hard times and are now extremely rundown, dilapidated and poverty stricken.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
A Forgotten Corner
Forty miles south of Hobbs is the town of Jal. Jal is located in the far southeast corner of
New Mexico. If one were to start at the principal intersection in Jal, which is State Highway 18 and Kansas Avenue, and drive east, it is only 7 1/2 miles to the Texas border. If one were to drive south from this point, it is only 9.1 miles to the Texas border. From the Jal city limits, it is only
6 1/2 miles, in both directions, to the Texas border.
Even though Jal sits at a fairly lofty elevation of 3,030 feet above sea level, it is the lowest town in New Mexico in elevation. It is not the lowest point in New Mexico, but it is the lowest town. The lowest point is farther west, south of Carlsbad, on the shore of Red Bluff Lake at the Texas border. The elevation at that point is 2,817 feet above sea level. So, as you can see, New Mexico is a very lofty state when it comes to elevation when the lowest town in the state is more than 3,000 feet above sea level. The only two states with higher average elevations than New Mexico are Colorado and Wyoming and the average elevation in Wyoming is only about 50 feet higher than the average elevation in New Mexico.
There is some debate over how Jal got its name. It is someone's initials, but whose? More importantly, JAL was a well known cattle brand before the town even existed. One candidate for the town's name is John A. Lynch. No one seems to know his middle name, just the initial. He spent some time in this area in the 1800s, but he then moved on so I doubt that he knew about the existence of the town that sprang up on the spot that bore his initials. John A. Lynch does not seem like he had much, if anything, to do with the establishment of the town or the cattle brand.
The next candidate is John Albert Lawrence. He settled in this area and started a small cattle ranch. He seems to be the one who started the JAL cattle brand and, in 1881, he sold the brand to the Cowden Cattle Company. Interestingly, the three Cowden brothers were names James, Amos and Liddon. There's those JAL initials again. The Cowden Brothers established their ranch headquarters along Monument Draw, a dry stream channel that runs five miles east of the current townsite of Jal. They continued using the JAL cattle brand and, it is claimed, they registered the brand in 1897. However, there seems to be some problems with this account also. The town is named for the cattle brand and I believe John Albert Lawrence or the Cowden Brothers are the most likely sources of the town's unusual name. Evidently, historians have not been able to pinpoint the exact origin of the town's name.
The name is phonetic. Some people pronounce it "JAIL" or "JALL." Or, since it is in
New Mexico, many people assume that the "J" has an "H" sound, as is the case in Spanish words, so they pronounce the town's name "HALL" or "HAL." Interesting how a name that only has 3 letters in it gets mispronounced by so many people.
New Mexico. If one were to start at the principal intersection in Jal, which is State Highway 18 and Kansas Avenue, and drive east, it is only 7 1/2 miles to the Texas border. If one were to drive south from this point, it is only 9.1 miles to the Texas border. From the Jal city limits, it is only
6 1/2 miles, in both directions, to the Texas border.
Even though Jal sits at a fairly lofty elevation of 3,030 feet above sea level, it is the lowest town in New Mexico in elevation. It is not the lowest point in New Mexico, but it is the lowest town. The lowest point is farther west, south of Carlsbad, on the shore of Red Bluff Lake at the Texas border. The elevation at that point is 2,817 feet above sea level. So, as you can see, New Mexico is a very lofty state when it comes to elevation when the lowest town in the state is more than 3,000 feet above sea level. The only two states with higher average elevations than New Mexico are Colorado and Wyoming and the average elevation in Wyoming is only about 50 feet higher than the average elevation in New Mexico.
There is some debate over how Jal got its name. It is someone's initials, but whose? More importantly, JAL was a well known cattle brand before the town even existed. One candidate for the town's name is John A. Lynch. No one seems to know his middle name, just the initial. He spent some time in this area in the 1800s, but he then moved on so I doubt that he knew about the existence of the town that sprang up on the spot that bore his initials. John A. Lynch does not seem like he had much, if anything, to do with the establishment of the town or the cattle brand.
The next candidate is John Albert Lawrence. He settled in this area and started a small cattle ranch. He seems to be the one who started the JAL cattle brand and, in 1881, he sold the brand to the Cowden Cattle Company. Interestingly, the three Cowden brothers were names James, Amos and Liddon. There's those JAL initials again. The Cowden Brothers established their ranch headquarters along Monument Draw, a dry stream channel that runs five miles east of the current townsite of Jal. They continued using the JAL cattle brand and, it is claimed, they registered the brand in 1897. However, there seems to be some problems with this account also. The town is named for the cattle brand and I believe John Albert Lawrence or the Cowden Brothers are the most likely sources of the town's unusual name. Evidently, historians have not been able to pinpoint the exact origin of the town's name.
The name is phonetic. Some people pronounce it "JAIL" or "JALL." Or, since it is in
New Mexico, many people assume that the "J" has an "H" sound, as is the case in Spanish words, so they pronounce the town's name "HALL" or "HAL." Interesting how a name that only has 3 letters in it gets mispronounced by so many people.
Monday, July 9, 2012
A Modern Day Boomtown
In my neck of the woods, there is an oil boom going on and it has led to some growth in a normally economically depressed area, but the oil boom around here pales in comparison to what is going on in Hobbs, New Mexico, located near the southeast corner of that state.
Hobbs is located 3 miles from the Texas border, if one were to drive east, and 49 miles from the Texas border if one were to drive south.
Hobbs exploded into prominence in 1928 when the Discovery Well gushed forth black gold. What was an isolated town of a few hundred people suddenly exploded into a town of about 16,000 people and a rival town called New Hobbs, located immediately to the south of Hobbs and east of the gusher, sprang into existence and, within two years, had about 9,000 people.
When the Discovery Well spewed forth on the Will Terry Ranch near Hobbs on June 13, 1928, the town was little more than a general merchandise store, a post office and a small school. The town's prospects for the future looked bleak. When the well first started gushing, it had to be capped because there was no infrastructure with which to transport the oil. There were no pipelines, no storage tanks, no railroad and also no roads to speak of except for primitive dirt tracks that all petered out within a few miles of the town. Very quickly all of these things were put in place and Hobbs and New Hobbs were declared the two fastest growing cities in the United States in the 1930 Census.
Hobbs and New Hobbs merged into one town in 1938 and, ever since then, the town's fortunes have waxed and waned with the oil industry. The economy of Hobbs had been inextricably linked to the oil industry ever since the gusher came in. There is some agriculture in the area, mostly east of Hobbs in Texas, but not much. Hobbs is basically a one-industry town, although that is slowly changing as city leaders are working to diversify its economy.
The population of Hobbs has been as high as 33,000, but, for the most part, it has hovered in the 26,000 to 29,000 range since the 1940s--until now.
The first time I ever saw Hobbs was in the early 1980s on my way to summer camp near
Santa Fe. I remember saying to myself "Wow, what a depressed-looking town." This was during the oil bust of the 1980s that led to the biggest bank foreclosure in American history, the
Midland National Bank in Midland, Texas, which is a 94 mile drive from Hobbs.
The last 2 times I was in Hobbs, which were both in 2011, I could hardly believe my eyes!
From the 2000 Census to the 2010 Census, the population had jumped from 28,657 to 34,122. In the two years since the last Census was enumerated, the population has risen to about 46,000, making Hobbs the seventh largest city in New Mexico. The exact population is hard to determine because so many people are living in motels and RV parks because of the acute housing shortage. Apartments, houses and entire neighborhoods are under construction everywhere and they cannot be built fast enough because of the extremely high demand. New motels are being built and many other new businesses have moved in such as Lowe's and Home Depot.
Hobbs is located 3 miles from the Texas border, if one were to drive east, and 49 miles from the Texas border if one were to drive south.
Hobbs exploded into prominence in 1928 when the Discovery Well gushed forth black gold. What was an isolated town of a few hundred people suddenly exploded into a town of about 16,000 people and a rival town called New Hobbs, located immediately to the south of Hobbs and east of the gusher, sprang into existence and, within two years, had about 9,000 people.
When the Discovery Well spewed forth on the Will Terry Ranch near Hobbs on June 13, 1928, the town was little more than a general merchandise store, a post office and a small school. The town's prospects for the future looked bleak. When the well first started gushing, it had to be capped because there was no infrastructure with which to transport the oil. There were no pipelines, no storage tanks, no railroad and also no roads to speak of except for primitive dirt tracks that all petered out within a few miles of the town. Very quickly all of these things were put in place and Hobbs and New Hobbs were declared the two fastest growing cities in the United States in the 1930 Census.
Hobbs and New Hobbs merged into one town in 1938 and, ever since then, the town's fortunes have waxed and waned with the oil industry. The economy of Hobbs had been inextricably linked to the oil industry ever since the gusher came in. There is some agriculture in the area, mostly east of Hobbs in Texas, but not much. Hobbs is basically a one-industry town, although that is slowly changing as city leaders are working to diversify its economy.
The population of Hobbs has been as high as 33,000, but, for the most part, it has hovered in the 26,000 to 29,000 range since the 1940s--until now.
The first time I ever saw Hobbs was in the early 1980s on my way to summer camp near
Santa Fe. I remember saying to myself "Wow, what a depressed-looking town." This was during the oil bust of the 1980s that led to the biggest bank foreclosure in American history, the
Midland National Bank in Midland, Texas, which is a 94 mile drive from Hobbs.
The last 2 times I was in Hobbs, which were both in 2011, I could hardly believe my eyes!
From the 2000 Census to the 2010 Census, the population had jumped from 28,657 to 34,122. In the two years since the last Census was enumerated, the population has risen to about 46,000, making Hobbs the seventh largest city in New Mexico. The exact population is hard to determine because so many people are living in motels and RV parks because of the acute housing shortage. Apartments, houses and entire neighborhoods are under construction everywhere and they cannot be built fast enough because of the extremely high demand. New motels are being built and many other new businesses have moved in such as Lowe's and Home Depot.
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
The Valley of Hidden Waters
Seventy miles east of El Paso, Texas, is a lonely turnoff to one of the most isolated towns in Texas. This town, Dell City, has about 350 people and it was founded in 1948, so it is a relatively new town.
