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.