Yuma Crossing, Riverfront Area, between Prison Hill & Fourth Avenue, Yuma

Source document Quoted word for word from HAER AZ-63. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Yuma Crossing is located in both the City of Yuma, Yuma County, Arizona; and Fort Yuma Indian Reservation, Winterhaven vicinity, Imperial County, California. U.S.G.S. 7.5 series map, Yuma East Quadrangle, Arizona - California. The irregularly shaped district is formed by straight and curved boundary lines and falls within a trapezium with the following UTM coordinates at its four comers. Zone Easting Northing 11 11 11 11 Present Owners: (1) City of Yuma, Arizona; (2) Arizona State Parks Department; (3) Arizona Department of Transportation; (4) Fort Yuma-Quechan Tribe; (5) California Department of Transportation.

Present Uses: (1) Main Street Water Treatment Plant and Riverside Park; (2) Yuma Crossing State Historic Park and Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park; (3) Highway; (4) Fort Yuma Indian Reservation; (5) Highway.

Source document Quoted word for word from HAER AZ-63. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

The narrows below the confluence of the Gila and Colorado rivers is one of those unusual locales that became the stage for historic events of uncommon significance to the development of the United States. In the historic era, paths of the Spanish soldiers and missionaries, trails of the American mountain men, wagon roads of the U.S. Army and the Forty-niners, the track of the Southern Pacific Railroad, and transcontinental highways have all converged on the Colorado River at the same location-the Yuma Crossing. The arrival of the Southern Pacific Railroad at the Yuma Crossing from California in resulted in the construction of the first bridge across the Colorado River, which was used not only by trains but also YUMA CROSSING HAER No.

AZ-63 (Page 2) by wagons and pedestrians, and in the opening of a route to New Orleans in The journey by train from the Pacific Coast to the Gulf of Mexico, a distance of miles, could then be accomplished in the same number of days that had previously been weeks for stagecoaches and months for wagons. Prepared by: Gerald A. Doyle & Associates Historical Architects N. Street Phoenix, AZ Gerald A. Doyle, FAIA Reba Wells Grandrud, With contributions by: Archaeological Research Services, Inc. Tempe, Arizona Lyle M. Stone, Date: April YUMA CROSSING HAER No. AZ-63 (Page 3) HISTORIC AMERICAN ENGINEERING RECORD WRITTEN HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE DATA

Table of Contents

Introduction 6 Setting the Scene 9 Historical 20 The Southern Pacific Railroad Arrives in Yuma 23 The Southern Pacific Railroad Colorado River Bridges 27 The Southern Pacific Railroad Hotel 35 Significance of the Yuma Crossing .45 References Cited 46 Index to Photographs 47 YUMA CROSSING HAER No. AZ-63 (Page 4) LIST OF FIGURES 1. CityofYumalocationmap 6 2. Yuma Crossing National Historic Landmark boundary 7 3. Map of confluence of Colorado and Gilarivers 10 4. John Russell Bartlett drawing of the narrows of the Colorado River at Yuma, Arizona, ca.1853 11 5. Routes of the Spanish Explorers, 12 6. Routes of the Mountain Men, 14 7. Routes ofthe Mexican War, 15 8. Routes of the Emigrants, about 16 9. Routes ofthe Civil War, 18 10. MilitarySupplyRoutes, 19 11. Routes of the Stagecoaches, 22 12.

Routes of the Railroads, 25 13. First bridge over the Colorado River, 26 14. Madison Avenue with track, ca. 29 15. Drawing of bridge, ca. 30 16. Colorado River Ferry and steel bridge at Madison Avenue, ca. 31 17. Steel bridge at Madison Avenue, ca. .32 18. Ocean-to-Ocean Highway Bridge, ca. 33 19. Ocean-to-Ocean Highway Bridge 34 YUMA CROSSING HAER No. AZ-63 (Page 5) 20. Aerial view of Yuma with Interstate Highway 8 Bridge 36 21. Ocean-to-Ocean and bridges at the narrows, 37 22. Aerial view ofthe Yuma Crossing, 38 23. Advertisement for Hotel, .41 24. SPRRHotel, ca. .42 25. SPRRHotel, ca. .43 26. Hotel, ca. .44 YUMA CROSSING HAER No.

AZ-63 (Page 6) Introduction The preparation of this Historic American Engineering Record document was sponsored by the City of Yuma, Arizona, to summarize the events that had occurred on the Yuma Crossing and Associated Sites National Historic Landmark (Figure 1). Figure 1. The City of Yuma is located on the left bank of the Colorado River 120 miles above the river's mouth at the northern end of the Gulf of California. From A Master Plan for the Yuma Crossing National Historic Landmark, Gerald A. Doyle & Associates, May be reproduced. The landmark is important in American history and to the founding and development of the city.