In 1947, geologists were exploring this area in northern Hudspeth County looking for underground oil reserves to exploit. What they found instead led to the settling of the valley and the creation of a town. Instead of finding oil reserves, a vast, subterranean aquifer of water was discovered. Very shortly after news of this discovery got out, people began moving to the area to claim their plot of land so they could establish their own farm. It is one of the most recent "rushes" or "booms" in the United States, but this "rush" was not the result of mining or an oil boom. It was because a vast amount of water was discovered in a parched and barren desert. Almost as soon as it was founded, Dell City boomed. At its peak, Dell City had 13 bars, 5 stores, a drugstore, 2 banks and a John Deere tractor dealership. The population peaked at about 900 in the 1960 Census. The most commonly grown crops in this new farming area were onions, tomatoes and lettuce. Today, onions and tomatoes are still grown, but the lettuce crop has been replaced with alfalfa. A movie theater even opened in the fledgling town, the El Capitan Theater. The theater closed for good in the early 1970s and served as a residence for awhile before being abandoned entirely.
Today, the downtown business district lies mostly abandoned and derelict. The population of Dell City has dwindled to about 300, one-third of what it was in 1960. There is one small grocery store in town with gas pumps across South Main Street in which a person can only purchase gas with a credit card or debit card. These are the only gas pumps over a huge area. There are no convenience stores in town.
The school district now has only 67 students in grades K through 12 and the high school only had 19 students this past school year. The school's six-man football team, the Dell City Cougars, only played 5 games last fall before they were forced to cancel the rest of the season due to lack of players. Their prospects for fielding a team this coming fall look grim. The Dell City Independent School District is paid by the Alamogordo School District in New Mexico to educate the handful of students that live in New Mexico, which is just a few miles north of Dell City. The state border is only 4 miles away. Since there are no other schools within an hour's drive of Dell City, I am sure the local schools will stay open as long as there are people living in the area.
There are still alot of farms in the Dell City area, but these farms are the only reason for Dell City's existence.
Ironically, the very thing that created Dell City in the first place, vast underground water reserves, is also going to be the death knell for the town in the very near future. This is because rapidly growing El Paso, 70 miles to the west, is going to need the Dell Valley's water to sustain its rapidly expanding population. El Paso's principal water supply, the Rio Grande, is rarely more than a trickle these days and is often dry. It also has to serve the needs of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. El Paso's two water supply reservoirs in New Mexico, Elephant Butte Lake and Caballo Lake are both more than half a century old and were constructed when El Paso was much smaller than it is now.
So, the very thing that created Dell City in 1948 is also going to be the thing that kills the town in the very near future, leaving nothing but an abandoned townsite and abandoned farms left to be reclaimed by the Chihuahuan Desert.
In 1947, geologists were exploring this area in northern Hudspeth County looking for underground oil reserves to exploit. What they found instead led to the settling of the valley and the creation of a town. Instead of finding oil reserves, a vast, subterranean aquifer of water was discovered. Very shortly after news of this discovery got out, people began moving to the area to claim their plot of land so they could establish their own farm. It is one of the most recent "rushes" or "booms" in the United States, but this "rush" was not the result of mining or an oil boom. It was because a vast amount of water was discovered in a parched and barren desert. Almost as soon as it was founded, Dell City boomed. At its peak, Dell City had 13 bars, 5 stores, a drugstore, 2 banks and a John Deere tractor dealership. The population peaked at about 900 in the 1960 Census. The most commonly grown crops in this new farming area were onions, tomatoes and lettuce. Today, onions and tomatoes are still grown, but the lettuce crop has been replaced with alfalfa. A movie theater even opened in the fledgling town, the El Capitan Theater. The theater closed for good in the early 1970s and served as a residence for awhile before being abandoned entirely.
Today, the downtown business district lies mostly abandoned and derelict. The population of Dell City has dwindled to about 300, one-third of what it was in 1960. There is one small grocery store in town with gas pumps across South Main Street in which a person can only purchase gas with a credit card or debit card. These are the only gas pumps over a huge area. There are no convenience stores in town.
The school district now has only 67 students in grades K through 12 and the high school only had 19 students this past school year. The school's six-man football team, the Dell City Cougars, only played 5 games last fall before they were forced to cancel the rest of the season due to lack of players. Their prospects for fielding a team this coming fall look grim. The Dell City Independent School District is paid by the Alamogordo School District in New Mexico to educate the handful of students that live in New Mexico, which is just a few miles north of Dell City. The state border is only 4 miles away. Since there are no other schools within an hour's drive of Dell City, I am sure the local schools will stay open as long as there are people living in the area.
There are still alot of farms in the Dell City area, but these farms are the only reason for Dell City's existence.
Ironically, the very thing that created Dell City in the first place, vast underground water reserves, is also going to be the death knell for the town in the very near future. This is because rapidly growing El Paso, 70 miles to the west, is going to need the Dell Valley's water to sustain its rapidly expanding population. El Paso's principal water supply, the Rio Grande, is rarely more than a trickle these days and is often dry. It also has to serve the needs of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. El Paso's two water supply reservoirs in New Mexico, Elephant Butte Lake and Caballo Lake are both more than half a century old and were constructed when El Paso was much smaller than it is now.
So, the very thing that created Dell City in 1948 is also going to be the thing that kills the town in the very near future, leaving nothing but an abandoned townsite and abandoned farms left to be reclaimed by the Chihuahuan Desert.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Down River
From the south end of Yuma, it is an 18 mile drive to the end of U.S. Highway 95. The highway ends at the border with Mexico. The highways makes quite a few twists and turns through the flat, fertile farmland of the area. The soil was laid down over the eons by the once mighty Colorado River. Lettuce seems to be the most prevalent crop, although many other crops are grown in this area as well. While driving Highway 95, the Colorado River is never more than 2 or 3 miles away.
The first town south of Yuma is Somerton, which has about 14,000 people. Somerton is only 101 feet above sea level. Seven miles south of Somerton is Gadsden, which has about 1,200 people. It is an unincorporated community that was named for the Gadsden Purchase, which brought this area into the United States when it was purchased from Mexico in 1853. The president of Mexico at the time was still Jose Lopez de Santa Anna, who was president, actually dictator, during Texas's fight for independence in 1836. He sold the land that his northern neighbor coveted to earn money to pay off a huge war debt. This action proved so unpopular that it drove Santa Anna out of office in disgrace.
Five miles south of Gadsden is San Luis, the second biggest town in Yuma County with about 31,000 people. San Luis is located in the far southwest corner of Arizona. It is bordered by Mexico on 2 sides, the south and west. The border on the west side is the usually dry Colorado River and the southern border is a high, steel fence that spans the sering desert. Although San Luis is an extremely poor community, it does not look as poor as many I have seen because, since it has been growing at such an explosive rate, most of the housing stock is new or somewhat new, less than twenty years. Also, nearly every street in town is paved and has curbs and gutters. Not something I would expect to see in a town where the yearly per capita income is only $5,377. This figure qualifies San Luis as one of the poorest towns in the United States. San Luis is typical of many towns on the Mexican border in that Spanish is the most commonly heard language on the streets. The explosive growth of San Luis has spilled out onto the sand dunes east of town.
Towns in Arizona put their elevation on their city limit signs. I have a problem with the posted elevation for San Luis. The city limit sign says that the elevation is 130 feet above sea level. That would make San Luis 29 feet higher than Somerton even though it is downstream from Somerton, closer to the river's vanished delta. The official lowest point in Arizona is 70 feet above sea level at the point where the Colorado River meets the border with Mexico. Notice I did not say 'flows into Mexico.' The river does not flow into Mexico anymore because it has been completely siphoned off for human use above this point. Anyway, there is a small bluff a few feet high on the American side of the Colorado here, but it does not account for that 60 foot discrepancy. I would say the elevation of San Luis, at least in the downtown business district, is about 77 to 80 feet above sea level. Furthermore, that 70 foot figure was taken when the Colorado used to flow into Mexico. Was that figure taken at the normal water surface or at the river bottom? The official description says "At the point where the Colorado River flows into Mexico." Since it does not flow into Mexico anymore, does that mean the lowest point in Arizona is less than 70 feet above sea level now?
Just south of the big, ugly, imposing border wall lies the city of San Luis Rio Colorado, Mexico. It lies in the northwest corner of the state of Sonora, across the dry Colorado River from the state of Baja California. San Luis Rio Colorado has approximately 250,000 people and is one of the fastest growing cities in Mexico. I crossed the border here once, in 2000, and explored a good sized chunk of the central city on foot.
The first town south of Yuma is Somerton, which has about 14,000 people. Somerton is only 101 feet above sea level. Seven miles south of Somerton is Gadsden, which has about 1,200 people. It is an unincorporated community that was named for the Gadsden Purchase, which brought this area into the United States when it was purchased from Mexico in 1853. The president of Mexico at the time was still Jose Lopez de Santa Anna, who was president, actually dictator, during Texas's fight for independence in 1836. He sold the land that his northern neighbor coveted to earn money to pay off a huge war debt. This action proved so unpopular that it drove Santa Anna out of office in disgrace.
Five miles south of Gadsden is San Luis, the second biggest town in Yuma County with about 31,000 people. San Luis is located in the far southwest corner of Arizona. It is bordered by Mexico on 2 sides, the south and west. The border on the west side is the usually dry Colorado River and the southern border is a high, steel fence that spans the sering desert. Although San Luis is an extremely poor community, it does not look as poor as many I have seen because, since it has been growing at such an explosive rate, most of the housing stock is new or somewhat new, less than twenty years. Also, nearly every street in town is paved and has curbs and gutters. Not something I would expect to see in a town where the yearly per capita income is only $5,377. This figure qualifies San Luis as one of the poorest towns in the United States. San Luis is typical of many towns on the Mexican border in that Spanish is the most commonly heard language on the streets. The explosive growth of San Luis has spilled out onto the sand dunes east of town.
Towns in Arizona put their elevation on their city limit signs. I have a problem with the posted elevation for San Luis. The city limit sign says that the elevation is 130 feet above sea level. That would make San Luis 29 feet higher than Somerton even though it is downstream from Somerton, closer to the river's vanished delta. The official lowest point in Arizona is 70 feet above sea level at the point where the Colorado River meets the border with Mexico. Notice I did not say 'flows into Mexico.' The river does not flow into Mexico anymore because it has been completely siphoned off for human use above this point. Anyway, there is a small bluff a few feet high on the American side of the Colorado here, but it does not account for that 60 foot discrepancy. I would say the elevation of San Luis, at least in the downtown business district, is about 77 to 80 feet above sea level. Furthermore, that 70 foot figure was taken when the Colorado used to flow into Mexico. Was that figure taken at the normal water surface or at the river bottom? The official description says "At the point where the Colorado River flows into Mexico." Since it does not flow into Mexico anymore, does that mean the lowest point in Arizona is less than 70 feet above sea level now?
