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.
Friday, March 16, 2012
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.
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