This historic area lies along both the Arizona and California banks of the Colorado River and is situated, more or less equally, within the City of Yuma, Yuma County, Arizona, and Fort Yuma Indian Reservation, Winterhaven vicinity, Imperial County, California (Figure 2). The HAER document emerged as an element of the planning process for Yuma's riverfront Heritage Area Gateway Park. Initially, the study was intended to consider only the Southern Pacific Railroad Company's water settling reservoir, which was largely intact when research for the project began but was subsequently demolished. However, on the urging of the Arizona Historical Society, YUMA CROSSING HAER No. AZ-63 (Page 7) Figure 2.

The Yuma Crossing and Associates Sites National Historic Landmark is divided by the Colorado River, placing portions of the landmark in two states-Arizona and California. From A Master Plan for the Yuma Crossing National Historic Landmark, Gerald A. Doyle & Associates, May be reproduced. YUMA CROSSING HAER No. AZ-63 (Page 8) the State Historic Preservation Office, the National Park Service, and the preservation community, the city council authorized the scope of the study to be expanded to include a summation of the history of the Yuma Crossing, as well as the documentation of the water settling reservoir.

As the project progressed, the National Park Service recommended that two reports be developed, the first consisting of an overview of the historic events and descriptions of several no longer extant engineering and architectural accomplishments that occurred at the Crossing, and a second documenting the water settling reservoir. The former has been designated Yuma Crossing, HAER No. AZ-63 and the latter Southern Pacific Railroad Water Settling Reservoir, HAER No. AZ- 66. The City of Yuma's Main Street Water Treatment Plant, also located in the Landmark, is documented in HAER No. AZ-33. A number of images contained in this report were obtained from the Library of Congress and the National Archives.

These items are identified by repository numbers, and copies of them may be obtained from the indicated sources. Other images maybe reproduced without further authorization. If figures are reproduced, please credit the indicated sources and the Historic American Engineering Record of the National Park Service. Photographs and other images contained in the Field Notebook are referenced in the text (by Field Record numbers) and are important to the narrative and should be seen. However, they may not be reproduced. Copies of them may be obtained from the indicated sources on payment of a use fee.

The authors are grateful to the Rio Colorado Division of the Arizona Historical Society for its assistance in searching the society's collections for newspaper articles and photographs relating to the Yuma Crossing. Additionally, the authors acknowledge the use of information and wordage obtained from Railroads ofArizona. Volume I-Railroads ofSouthern Arizona, by David F. Myrick An attempt has been made to identify this work by citation. Also, A Master Plan for the Yuma Crossing National Historic Landmark, by Gerald A. Doyle & Associates, Architects has been extensively used in the Setting the Scene and Historical Background segments of this document. YUMA CROSSING HAER No.

AZ-63 (Page 9) Setting the Scene Long before either the founding of Jamestown or the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock, the confluence of the Gila and Colorado rivers was already one of those unusual locales that was the stage for historic scenarios of uncommon significance to the nation (Figure 3). From prehistoric times, a number of crossings at the narrows below this river juncture had served as a gateway for migration, trade, warfare, and cultural exchange between California and Arizona. With the coming of Europeans in the sixteenth century, this portal experienced exploration, conquest, commerce, and, eventually, the American settlement of the Southwest.

Taking its name from the Indians who were inhabiting the area when the Spaniards first arrived in and for whom the Spaniards used the term Yuma, the narrows became known as the Yuma Crossing (Figure 4). As industrious gatherers, expert hunters, and strong swimmers, the Quechans (the name the people preferred and now the federally recognized tribal name) had lived at the juncture of the Colorado and Gila rivers for hundreds of years.

When the rivers flooded in the winter and spring months, the people moved to higher ground along the shores, where they congregated in large, earth-covered houses (Hammond & Rey During the planting and growing seasons, they lived in family groups scattered along the river bottom, growing numerous foodstuffs: com (maize), several kinds of beans, cantaloupes, pumpkins, watermelons, calabashes, and grass seeds. The Quechans were a tall, muscular people who used body decoration to achieve the ideal of beauty, as well as to prepare for battle.

Europeans and Americans at the Crossing noted "their coal-black faces and striped bodies and legs give them a fierce aspect," (Whipple In spite of their sometimes scary appearance, the first Europeans and Anglo-Americans described the Quechans as "care-free and pleasure-loving, docile and friendly," (Bolton 2: The Quechans continue to live at the Crossing, farming the fertile lands along the California side of the river and operating a casino that has brought a modicum of wealth to the Quechan Nation. After the arrival of Hernando de Alarc6n's expedition in on an ill-fated mission to support Francisco Vasquez de Coronado's expeditionary force in its search for the Seven Cities of Cibola, few Spaniards visited the Crossing over the next 235 years (Figure 5).