Just south of the big, ugly, imposing border wall lies the city of San Luis Rio Colorado, Mexico. It lies in the northwest corner of the state of Sonora, across the dry Colorado River from the state of Baja California. San Luis Rio Colorado has approximately 250,000 people and is one of the fastest growing cities in Mexico. I crossed the border here once, in 2000, and explored a good sized chunk of the central city on foot.
Yuma Attractions
Well, I am going to skim over the rest of Yuma's sites and attractions because I have gotten too bogged down writing about this one area.
About one mile west of the old Yuma Prison, on the south bank of the Colorado, is Yuma Quartermaster Depot State Historic Park. It is well worth a visit. It looks like an army fort and in some respects it was, but its function was as a supply distribution center for the area. Most of the buildings on the site are reconstructions. The old carriage barn has lots of old photographs depicting Yuma in its earlier years. Some of these old photos show the Yuma County Courthouse with a silver dome on it. It does not have a dome anymore. The buildings on the north side of the compound are situated just a few feet from the old bank of the Colorado River. Below the high bank now, in the former river bottom, are hiking and biking trails and a nicely landscaped park area. Yuma Quartermaster Depot was located right at the Yuma Crossing, that shallow ford in the Colorado that was used extensively by travelers of the day.
Across the river from Yuma, in California, is the old Fort Yuma, once a U.S. Army Cavalry post. Today, Fort Yuma lies on Indian land. This is the Fort Yuma Indian Reservation, also known as the Quechan Indian Reservation. The tribe's name is pronounced QUAT-SAN. The tribal government complex occupies part of the old fort and most of the buildings are still in use, but some are abandoned and dilapidated.
Nearby is an old mission that is still active. It is one of the oldest buildings in this area. The mission bell chimes at noon every day and can be plainly heard across the river in downtown Yuma.
Back across the river in Yuma, another fascinating place to visit is the Sanguinetti House Museum. Once a private residence, it is now a historical museum that tells a compelling story of this strategically important area. All of these areas are well worth a visit.
The original automobile bridge across the Colorado is the Ocean to Ocean Highway Bridge. It re-opened to traffic in 2002 after being closed since 1988. It was the original routing of U.S. Highway 80 across the Colorado. It is extremely narrow, barely wide enough for two cars, but that is typical of bridges built during that era. When it was re-opened, it was decided to make it a one-way bridge, with alternating traffic flowing across the bridge guided by traffic lights. The extra space on each side, what little there is of it, now serves as pedestrian walkways. This bridge runs right alongside the railroad bridge. The bridge was closed to traffic from 1988 until 2002. It was built in 1914 and 1915 and opened to traffic in 1915. It was the first automobile bridge across the Colorado and its served as a vital transportation link for about 60 years.
Across the river from Yuma, on the California side, is the little town of Winterhaven. Winterhaven has about 500 people and is two miles north of Yuma. This community is an enclave of land that is surrounded by the Quechan Indian Reservation, but is not part of the reservation. Winterhaven lies just to the north of Interstate 80. From Winterhaven, there is a very clear view of the Yuma County Courthouse, a whitewashed building missing its dome that stands out in Yuma's downtown business district. The rest of downtown Yuma can be seen very clearly from Winterhaven as well.
The two most iconic images of Yuma are the Ocean to Ocean Highway Bridge and the guard tower at the Yuma Prison. These two structures are part of Yuma's legacy.
About one mile west of the old Yuma Prison, on the south bank of the Colorado, is Yuma Quartermaster Depot State Historic Park. It is well worth a visit. It looks like an army fort and in some respects it was, but its function was as a supply distribution center for the area. Most of the buildings on the site are reconstructions. The old carriage barn has lots of old photographs depicting Yuma in its earlier years. Some of these old photos show the Yuma County Courthouse with a silver dome on it. It does not have a dome anymore. The buildings on the north side of the compound are situated just a few feet from the old bank of the Colorado River. Below the high bank now, in the former river bottom, are hiking and biking trails and a nicely landscaped park area. Yuma Quartermaster Depot was located right at the Yuma Crossing, that shallow ford in the Colorado that was used extensively by travelers of the day.
Across the river from Yuma, in California, is the old Fort Yuma, once a U.S. Army Cavalry post. Today, Fort Yuma lies on Indian land. This is the Fort Yuma Indian Reservation, also known as the Quechan Indian Reservation. The tribe's name is pronounced QUAT-SAN. The tribal government complex occupies part of the old fort and most of the buildings are still in use, but some are abandoned and dilapidated.
Nearby is an old mission that is still active. It is one of the oldest buildings in this area. The mission bell chimes at noon every day and can be plainly heard across the river in downtown Yuma.
Back across the river in Yuma, another fascinating place to visit is the Sanguinetti House Museum. Once a private residence, it is now a historical museum that tells a compelling story of this strategically important area. All of these areas are well worth a visit.
The original automobile bridge across the Colorado is the Ocean to Ocean Highway Bridge. It re-opened to traffic in 2002 after being closed since 1988. It was the original routing of U.S. Highway 80 across the Colorado. It is extremely narrow, barely wide enough for two cars, but that is typical of bridges built during that era. When it was re-opened, it was decided to make it a one-way bridge, with alternating traffic flowing across the bridge guided by traffic lights. The extra space on each side, what little there is of it, now serves as pedestrian walkways. This bridge runs right alongside the railroad bridge. The bridge was closed to traffic from 1988 until 2002. It was built in 1914 and 1915 and opened to traffic in 1915. It was the first automobile bridge across the Colorado and its served as a vital transportation link for about 60 years.
Across the river from Yuma, on the California side, is the little town of Winterhaven. Winterhaven has about 500 people and is two miles north of Yuma. This community is an enclave of land that is surrounded by the Quechan Indian Reservation, but is not part of the reservation. Winterhaven lies just to the north of Interstate 80. From Winterhaven, there is a very clear view of the Yuma County Courthouse, a whitewashed building missing its dome that stands out in Yuma's downtown business district. The rest of downtown Yuma can be seen very clearly from Winterhaven as well.
The two most iconic images of Yuma are the Ocean to Ocean Highway Bridge and the guard tower at the Yuma Prison. These two structures are part of Yuma's legacy.
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
The Death Of A River, Part 3
The much diminished Colorado River flows past Yuma on an east-west course. The general direction here is north and south. West of Yuma, the river resumes its southerly course to the sea. After about two miles, the northernmost border of Mexico touches the river. This is the border between California and the Mexican state of Baja California. As the river continues its southward course from this point, it forms the border between Arizona of the United States and Baja California of Mexico. The Colorado is an international river for about twenty miles before entering Mexico for its final run to the sea.
One mile below the border between Mexico and California, lies the Morelos Dam, which was constructed by the government of Mexico to allocate their share of the Colorado River's much sought after water. Half of the dam is on American soil, but Mexico is responsible for all maintenance. This is where the Colorado River meets its final, ignominious death.
Morelos Dam is also a diversion dam and it diverts what is left of the Colorado's meager flow into Mexico to water farms in the Mexican portion of the Yuma Valley and also the distant Mexicali Valley, which contains nearly one million people, about 700,000 of them in Mexicali, the capital city of Baja California. Below Morelos Dam, the Colorado River, one of the longest rivers in the world, is dry. There is usually a small pool of water at the downstream base of Morelos Dam, but those are the final droplets in the river that once watered a narrow, but lush, riparian strip along its course that was a sharp contrast to the surrounding desert. The river continues below the dam as a dried up riverbed all the way to its now dead delta on the Sea of Cortez.
There is still a busy and prosperous farming area on both sides of the river. The soil is rich and fertile due to the Colorado laying down tons of sediment over the eons, carving and recarving new channels in the process. A glance at aerial maps of the area will reveal faint traces of old river channels that the Colorado has abandoned over the centuries.
A study that was done about ten years ago shows that if only 1% of the Colorado's flow is allowed to each the sea, it would at least partially restore the "milk and honey" wilderness, as described by Aldo Leopold shortly before the first dam across the Colorado, the Laguna, was built and altered the course of the lower river forever. He canoed through this area in the early 1900s, just a short time before construction on the Laguna Dam commenced in 1903.
One mile below the border between Mexico and California, lies the Morelos Dam, which was constructed by the government of Mexico to allocate their share of the Colorado River's much sought after water. Half of the dam is on American soil, but Mexico is responsible for all maintenance. This is where the Colorado River meets its final, ignominious death.
Morelos Dam is also a diversion dam and it diverts what is left of the Colorado's meager flow into Mexico to water farms in the Mexican portion of the Yuma Valley and also the distant Mexicali Valley, which contains nearly one million people, about 700,000 of them in Mexicali, the capital city of Baja California. Below Morelos Dam, the Colorado River, one of the longest rivers in the world, is dry. There is usually a small pool of water at the downstream base of Morelos Dam, but those are the final droplets in the river that once watered a narrow, but lush, riparian strip along its course that was a sharp contrast to the surrounding desert. The river continues below the dam as a dried up riverbed all the way to its now dead delta on the Sea of Cortez.
There is still a busy and prosperous farming area on both sides of the river. The soil is rich and fertile due to the Colorado laying down tons of sediment over the eons, carving and recarving new channels in the process. A glance at aerial maps of the area will reveal faint traces of old river channels that the Colorado has abandoned over the centuries.
A study that was done about ten years ago shows that if only 1% of the Colorado's flow is allowed to each the sea, it would at least partially restore the "milk and honey" wilderness, as described by Aldo Leopold shortly before the first dam across the Colorado, the Laguna, was built and altered the course of the lower river forever. He canoed through this area in the early 1900s, just a short time before construction on the Laguna Dam commenced in 1903.
The Death Of A River, Part 2
A few miles upstream from Yuma are two dams that lie athwart the Colorado River. There are many, many dams along this overused, abused and overallocated river, but these two dams are significant because the Colorado ceases to be a big river at this point. Heck it ceases to be a river at all because below these two dams, the Colorado is more of an irrigation canal than it is a river. The first dam is Imperial Dam. This dam impounds Martinez Lake. This lake is an oasis in the bone dry desert of Arizona and California. There is a settlement called Martinez Lake on the Arizona shore of the man made reservoir.
Five miles further downstream is Laguna Dam. There is no reservoir behind Laguna Dam. It was built as a diversion dam, not an impoundment dam, between 1903 and 1905, and was the first dam on the Colorado River. When maps or atlases show both of these dams, they usually show a reservoir stretching all the way from Laguna Dam to Imperial Dam, but this is not the case. Laguna Dam is no longer needed because of the presence of Imperial Dam nearby. Imperial Dam serves as both an impoundment dam and a diversion dam. At Imperial Dam, 80% of the river's flow gets siphoned off through the All American Canal to water California's famous farming region, the Imperial Valley. On the east side of Imperial Dam, another 16% of the river's flow gets siphoned off to the east to water Arizona's Mohawk Valley, east of Yuma. This is the area I mentioned previously that is a rich agricultural area that is bisected by Interstate 8 and contains the towns of Wellton and Tacna, among others. This leaves only 4% of the river's water to flow downstream to Yuma to water a a region with 200,000 people on the United States side and an even greater number on the Mexican side! Why does the Mohawk Valley, with approximately 5,000 people, get so much more water than the much more populated Yuma Valley? Why does the Imperial Valley get such a disproportionate share? Under normal circumstances the Imperial Valley would not support agriculture at all with a paltry 2 inches of rain per year.
When the Colorado emanates from Laguna Dam, the natural river channel is dry, just a wide, sandy bed. Instead, the river comes out in two narrow, man made channels on each side of the natural channel. After about a mile, these narrow channels merge and flow as a united stream to Yuma and beyond. A paltry amount of water in a wide river channel. At this point, the middle of the river is not necessarily the border between Arizona and California. The border lies in the middle of the natural channel and the narrow channel we see today meanders from side to side in the ancient riverbed. There is an exception to the river being the state border. It involves a loop of the old river channel that lies on the California side. Here the river cut itself a new channel in the past and the two states divided the land in half, putting a brief stretch of the Colorado entirely in Arizona.
Five miles further downstream is Laguna Dam. There is no reservoir behind Laguna Dam. It was built as a diversion dam, not an impoundment dam, between 1903 and 1905, and was the first dam on the Colorado River. When maps or atlases show both of these dams, they usually show a reservoir stretching all the way from Laguna Dam to Imperial Dam, but this is not the case. Laguna Dam is no longer needed because of the presence of Imperial Dam nearby. Imperial Dam serves as both an impoundment dam and a diversion dam. At Imperial Dam, 80% of the river's flow gets siphoned off through the All American Canal to water California's famous farming region, the Imperial Valley. On the east side of Imperial Dam, another 16% of the river's flow gets siphoned off to the east to water Arizona's Mohawk Valley, east of Yuma. This is the area I mentioned previously that is a rich agricultural area that is bisected by Interstate 8 and contains the towns of Wellton and Tacna, among others. This leaves only 4% of the river's water to flow downstream to Yuma to water a a region with 200,000 people on the United States side and an even greater number on the Mexican side! Why does the Mohawk Valley, with approximately 5,000 people, get so much more water than the much more populated Yuma Valley? Why does the Imperial Valley get such a disproportionate share? Under normal circumstances the Imperial Valley would not support agriculture at all with a paltry 2 inches of rain per year.
When the Colorado emanates from Laguna Dam, the natural river channel is dry, just a wide, sandy bed. Instead, the river comes out in two narrow, man made channels on each side of the natural channel. After about a mile, these narrow channels merge and flow as a united stream to Yuma and beyond. A paltry amount of water in a wide river channel. At this point, the middle of the river is not necessarily the border between Arizona and California. The border lies in the middle of the natural channel and the narrow channel we see today meanders from side to side in the ancient riverbed. There is an exception to the river being the state border. It involves a loop of the old river channel that lies on the California side. Here the river cut itself a new channel in the past and the two states divided the land in half, putting a brief stretch of the Colorado entirely in Arizona.
Thursday, May 24, 2012
The Death of a River
As I have already said, the Colorado River, when it flows past Yuma, is but a pittance of what it once was. The river is 1,450 miles long if you measure from its official source high in the Never Summer Range in Rocky Mountain National Park, north of Denver, Colorado. If you measure from the river's actual source, the head of the Green River in the Wind River Mountains of central Wyoming, it is over 1,700 miles long. The definition of the beginning of a river is the most distant source, which means the Green River in this case. This makes the Colorado one of the longest rivers in the United States and the world. For most of its lower length, it is still a big river. That being said, it is still not as big as it once was. It is one of the most over-allocated rivers in the world, quenching the thirst of a dry land that has a far bigger population than it can support. When the waters of the Colorado were divided up between the various states that it flows through, it was an unusually rainy year--1927. The river has not had that much water in it since! As a result, the Colorado no longer reaches the Sea of Cortez. It has one of the biggest deltas in the world and yet the delta is usually dry. The only time there is water in the lower reaches of the river is either in unusually wet years or when tidewater from the Sea of Cortez makes its way up the myriad of sunbaked channels at the river's mouth.
Yuma was once extremely prone to flooding because of two things. It was at the confluence of the Colorado and Gila Rivers and also because of a phenomenon called the
tidal bore. A tidal bore occurred when the powerful current of the Colorado, augmented by the once powerful flow of the Gila River, collided head on with tidewater from the Sea of Cortez. This phenomenon created a huge wall of water that spread out over the surrounding desert and inundated everything in its path. Well, since the Gila River is now dry and the Colorado is now a mere rivulet compared to what it once was, the tidal bore is no longer an issue.
The fact that Yuma, one of the driest cities in the world, is no longer flood prone might sound like good news, but it is actually terrible news. It is the result of the destruction of what famed naturalist Aldo Leopold described as a "milk and honey wilderness" in his masterwork
The Sand County Almanac.
I will describe in more detail the destruction of this once great waterway in the next few installments of this blog.
Yuma was once extremely prone to flooding because of two things. It was at the confluence of the Colorado and Gila Rivers and also because of a phenomenon called the
tidal bore. A tidal bore occurred when the powerful current of the Colorado, augmented by the once powerful flow of the Gila River, collided head on with tidewater from the Sea of Cortez. This phenomenon created a huge wall of water that spread out over the surrounding desert and inundated everything in its path. Well, since the Gila River is now dry and the Colorado is now a mere rivulet compared to what it once was, the tidal bore is no longer an issue.
The fact that Yuma, one of the driest cities in the world, is no longer flood prone might sound like good news, but it is actually terrible news. It is the result of the destruction of what famed naturalist Aldo Leopold described as a "milk and honey wilderness" in his masterwork
The Sand County Almanac.
I will describe in more detail the destruction of this once great waterway in the next few installments of this blog.
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Downtown Yuma
What is unusual about downtown Yuma is the fact that the major streets run along the edge of downtown, rather than through it. This was not always the case, but, after the city grew away from the river, the traffic was routed to the edges of the commercial core. The western edge of downtown is 4th Avenue, which is presently signed as Interstate 8 Business Loop. It was once U.S. Highway 80, which I have already talked about extensively in this series about Yuma County. The eastern boundary of downtown is Interstate 8, which flies above Old Town Yuma on an unsightly, curving viaduct, basically destroying the historical atmosphere of the area. The northern boundary of downtown is the Colorado River, which is the border with California. The southern boundary of downtown is less well defined, but I believe it to be 4th Street (not to be confused with 4th Avenue). 4th Street is one block south of Harold Giss Parkway, which is a major east-west arterial in the city.
The original "main drag" of Yuma was Main Street. This street is significantly more diminished in stature and importance than it was in the early days of Yuma. It was once one of the widest streets in the United States, so wide a horse and buggy team could turn completely around in the street and still have plenty of room to spare. The street has been narrowed by constructing extremely wide sidewalks along each side with huge planter boxes containing native desert plants. Also, there is angled parking on both sides of Main Street where cars can simply pull in and back out instead of having to parallel park. On my first visit to Yuma, I noticed that the buildings on both sides of Main Street are set a long distance back from the street, suggesting that the street used to be alot wider. Then, when I saw an old photo of Yuma from the 1800s, that confirmed my suspicion.
The north end of Main Street used to be at the Colorado River, where it turned into a steamboat landing. Now, it dead-ends about 100 feet north of 1st Street, about the equivalent of 3 city blocks away from the river.
Until a few years ago, there was a 2 block street of South Main Street that had been closed off to vehicular traffic and converted into an outdoor pedestrian mall. This stretch ran from 2nd Street, just south of the Yuma County Administration Building, down to Harold Giss Parkway. As with most outdoor pedestrian malls, Main Street Mall was a miserable failure. I walked this pedestrian mall several times and, every time I walked it, I noticed that more and more businesses had closed up. Since the street's re-opening, the area has slowly come back to life. More businesses have opened and people are coming back to the area to shop.
The original "main drag" of Yuma was Main Street. This street is significantly more diminished in stature and importance than it was in the early days of Yuma. It was once one of the widest streets in the United States, so wide a horse and buggy team could turn completely around in the street and still have plenty of room to spare. The street has been narrowed by constructing extremely wide sidewalks along each side with huge planter boxes containing native desert plants. Also, there is angled parking on both sides of Main Street where cars can simply pull in and back out instead of having to parallel park. On my first visit to Yuma, I noticed that the buildings on both sides of Main Street are set a long distance back from the street, suggesting that the street used to be alot wider. Then, when I saw an old photo of Yuma from the 1800s, that confirmed my suspicion.
The north end of Main Street used to be at the Colorado River, where it turned into a steamboat landing. Now, it dead-ends about 100 feet north of 1st Street, about the equivalent of 3 city blocks away from the river.
Until a few years ago, there was a 2 block street of South Main Street that had been closed off to vehicular traffic and converted into an outdoor pedestrian mall. This stretch ran from 2nd Street, just south of the Yuma County Administration Building, down to Harold Giss Parkway. As with most outdoor pedestrian malls, Main Street Mall was a miserable failure. I walked this pedestrian mall several times and, every time I walked it, I noticed that more and more businesses had closed up. Since the street's re-opening, the area has slowly come back to life. More businesses have opened and people are coming back to the area to shop.