One of the most notable of these was the Jesuit missionary, Father Eusebio Francisco Kino, "the padre on horseback,'' who arrived in In addition to ministering to the Indians, Father Kino was the first to map the area. From his observations, he determined that Baja California was a peninsula and not an island, as had been believed. In the last half of the eighteenth century, Spain was concerned that English and Russian settlements were encroaching on its territory from the Pacific Northwest, so it established a chain of missions along the coast of California. Providing supplies to these missions by sea was expensive and hazardous, and it became imperative to find a more expeditious overland route.

In such a route was opened through the Crossing from the northern provinces ofNew Spain to the missions in California by Captain Juan Bautista de Anza, commander of the Tubae Presidio, an outpost in what is now Southern Arizona. Father Francisco Garces, who had accompanied Anza in returned to YUMA CROSSING HAER No. AZ-63 (Page 10) , .r. ...J'..1"1c.ir.J~ P1 ~1. l"LAN .or .Jt1nnrton COLORADO AND GILA RIVERS . * I I . ,.. tn ~ IJ.S.81~ ila """'nu1.1i.i'r.d/i:411 '6 Commiaainn.:..-. . Kor. to49. ... ... . A. ... ~ ... ~ "- "' ''- .$ ... ... ,, .1. r., <l " .. , c tu_u,. r .i- I J Figure 3. The narrows below the confluence of the Gila and Colorado rivers became the setting for historic scenarios of uncommon significance to the nation . U. S.

Senate Executive Document 34, Reproduced from the collections of the Library of Congress. c:: >~ ~> Figure 4. View looking north across the narrows of the Colorado River at Yuma, Arizona, in Fort Yuma is seen on the hill n ,_ z on the California side. A ferry crosses the river at the left of the image near the location where the Southern Pacific Railroad will Pl ""O 0 0 (Jq > r.n build the first bridge over the Colorado in From the Personal Narrative of Explorations and Incidents in Texas, Mexico, ~ N \/l - I California, Sonora and Chihuahua during the years '52 and '53 by John Russell Bartlett, published May be - L. 0\ Cl reproduced. ~ 1 ~ I \ I .\..,I o!At.~ ,, ALA!(.C.O#. +'I'!! R..oUTE~ OF N ~ W THE SPANISH 5 f At N f!XPLORt~ ~MILH ~~ ~wn by Ocri W.

~dert ~> n ~Z~ "d 0 0 en o N Figure 5. From A Master Plan for the Yuma Crossing National Historic Landmark, Gerald A. Doyle & Associates, ,_. I >z May be reproduced. ~~o YUMA CROSSING HAER No. AZ-63 (Page 13) the Crossing in and, with three other priests, established two missions that were, at first, well- received by the Quechans. But as more and more Spaniards came, depleted food sources, broken promises, and the curtailing of former freedoms created tensions between the two peoples. On two July days in there was a general uprising of the Quechans against the Spaniards, who were all killed or captured. The Quechans again became guardians of the Crossing, maintaining control of the strategic river narrows for the next seventy years.

In the and after New Spain won its independence and the Republic of Mexico was created in American trappers, known as mountain men, occasionally came through the northern Mexican territory, trapping beavers and otters on the Gila and Colorado rivers and their tributaries (Figure 6). Men such as James Ohio Pattie, Kit Carson, and Paulino Weaver became familiar with the routes across the Southwest to California, and when the war between Mexico and the United States beganin a number of them were hired to guide the U.S. Army to the Pacific Coast. The best, all-season route made use of the Quechans' crossing below the confluence of the Colorado and Gila rivers.

Kit Carson guided a vanguard of Colonel Stephen Watts Kearny's Army of the West along the Gila River from New Mexico to the Yuma Crossing, and on to Los Angeles (Figure 7). Six weeks later, Kearny' s supply troop, the Mormon Battalion, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Philip St. George Cooke, was led over a more southernly route to the Crossing by Paulino Weaver and Antoine Leroux. Not yet knowing about the gold that had been discovered in California, none of the troopers could realize that within months thousands of emigrants would be eagerly seeking directions for following this "Southern Route" to California. With the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in the Mexican War ended with a victorious United States, and the confluence of the Colorado and Gila became American territory.

The Quechan initially were friendly as gold-seekers came to their Crossing and required help to cross the river with wagons, livestock, and household goods. Utilizing their swimming prowess and their wooden rafts, the Quechans moved the travelers across in exchange for goods or money. During this period of the famous Forty-niners, the isolated Yuma Crossing gained prominence as a major landmark on the route to California. It is estimated that this desert gateway attracted or more emigrants from through Not all of the emigrants were interested in gold fields; many went West in search of adventure, land, or a new start in life. Once safely across the Colorado River, the travelers, most of them ill-prepared for the journey, trekked across the sand dunes of the Colorado Desert.