Sunday, April 29, 2012
A Town At The Crossroads
Yuma was settled partly because of its strategic location at the confluence of the Colorado and Gila Rivers. It was also located at a ford, or shallow place, of the Colorado River which made it an ideal place to cross the river on foot, on horseback, or in a wagon train. Also, at the time, the Colorado River was big enough and deep enough that barges could navigate all the way to Yuma and beyond. They would enter the river from the Sea of Cortez and sail about 70 miles upstream to Yuma. This made Yuma a seaport in the desert. At the time, the Colorado was, for the most part, about 1/3 to 1/2 mile wide, except for the place where it squeezed between two bluffs just below the confluence with the Gila River. Now, the Colorado is usually about 20 to 30 feet wide when it flows past Yuma, a sad testament to the manipulation of a river that serves as the lifeblood of an extremely dry area.
Yuma grew on the south bank of the river, the Arizona side. At the time of Yuma's founding, Arizona was a teritory and was attached to New Mexico for administrative purposes. So that means the residents of Yuma, which was initially called Colorado City, then Arizona City, had a very long way to travel to get to the territorial capital at Santa Fe. The people of Yuma identified more with California than anything else.
Downtown Yuma today is very historic, with alot of adobe buildings and narrow streets. While that may make you think it looks like Santa Fe or Taos, it really doesn't. In the early days of the city, it was very flood prone, due to the convergence of two rivers on the eastern edge of town. What made the floods so devastating was the fact that the adobe buildings, dried mud brick buildings, would simply melt when exposed to alot of water. They were dried mud, after all. Another thing that made floods in Yuma so devastating was the tidal bore. A tidal bore occurred when the swift current of the Colorado River, which was augmented by the flow from the Gila River, clashed head on into tidewater making its way up from the Sea of Cortez. Today, the tidal bore is no longer an issue since the river's flow has been drastically diminished due to all the dams and the overallocation of its water, coupled with the fact that the Gila River is now usually dry.
Yuma grew on the south bank of the river, the Arizona side. At the time of Yuma's founding, Arizona was a teritory and was attached to New Mexico for administrative purposes. So that means the residents of Yuma, which was initially called Colorado City, then Arizona City, had a very long way to travel to get to the territorial capital at Santa Fe. The people of Yuma identified more with California than anything else.
Downtown Yuma today is very historic, with alot of adobe buildings and narrow streets. While that may make you think it looks like Santa Fe or Taos, it really doesn't. In the early days of the city, it was very flood prone, due to the convergence of two rivers on the eastern edge of town. What made the floods so devastating was the fact that the adobe buildings, dried mud brick buildings, would simply melt when exposed to alot of water. They were dried mud, after all. Another thing that made floods in Yuma so devastating was the tidal bore. A tidal bore occurred when the swift current of the Colorado River, which was augmented by the flow from the Gila River, clashed head on into tidewater making its way up from the Sea of Cortez. Today, the tidal bore is no longer an issue since the river's flow has been drastically diminished due to all the dams and the overallocation of its water, coupled with the fact that the Gila River is now usually dry.
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Frontier Justice
I have visited the Old Yuma Prison several times and it is a fascinating visit! Inside the old dining hall are alot of exhibits such as letters that were written by prsoners and guards and antique items used back in the day such as razors, knives, uniforms, etc.
There are three things at the old prison that stand out in my mind more than anything else.
The first thing is the guard tower, which is still in excellent condition. It overlooks the former confluence of the Colorado and Gila Rivers. Since the Gila now meets the Colorado about 10 miles outside Yuma, the old confluence is not what it used to be since only about 150 feet of the Gila's old channel still exists, but the actual meeting point is still there.
I also vividly remember the dark cell, or solitary confinement cell. It is a room that is cut into the side of the hill and the back part of the room is pitch dark, even in mid afternoon. It must have been a horrible way to spend a few hours, much less days or even weeks.
Lastly, the most vivid memory I have of the old prison are the cells themselves. The typical cell was approximately 10 feet by 6 feet and contained triple bunks on each side of the room. Six prisoners living in an area of roughly sixty square feet! I also cannot get over the narrowness of the beds. They are about half the width of a twin bed! These beds were only about two feet wide! They had iron springs with very thin mattresses on top of the springs. I know that people were generally smaller back then than they are today, but these beds seem to small even for the dimunitive human frames of the nineteenth century. I have visited many former U.S. Cavalry forts that have some original, period furnishings and, while those beds are smaller than beds of today, they are still bigger than the beds in the Old Yuma Prison. Not all of the cells in the Old Yuma Prison still have the beds in them.
The original prison entrance, or sally port, in still standing not far from the guard tower.
The Old Yuma Prison closed in September, 1909 when the new prison in Florence opened. Shortly after the prison closed, it served as Yuma High School for four years, from 1910 to 1914. I will have a bit more to say about that in the next edition of this blog.
Also, during the Great Depression, homeless people took up residence in the abandoned prison. Finally, in 1960, Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park opened to the public to preserve what remained of the symbol of frontier justice. The prison that visitors see today is only about 25% of the original complex. This was only the fourth state park to open in Arizona. Arizona was one of the last states to establish a system of state parks. Since there is so much federal land in Arizona, it was thought that state parks were unnecessary. The first state park in Arizona; Tombstone Courthouse, did not open until 1949. It was the only state park until Jerome State Historic Park opened in 1957 and then Tubac Presidio opened in 1958. These are all historical parks. The first recreational state park, Lyman Lake, opened in 1960, shortly after Yuma Prison opened as a tourist attraction. Lyman Lake is located midway between St. Johns and Springerville on the
pinon-studded grasslands of eastern Arizona, near the border with New Mexico.
There are three things at the old prison that stand out in my mind more than anything else.
The first thing is the guard tower, which is still in excellent condition. It overlooks the former confluence of the Colorado and Gila Rivers. Since the Gila now meets the Colorado about 10 miles outside Yuma, the old confluence is not what it used to be since only about 150 feet of the Gila's old channel still exists, but the actual meeting point is still there.
I also vividly remember the dark cell, or solitary confinement cell. It is a room that is cut into the side of the hill and the back part of the room is pitch dark, even in mid afternoon. It must have been a horrible way to spend a few hours, much less days or even weeks.
Lastly, the most vivid memory I have of the old prison are the cells themselves. The typical cell was approximately 10 feet by 6 feet and contained triple bunks on each side of the room. Six prisoners living in an area of roughly sixty square feet! I also cannot get over the narrowness of the beds. They are about half the width of a twin bed! These beds were only about two feet wide! They had iron springs with very thin mattresses on top of the springs. I know that people were generally smaller back then than they are today, but these beds seem to small even for the dimunitive human frames of the nineteenth century. I have visited many former U.S. Cavalry forts that have some original, period furnishings and, while those beds are smaller than beds of today, they are still bigger than the beds in the Old Yuma Prison. Not all of the cells in the Old Yuma Prison still have the beds in them.
The original prison entrance, or sally port, in still standing not far from the guard tower.
The Old Yuma Prison closed in September, 1909 when the new prison in Florence opened. Shortly after the prison closed, it served as Yuma High School for four years, from 1910 to 1914. I will have a bit more to say about that in the next edition of this blog.
Also, during the Great Depression, homeless people took up residence in the abandoned prison. Finally, in 1960, Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park opened to the public to preserve what remained of the symbol of frontier justice. The prison that visitors see today is only about 25% of the original complex. This was only the fourth state park to open in Arizona. Arizona was one of the last states to establish a system of state parks. Since there is so much federal land in Arizona, it was thought that state parks were unnecessary. The first state park in Arizona; Tombstone Courthouse, did not open until 1949. It was the only state park until Jerome State Historic Park opened in 1957 and then Tubac Presidio opened in 1958. These are all historical parks. The first recreational state park, Lyman Lake, opened in 1960, shortly after Yuma Prison opened as a tourist attraction. Lyman Lake is located midway between St. Johns and Springerville on the
pinon-studded grasslands of eastern Arizona, near the border with New Mexico.
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
"THe Hell Hole Of The West"
In its day, the Old Yuma Prison was known as "The Hell Hole of the West" by many people. This stereotype was reinforced by Westerns after television became popular. It was also enforced by the many dime novels that came out at the time. However, people who lived in Yuma during the 33 years that it was open, had a different view of the prison that looked down menacingly over the sunbaked, adobe town below Prison Hill. The residents of Yuma actually made alot of comments and allegations that prisoners were being coddled.
Compared to prisons of today, the Old Yuma Prison was barbaric and cruel, but, for its time, it was actually modern and progressive. For example, one of the first electric generating plants in the West was installed at the prison. This plant ran lights and provided ventilation for the complex. The prisoners actually slept cooler at nights than the local residents because of the ventilation system. This was significant in the scorching summer months that this area has always been known for. The prison also had a library, a rarity for the day. Townspeople would pay a fee to use the library at the prison and this money was used to purchase books for the library.
There are some stories that, during the night, prison guards would throw snakes into cells while prisoners were sleeping or would put bugs into prison uniforms that had been freshly laundered. Some of these stories may well be true because that sort of thing did happen at prisons back in the day and, even though Yuma was a modern and progressive prison for its time, I am sure these things still happened on occasion because many of the prison guards were cruel. Also, some of these offenses may have been perpetrated by other prisoners and not necessarily guards.
In the 33 years the Yuma Prison was open(1876-1909), it housed 3,069 prisoners. Among the people incarcerated here, 29 of them were women, including one of the most notorious female outlaws, Pearl Hart. The last prisoner left on September 15,1909 and was transferred to the then brand new Florence Prison, which today is the largest of Arizona's state prisons.
When the last prisoner left Old Yuma Prison, Arizona was still a territory. Statehood was not gained until February 14, 1912.
Compared to prisons of today, the Old Yuma Prison was barbaric and cruel, but, for its time, it was actually modern and progressive. For example, one of the first electric generating plants in the West was installed at the prison. This plant ran lights and provided ventilation for the complex. The prisoners actually slept cooler at nights than the local residents because of the ventilation system. This was significant in the scorching summer months that this area has always been known for. The prison also had a library, a rarity for the day. Townspeople would pay a fee to use the library at the prison and this money was used to purchase books for the library.
There are some stories that, during the night, prison guards would throw snakes into cells while prisoners were sleeping or would put bugs into prison uniforms that had been freshly laundered. Some of these stories may well be true because that sort of thing did happen at prisons back in the day and, even though Yuma was a modern and progressive prison for its time, I am sure these things still happened on occasion because many of the prison guards were cruel. Also, some of these offenses may have been perpetrated by other prisoners and not necessarily guards.
In the 33 years the Yuma Prison was open(1876-1909), it housed 3,069 prisoners. Among the people incarcerated here, 29 of them were women, including one of the most notorious female outlaws, Pearl Hart. The last prisoner left on September 15,1909 and was transferred to the then brand new Florence Prison, which today is the largest of Arizona's state prisons.
When the last prisoner left Old Yuma Prison, Arizona was still a territory. Statehood was not gained until February 14, 1912.
Friday, March 16, 2012
A Frontier Prison
In the northeast corner of the city of Yuma lies a small, but heavily visited state park. This dimunitive state park only covers about 20 acres. Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park is the third most visited state park in Arizona and it is the most visited of the state historic parks. The two more visited Arizona state parks; Lake Havasu and Slide Rock, are water-based, recreational parks, although Slide Rock does have a few historic structures of interest but its primary focus is Oak Creek, which is literally jam-packed with swimmers on every warm to hot day of the year.
Anyway, Old Yuma Prison, as I will call it for short, lies on a bluff above the Colorado River. This is the spot I mentioned in the last edition of this blog where the Colorado River gets pinched between two bluffs, one on each side of the river. Old Yuma Prison is on the Arizona side of the river. It lies at the former confluence of the Colorado and Gila Rivers. Yes, I said "former confluence." Just below the bluff on which the prison sits is where the Gila River, which starts 652 miles away in western New Mexico, once flowed into the Colorado River. Now the Gila meets the Colorado about 10 miles east of Yuma. I have heard conflicting reports about the new location for the two rivers' meeting point. I have heard that the Gila carved itself a newer, straighter channel during a flood like rivers are known to do and I have also heard that the confluence was deliberately moved several miles outside of Yuma as a flood control project because, in its early days, Yuma suffered several catastrophic floods and the Army Corps of Engineers moved the confluence away from the city to spare it from the wrath of repeated floods in the future. I am not sure which story is correct, but, at any rate, the Gila River no longer meets the Colorado River just below the Old Yuma Prison. However, about 1,000 feet of the Gila River's old channel can still be seen at the site of the former confluence. Water from the Colorado usually backs up into the Gila's old channel. At the end of the old channel, there is a massive levee and the old channel has been obliterated at that point.
The Old Yuma Prison today is only a fraction of the original complex. After the prison closed in 1909, many of the buildings were demolished. The Southern Transcontinetal Railroad came through Yuma in 1877, but in a different location. It was re-routed to its current location in the early 1900s and that is when many of the old prison's buildings were demolished. A new bridge was built at the narrowest point of the river, atop the bluffs on either side, right next to the old prison. Now, with the main line of the railroad running right alongside the Old Yuma Prison, it makes for a noisy and bone-jarring visit to this fascinating place, but the old prison is still a worthwhile visit for anyone because it offers an eye-opening glimpse into the "Wild West Days" of the United States as this country continued to expand westward and become a coast to coast nation.
Anyway, Old Yuma Prison, as I will call it for short, lies on a bluff above the Colorado River. This is the spot I mentioned in the last edition of this blog where the Colorado River gets pinched between two bluffs, one on each side of the river. Old Yuma Prison is on the Arizona side of the river. It lies at the former confluence of the Colorado and Gila Rivers. Yes, I said "former confluence." Just below the bluff on which the prison sits is where the Gila River, which starts 652 miles away in western New Mexico, once flowed into the Colorado River. Now the Gila meets the Colorado about 10 miles east of Yuma. I have heard conflicting reports about the new location for the two rivers' meeting point. I have heard that the Gila carved itself a newer, straighter channel during a flood like rivers are known to do and I have also heard that the confluence was deliberately moved several miles outside of Yuma as a flood control project because, in its early days, Yuma suffered several catastrophic floods and the Army Corps of Engineers moved the confluence away from the city to spare it from the wrath of repeated floods in the future. I am not sure which story is correct, but, at any rate, the Gila River no longer meets the Colorado River just below the Old Yuma Prison. However, about 1,000 feet of the Gila River's old channel can still be seen at the site of the former confluence. Water from the Colorado usually backs up into the Gila's old channel. At the end of the old channel, there is a massive levee and the old channel has been obliterated at that point.
The Old Yuma Prison today is only a fraction of the original complex. After the prison closed in 1909, many of the buildings were demolished. The Southern Transcontinetal Railroad came through Yuma in 1877, but in a different location. It was re-routed to its current location in the early 1900s and that is when many of the old prison's buildings were demolished. A new bridge was built at the narrowest point of the river, atop the bluffs on either side, right next to the old prison. Now, with the main line of the railroad running right alongside the Old Yuma Prison, it makes for a noisy and bone-jarring visit to this fascinating place, but the old prison is still a worthwhile visit for anyone because it offers an eye-opening glimpse into the "Wild West Days" of the United States as this country continued to expand westward and become a coast to coast nation.
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Bathed In Sunshine
In the eastern part of Yuma, there is a very busy street called Araby Road. This street got its name because someone who came through the area in the 1800s said the area looks "araby."
How clever. That was a reference to all of the sand dunes in the area and it reminded him of the Arabian Desert.
Yuma is a city with a strong military presence. East of town is the Barry Goldwater Air Force Gunnery Range, which stretches for about 150 miles towards the east. About 20 miles north of town is the Yuma Proving Ground, which, I believe, is used by all branches of the military. On the south side of Yuma, adjacent to the airport, is the Yuma Marine Corps Air Station and, west of town, in California, is the Chocolate Mountain Gunnery Range. The abundant hours of sunshine in the Yuma area is the main reason all of the military bases are in this area. There is very little rain and most days are bright, sunny and warm and this is seen as the optimum conditions for military training and maneuvers.
The area where Yuma was eventually founded had long been a preferred crossing for travelers, explorers, missionaries and soldiers who were traveling through the area, on their way to and from California and also by people who sailed up to the head of the Sea of Cortez , in Mexico. They disembarked at a now vanished port town called Port Isabel. The Colorado River, at the time much, much wider than it is today, had a shallow area that made it easier to cross here than in other places. This shallow place, or ford, came to be known as The Yuma Crossing and was the principal reason Fort Yuma was established on the California side of the river and the Yuma Quartermaster Depot was established on the Arizona side. The Yuma Quartermaster Depot, now a state park, was a supply center that looked just like a fort and was managed in the same way, but its mission was economic rather than defense. Its function was to serve as a supply center for all of the forts in a huge area of the western United States.
In 1540, Spanish explorers Hernando de Alarcon and Melchior Diaz saw the strategic importance of this area and thought it would be be an ideal place for a city, so it is rather surprising that no city existed here for another three centuries. Well known military expeditions that used the Yuma Crossing included Juan Bautista de Anza in 1774, The Mormon Battalion in 1848 and the California Column in 1862. Also, just about any well known explorer of the era came through here. Not only was there a shallow place in the river that allowed for easier crossing, but, about half a mile upstream, the Colorado River squeezed between two bluffs and, as a result, was significantly narrower than it was everywhere else. Old journals say that the narrow part of the river was "less than 1,000 feet wide." Today, sadly, the river is about 30 feet wide in this area.
The railroad built through here in 1877, part of the Southern Transcontinental Railroad, and the bridge was built between the two bluffs, where the river was the narrowest. The coming of the railroad spelled the end for Port Isabel, Mexico, which was completely abandoned by 1879. The first automobile bridge in this area also crossed between the bluffs, right next to the railroad bridge. The automobile bridge, called the "Ocean to Ocean Highway Bridge," opened in 1914. It carried the original alignment of U.S. Highway 80 across the river until the newer bridge, now called the Fourth Avenue Bridge, opened to traffic.
How clever. That was a reference to all of the sand dunes in the area and it reminded him of the Arabian Desert.
Yuma is a city with a strong military presence. East of town is the Barry Goldwater Air Force Gunnery Range, which stretches for about 150 miles towards the east. About 20 miles north of town is the Yuma Proving Ground, which, I believe, is used by all branches of the military. On the south side of Yuma, adjacent to the airport, is the Yuma Marine Corps Air Station and, west of town, in California, is the Chocolate Mountain Gunnery Range. The abundant hours of sunshine in the Yuma area is the main reason all of the military bases are in this area. There is very little rain and most days are bright, sunny and warm and this is seen as the optimum conditions for military training and maneuvers.
The area where Yuma was eventually founded had long been a preferred crossing for travelers, explorers, missionaries and soldiers who were traveling through the area, on their way to and from California and also by people who sailed up to the head of the Sea of Cortez , in Mexico. They disembarked at a now vanished port town called Port Isabel. The Colorado River, at the time much, much wider than it is today, had a shallow area that made it easier to cross here than in other places. This shallow place, or ford, came to be known as The Yuma Crossing and was the principal reason Fort Yuma was established on the California side of the river and the Yuma Quartermaster Depot was established on the Arizona side. The Yuma Quartermaster Depot, now a state park, was a supply center that looked just like a fort and was managed in the same way, but its mission was economic rather than defense. Its function was to serve as a supply center for all of the forts in a huge area of the western United States.
In 1540, Spanish explorers Hernando de Alarcon and Melchior Diaz saw the strategic importance of this area and thought it would be be an ideal place for a city, so it is rather surprising that no city existed here for another three centuries. Well known military expeditions that used the Yuma Crossing included Juan Bautista de Anza in 1774, The Mormon Battalion in 1848 and the California Column in 1862. Also, just about any well known explorer of the era came through here. Not only was there a shallow place in the river that allowed for easier crossing, but, about half a mile upstream, the Colorado River squeezed between two bluffs and, as a result, was significantly narrower than it was everywhere else. Old journals say that the narrow part of the river was "less than 1,000 feet wide." Today, sadly, the river is about 30 feet wide in this area.
The railroad built through here in 1877, part of the Southern Transcontinental Railroad, and the bridge was built between the two bluffs, where the river was the narrowest. The coming of the railroad spelled the end for Port Isabel, Mexico, which was completely abandoned by 1879. The first automobile bridge in this area also crossed between the bluffs, right next to the railroad bridge. The automobile bridge, called the "Ocean to Ocean Highway Bridge," opened in 1914. It carried the original alignment of U.S. Highway 80 across the river until the newer bridge, now called the Fourth Avenue Bridge, opened to traffic.
Monday, February 20, 2012
A City That Gets No Respect
In far southwestern Arizona, on the California border, lies the city of Yuma. Yuma is a city of 112,000 people and is located in one of the hottest and driest places in North America. The average yearly rainfall is only about 2 1/2 inches. Temperatures over 110 degrees are commonplace in the sweltering summer months. There has even been a 30 minute program about Yuma on The Weather Channel called "The Hottest City In America." Well, it is not the hottest city in America, although it is one of the hottest. If they were just talking about cities with over 100,000 people, then maybe it is the hottest, but there are other places that routinely record higher temperatures than Yuma does during the summer months. In Arizona, cities and towns such as Lake Havasu City, Parker, Bullhead City, Gila Bend, Buckeye,Casa Grande and Coolidge are usually hotter than Yuma. There are other places in California and Nevada that also have hotter summers than Yuma does.
Yuma is located about 60 miles from the head of the Sea of Cortez, in Mexico. The Sea of Cortez is the long, narrow arm of the Pacific that separates the Baja Peninsula from mainland Mexico. Yuma's temperatures, while still dangerously hot in the summer months, are moderated slightly by the sea breezes.
Yuma is one of the oldest European settled cities in Arizona. It sprang to life in 1854 after a U.S. Cavalry fort called Fort Yuma, was established on the other side of the Colorado River, in California. The city was originally called Colorado City, but shortly thereafter the name was changed to Arizona City. It took the name "Yuma" in 1873. When the town first got its start, Arizona and New Mexico were combined, administratively, into one territory called New Mexico Territory, but, evidently, people were not really sure if the Colorado River was the border at the time (California became a state in 1850), because the townsite was registered in San Diego and the state of California collected taxes from Yuma (or Arizona City) residents for several years after the town's birth. It is possible that San Diego was easier to reach to register than townsite than Tucson was (Phoenix did not exist yet) because to get to Tucson required a journey over the infamous "El Camino del Diablo" known as "The Road of Death" in English.
Yuma is a city that gets no respect because it is located in an extremely hot, dry, stark and unforgiving landscape, but it is actually a very pleasant city with well maintained streets and I have noticed how clean it always looks when I am there. Yuma is also a city the oozes history. That is a definite plus for a history buff for me.
Yuma is located about 60 miles from the head of the Sea of Cortez, in Mexico. The Sea of Cortez is the long, narrow arm of the Pacific that separates the Baja Peninsula from mainland Mexico. Yuma's temperatures, while still dangerously hot in the summer months, are moderated slightly by the sea breezes.
Yuma is one of the oldest European settled cities in Arizona. It sprang to life in 1854 after a U.S. Cavalry fort called Fort Yuma, was established on the other side of the Colorado River, in California. The city was originally called Colorado City, but shortly thereafter the name was changed to Arizona City. It took the name "Yuma" in 1873. When the town first got its start, Arizona and New Mexico were combined, administratively, into one territory called New Mexico Territory, but, evidently, people were not really sure if the Colorado River was the border at the time (California became a state in 1850), because the townsite was registered in San Diego and the state of California collected taxes from Yuma (or Arizona City) residents for several years after the town's birth. It is possible that San Diego was easier to reach to register than townsite than Tucson was (Phoenix did not exist yet) because to get to Tucson required a journey over the infamous "El Camino del Diablo" known as "The Road of Death" in English.
Yuma is a city that gets no respect because it is located in an extremely hot, dry, stark and unforgiving landscape, but it is actually a very pleasant city with well maintained streets and I have noticed how clean it always looks when I am there. Yuma is also a city the oozes history. That is a definite plus for a history buff for me.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Entering The Valley
It is a dramatic descent from the summit of Telegraph Pass into the Gila Valley. Some maps call it the Yuma Valley. Approximately 190,000 people live in this area in the southwest corner of Arizona. Looking at this area on an aerial map is striking. It shows 2 ribbons of green, a narrow one for the Gila River and its accompanying valley coming from the east and a much wider ribbon of green centered along the Colorado River sandwiched by sand dunes on either side of the Colorado's "ribbon of green" and brown desert on each side of the Gila River. The Colorado River's ribbon of green empties into a wider patch of green that encompasses the northern part of the Mexican state of Baja California. The sand dunes are the Yuma Sand Dunes, south and east of Yuma and the more famous Imperial Sand Dunes in Southeastern California. Alot of movies have been filmed in the Imperial Sand Dunes. Just about any movie that takes place in the Sahara Desert is actually filmed here. The Imperial Sand Dunes were originally beach sand dunes on the shore of a long vanished northward extension of the Gulf of California, which is also called the Sea of Cortez (my preferred name). The Sea of Cortez once extended almost to present day Palm Springs, California. In fact the sea level line goes right through Indio, which is a few miles east of Palm Springs. This ancient seabed in California, west of the dunes, is a very fertile farming area called the Imperial Valley. Old campfire rings, ash deposits and stone tools have been found all along the sea level line. The ribbon of green along the Colorado River is deep and fertile silt that was laid down by the river over the eons. The river's course wandered back and forth across this area over the centuries and the soil is extremly deep.
Well, back to the mountains of Fortuna. Immediately west of the mountains lies a substantial, unincorporated town called Fortuna Foothills. It has about 27,000 people and is the third largest town in Yuma County. There have been several attempts by Yuma over the years to annex Fortuna Foothills into the city, but all efforts have failed. Fortuna Foothills does not have a central business district and is completely suburban in character. It lies mostly south of Interstate 8 and abuts the boundary of the Barry Goldwater Air Force Gunnery Range, which is a massive bombing and gunnery range that stretches about 150 miles from east to west. The southern boundary of the base is the border with Mexico. The infamous El Camino del Diablo, or "the Road of Death," in English, runs through the base. It was the trail taken by fortune seekers, explorers, missionaries and wide-eyed adventurers in centuries past as the made their way to California. Many of them didn't make it, succumbing to the harsh and waterless desert. Today, the old trail reposes silently in the desert sun, serving as a haunting reminder of the perils of travel in days gone by.
Well, back to the mountains of Fortuna. Immediately west of the mountains lies a substantial, unincorporated town called Fortuna Foothills. It has about 27,000 people and is the third largest town in Yuma County. There have been several attempts by Yuma over the years to annex Fortuna Foothills into the city, but all efforts have failed. Fortuna Foothills does not have a central business district and is completely suburban in character. It lies mostly south of Interstate 8 and abuts the boundary of the Barry Goldwater Air Force Gunnery Range, which is a massive bombing and gunnery range that stretches about 150 miles from east to west. The southern boundary of the base is the border with Mexico. The infamous El Camino del Diablo, or "the Road of Death," in English, runs through the base. It was the trail taken by fortune seekers, explorers, missionaries and wide-eyed adventurers in centuries past as the made their way to California. Many of them didn't make it, succumbing to the harsh and waterless desert. Today, the old trail reposes silently in the desert sun, serving as a haunting reminder of the perils of travel in days gone by.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Telegraph Pass
After Old U.S. Highway 80 rejoins Interstate 8, at Exit #21, the freeway alomost immediately begins climbing through the Gila Mountains, which are also known as the Fortuna Mountains, the name I prefer. A few miles farther east, the railroad curves to the north and goes around the north end of the mountain range and then loops back south to Yuma, but U.S. Highway 80 made its way through the mountain range and, now, Interstate 8 closely follows the old highway's former path up and over Telegraph Pass.
I am not really sure what the elevation is at the summit of Telegraph Pass because it seems like every map I have looked at and every book I have looked at gives a different elevation. I have seen the following elevations for Telegraph Pass: 767 feet above sea level; 844 feet above sea level; 921 feet above sea level; 1,052 feet above sea level; 1,107 feet above sea level and 1,903 feet above sea level. At any rate, it is a steep climb up and over the Fortuna Mountains. The elevation at Wellton, east of the mountain range, is 256 feet and the elevation of Yuma, to the west, is 141 feet.
When Interstate 8 threads its way through the mountain range, it is a dramatic ascent up to the pass and then an event steeper descent down the west side of the mountains. The first time I ever drove through this area, I was taken aback by the fact that while the freeway goes through the mountain range, the westbound lanes of the interstate cross over the eastbound lanes on a viaduct. The traffic goes on the left for slightly more than one mile and then the westbound lanes cross back over to the other side and resume their logical place. It is a little strange to see westbound traffic on the left and eastbound traffic on the right, reminiscent of the United Kingdom. Since then, one other highway in Arizona has been built in the same manner. State Highway 87 between Mesa and Payson was built in the same way when it was converted from a two-lane highway to a four-lane, divided highway. Traffic on Highway 87 goes on the left for about a mile.
A drive up and over Telegraph Pass east of Yuma will reveal abandoned stretches of Old Highway 80 above the freeway. There is one piece of the old highway that is about 75 feet long and it just dead-ends on both ends of it and, beyond the dead-ends, are steep dropoffs to the freeway below.
I am not really sure what the elevation is at the summit of Telegraph Pass because it seems like every map I have looked at and every book I have looked at gives a different elevation. I have seen the following elevations for Telegraph Pass: 767 feet above sea level; 844 feet above sea level; 921 feet above sea level; 1,052 feet above sea level; 1,107 feet above sea level and 1,903 feet above sea level. At any rate, it is a steep climb up and over the Fortuna Mountains. The elevation at Wellton, east of the mountain range, is 256 feet and the elevation of Yuma, to the west, is 141 feet.
When Interstate 8 threads its way through the mountain range, it is a dramatic ascent up to the pass and then an event steeper descent down the west side of the mountains. The first time I ever drove through this area, I was taken aback by the fact that while the freeway goes through the mountain range, the westbound lanes of the interstate cross over the eastbound lanes on a viaduct. The traffic goes on the left for slightly more than one mile and then the westbound lanes cross back over to the other side and resume their logical place. It is a little strange to see westbound traffic on the left and eastbound traffic on the right, reminiscent of the United Kingdom. Since then, one other highway in Arizona has been built in the same manner. State Highway 87 between Mesa and Payson was built in the same way when it was converted from a two-lane highway to a four-lane, divided highway. Traffic on Highway 87 goes on the left for about a mile.
A drive up and over Telegraph Pass east of Yuma will reveal abandoned stretches of Old Highway 80 above the freeway. There is one piece of the old highway that is about 75 feet long and it just dead-ends on both ends of it and, beyond the dead-ends, are steep dropoffs to the freeway below.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Mohawk Valley Odds And Ends
There is a town on Old U.S. Highway 80, in Yuma County, called Tacna. According to "The Old U.S. 80 Highway Traveler's Guide" by Eric J. Finley, the town's name came from Tachnapolis, a 17th century Greek priest who came to Arizona after spending time in California to spend his dying days with the local Indians. This name was given to the town, which was previously called Antelope Hill, by Max Noah. At least that is the story that Max Noah told people. I don't know if the story is true or not. Sounds like the author of "Old U.S. 80 Highway Traveler's guide" has his doubts, too. A Greek priest named Tachnapolis did exist, however.
Five miles west of Tacna is a ghost town called Noah. Noah, or what's left of it, is halfway between Tacna and Wellton. Wellton is the biggest town in Yuma County that is outside of the Yuma area, where most of the population lives. Wellton has about 2,000 people.
There isn't much left of Noah, just an abandoned gas station, some scattered debris from long gone buildings, and Antelope High School. That's right, a high school located in a ghost town. Antelope High School has about 400 students and it draws from a huge area of Yuma County east of the Gila Mountains, which are also called the Fortuna Mountains(my preferred name for the mountain range). The school district goes all the way to the boundary with Maricopa County east of Dateland. I am not sure how far north the school district goes, but it goes south all the way to the Mexican border.
Antelope High School is located in a rural area. In fact there is farmland all around the campus. The high school was named after nearby Antelope Hill. The school's mascot is the Rams. The abandoned gas station on Old Highway 80 that I just mentioned is always painted in Antelope High School's colors (red, white and blue). From what I have been told, the senior class of Antelope High School repaints the abandoned gas station with a different theme every year. I am assuming that theme is the Homecoming theme. If that is true, it is an interesting use of an abandoned gas station. It certainly appears to be true because every time I have gone through that area, the gas station was painted with a different theme.
At the end of this 33 mile stretch of Old U.S. Highway 80 is a tiny town called Ligurta. "Ligurta" maybe a corruption of "lagarto," which is Spanish for lizard. Ligurta only has about 25 people. It is mostly an RV park these days. The RV park gets bigger, much bigger, in the winter months when "snowbirds," or winter visitors from cold northern states and Canada, converge on this area to take advantage of the balmy winter weather.
Five miles west of Tacna is a ghost town called Noah. Noah, or what's left of it, is halfway between Tacna and Wellton. Wellton is the biggest town in Yuma County that is outside of the Yuma area, where most of the population lives. Wellton has about 2,000 people.
There isn't much left of Noah, just an abandoned gas station, some scattered debris from long gone buildings, and Antelope High School. That's right, a high school located in a ghost town. Antelope High School has about 400 students and it draws from a huge area of Yuma County east of the Gila Mountains, which are also called the Fortuna Mountains(my preferred name for the mountain range). The school district goes all the way to the boundary with Maricopa County east of Dateland. I am not sure how far north the school district goes, but it goes south all the way to the Mexican border.
Antelope High School is located in a rural area. In fact there is farmland all around the campus. The high school was named after nearby Antelope Hill. The school's mascot is the Rams. The abandoned gas station on Old Highway 80 that I just mentioned is always painted in Antelope High School's colors (red, white and blue). From what I have been told, the senior class of Antelope High School repaints the abandoned gas station with a different theme every year. I am assuming that theme is the Homecoming theme. If that is true, it is an interesting use of an abandoned gas station. It certainly appears to be true because every time I have gone through that area, the gas station was painted with a different theme.
At the end of this 33 mile stretch of Old U.S. Highway 80 is a tiny town called Ligurta. "Ligurta" maybe a corruption of "lagarto," which is Spanish for lizard. Ligurta only has about 25 people. It is mostly an RV park these days. The RV park gets bigger, much bigger, in the winter months when "snowbirds," or winter visitors from cold northern states and Canada, converge on this area to take advantage of the balmy winter weather.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Mohawk Valley
Thirteen miles west of Dateland, there exists a long, continuous stretch of Old U.S. Highway 80. This stretch runs for 33 miles and, even though it is merely a county maintained road now, it is a very busy road. It serves the farms in this area and the 3 towns that still exist along the old highway. These towns are: Tacna, with 600 people; Wellton, with 2,000 people and Ligurta with 30 people. This stretch of the highway runs north of Interstate 8. In some places, it is only about half a mile from the busy interstate, in other places, it is 2 or 3 miles from the interstate. This stretch of the old highway has alot of traffic and seems like it could warrant a state highway designation, but it is merely a county road that is called "Old Highway 80."
Almost immediately after departing Interstate 8 at Exit #54, Old Highway 80 crests Mohawk Pass, which is a gap in the Big Horn Mountains. In this mountain pass, three different alignments of the old highway are visible, but the two older ones are undriveable now.
Just below the pass is a big lot of junked cars and two, antique gas pumps, vintage approximately late 1950s. There is a crudely handlettered sign that identifies this site as "Owl." But there is nothing left of this town except for a vast amount of surface debris, the gas pumps and the junked car lot. Most maps, however, show a town called Mohawk in this general vicinity. Mohawk is also a remnant of the past, but, either these two towns were very close together, they had interchangeable names, or the town changed names at some point, I'm not sure. Anyway, I like the old style gas pumps, they have character.
I'll bet all of these junked cars met their demise on highway 80 when it was the main travel artery through this area.
This is a rich agricultural area. Most of the water is delivered long distance from the Colorado River, but the Gila River runs along the north edge of this area. Notice I said "runs" instead of "flows." The Gila River, one of the Colorado's longest tributaries (633 miles), is usually dry through this area, as it is for the final 300 miles of its length. There is subsurface water, but the water table gets lower every year as the population increases. Later, I will go into more details about how the Colorado's water is delivered to this area. It comes from a dam north of Yuma, astride the California border. It is really sad what has become of a once great river, a river that carved the Grand Canyon.
Almost immediately after departing Interstate 8 at Exit #54, Old Highway 80 crests Mohawk Pass, which is a gap in the Big Horn Mountains. In this mountain pass, three different alignments of the old highway are visible, but the two older ones are undriveable now.
Just below the pass is a big lot of junked cars and two, antique gas pumps, vintage approximately late 1950s. There is a crudely handlettered sign that identifies this site as "Owl." But there is nothing left of this town except for a vast amount of surface debris, the gas pumps and the junked car lot. Most maps, however, show a town called Mohawk in this general vicinity. Mohawk is also a remnant of the past, but, either these two towns were very close together, they had interchangeable names, or the town changed names at some point, I'm not sure. Anyway, I like the old style gas pumps, they have character.
I'll bet all of these junked cars met their demise on highway 80 when it was the main travel artery through this area.
This is a rich agricultural area. Most of the water is delivered long distance from the Colorado River, but the Gila River runs along the north edge of this area. Notice I said "runs" instead of "flows." The Gila River, one of the Colorado's longest tributaries (633 miles), is usually dry through this area, as it is for the final 300 miles of its length. There is subsurface water, but the water table gets lower every year as the population increases. Later, I will go into more details about how the Colorado's water is delivered to this area. It comes from a dam north of Yuma, astride the California border. It is really sad what has become of a once great river, a river that carved the Grand Canyon.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
" The Broadway Of America"
"The Broadway Of America" is the name that was used in reference to U.S. Highway 80. This was in response to "The Main Street Of America," which was the nickname given to highway 80's famous cousin to the north, U.S. Highway 66, better known as "Route 66."
The Broadway of America, in its heyday, was a true coast to coast highway. It began in Tybee Island, Georgia, on the Atlantic Ocean, and ended in San Diego, California, on the Pacific Ocean, a distance of about 2,500 miles. It was an all-weather route, unlike its famous northern counterpart. Very rarely did any town along highway 80 receive snow.
Unlike Route 66, which has been entirely decommissioned by the federal government , U.S. Highway 80 still exists, at least the eastern half of its route still exists as a federal highway. It still begins in Tybee Island, Georgia, but now it ends in Dallas, Texas. The western terminus has been pulled back, piece by piece. In 1974, it was truncated to Gila Bend, Arizona. In 1977, it ended it Benson, Arizona, 45 miles east of Tucson. In 1991, it was truncated back to Monahans, Texas, then, a few years later, the end of the highway was placed in Dallas. The former segments of highway 80 in the West still exist in various forms, such as Interstate Highway Business Loops through towns ( Interstate 8 Business Loop through Yuma, Arizona, for example), state highways, county roads, or city streets. Some parts of it have been abandoned entirely and silently repose under the merciless desert sun.
In the days before 1926, that is before the current highway numbering system was started, what became U.S. Highway 80 was known as the Bankhead Highway. Before 1926, highways had names instead of numbers. What became U.S. Highway 66 was initially the National Old Trails Highway. What became U.S. Highway 40 was originally the National Road, etc. etc.
I have explored many old highways, both active and abandoned, and I have found the history of highway 80 to be one of the more fascinating ones. I have seen the entire routing of Old Highway 80 in Yuma County.
Now that my readers know a little about the history of U.S. Highway 80, I will continue with my writings about Yuma County, Arizona.
The Broadway of America, in its heyday, was a true coast to coast highway. It began in Tybee Island, Georgia, on the Atlantic Ocean, and ended in San Diego, California, on the Pacific Ocean, a distance of about 2,500 miles. It was an all-weather route, unlike its famous northern counterpart. Very rarely did any town along highway 80 receive snow.
Unlike Route 66, which has been entirely decommissioned by the federal government , U.S. Highway 80 still exists, at least the eastern half of its route still exists as a federal highway. It still begins in Tybee Island, Georgia, but now it ends in Dallas, Texas. The western terminus has been pulled back, piece by piece. In 1974, it was truncated to Gila Bend, Arizona. In 1977, it ended it Benson, Arizona, 45 miles east of Tucson. In 1991, it was truncated back to Monahans, Texas, then, a few years later, the end of the highway was placed in Dallas. The former segments of highway 80 in the West still exist in various forms, such as Interstate Highway Business Loops through towns ( Interstate 8 Business Loop through Yuma, Arizona, for example), state highways, county roads, or city streets. Some parts of it have been abandoned entirely and silently repose under the merciless desert sun.
In the days before 1926, that is before the current highway numbering system was started, what became U.S. Highway 80 was known as the Bankhead Highway. Before 1926, highways had names instead of numbers. What became U.S. Highway 66 was initially the National Old Trails Highway. What became U.S. Highway 40 was originally the National Road, etc. etc.
I have explored many old highways, both active and abandoned, and I have found the history of highway 80 to be one of the more fascinating ones. I have seen the entire routing of Old Highway 80 in Yuma County.
Now that my readers know a little about the history of U.S. Highway 80, I will continue with my writings about Yuma County, Arizona.
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