A few found riches, some returned to former homes, many settled in California or the Pacific Northwest, and a number made their way back to Arizona. In late a survey party of the U. S. Boundary Commission arrived at the Crossing, accompanied by a military escort under Lieutenant Cave Johnson Couts. In the three months he was there, Couts provided hundreds of emigrants with way-maps and assisted in getting them to the California side of the Colorado River (Figure 8). He acquired a wagon-bed, caulked it heavily, and began the first ferry across the narrows, charging a fee for his services.

When Couts' detachment left in early other entrepreneurs such as Abel Lincoln, a young man from the East, continued his work, recognizing the financial opportunities possible as the stream of emigrants continued. When a cutthroat band of adventurers under bounty-hunter John Glanton arrived, they took over Lincoln's PlSPUTED AR.EA . c.lctif't\ed ~ U.S.~ e>riti.'WI, I ~ UNOR.QANlZED TEKR.lTOR.Y YtJUNtf, l'ATTll!, d' M EXIC:.O "fi'f'Lvtsre~ ANP JAM~ o. !'117TIC 1ef7 ~UT 5 OJ' THE rtoUNTAlN ME. - ~ - - - t'SoMILH by tori W. ~ ~~ ~n Pl '"'O 0 0 (fQ > \/) CD N Figure 6. From A Master Plan for the Yuma Crossing National Historic Landmark, Gerald A. Doyle & Associates, May be - I z reproduced. ~ 8J 0 '! r.

KKl TOR:'{ ~ UNOKQ-ANIZEP TE~R.ITOKY ME XlCAN ~ESS10f'f TEXA':> 1ei~10-1e~ RgUT S Of THE ME.Xl<:AN WAt:. 1&AiG .. OD !IO - "' too 'llSo MILH c ~ >~ OnrWf! by W Ryden trJ > ?O n -- z '"d 0 0 ?O ~ ).. \fl (II N Figure 7. From A Master Plan/or the Yuma Crossing National Historic Landmark, Gerald A. Doyle & Associates, May be I Vl 0\ ~ reproduced. '-' w Cl IOWA ~~ie. T!fAIL. 7-o/t/L UNO"G'ANIZt:D 'l'E~~ITOR.Y ', It' ' ___ .....c::.auncil .o---- ~ _,./~~ANT~ Fe.Tl(Alt. / TtJC.AS KOUTES Of THE ME.XlCO ?:.MIGRANTS about O l't !IO - 80 tell t.'lo MILK ~ by Cbn W. fjtUr1 ~~> ._ z0 ~ (1Q > . (/) (1) N Figure 8. From A Master Planfor the Yuma Crossing National Historic Landmark, Gerald A. Doyle & Associates, May be ,__.I z reproduced. -2) 8j 0 YUMA CROSSING HAER No.

AZ-63 (Page 17) lucrative operation and attempted to monopolize the ferry business, cutting out the Indians. Glanton's ill-treatment of the Quechans led to hostilities, and in late April the Quechans rebelled, killing all of Glanton's gang except four who were away from camp at the time. Abel Lincoln, too, was a casualty. Word spread in California about the wealth garnered by the Lincoln-Glanton ferry. In San Francisco, George Alonzo Johnson, a young stevedore, formed a company to establish a ferry at the Crossing. Louis Jaeger, a deck hand, was one of the first to join the company. By August the new company had its first ferry in service. Johnson and the other members of the company soon sold out to Jaeger and returned to San Francisco. In November, Major Samuel P.

Heintzelman arrived at the river from San Diego with two infantry companies to establish a post and to safeguard travelers. Soon Heintzelman had joined Jaeger as a partner in the successful Colorado Ferry Company. Abandoned briefly in Camp Yuma was reoccupied in early as Fort Yuma. Under the post's founder, Major Heintzelman, the army established a permanent American presence at the Crossing. Supplying the desolate, yet strategic, outpost was extremely difficult by wagon train across the California desert, and, in the fall of George Alonzo Johnson returned to the Colorado with two partners and a side-wheel steamboat, the General Jessup.

Ocean-going ships brought supplies from San Francisco and other California ports around Baja California and up the Gulf of California to the mouth of the Colorado. There, goods were transferred to Johnson's shallow-draft river steamboat and carried the 120 miles to Fort Yuma. By the summer of Johnson's business was booming, and he brought another steamer, a stem-wheeler, to the river. In Charles D. Poston and cartographer Herman V. Ehrenberg were sent by a San Francisco business syndicate to acquire land that would likely become the western terminus of a proposed transcontinental railroad, the Texas Western Railroad.

Poston concluded that the railroad builders would probably end their line in San Diego and not at the Colorado River, and that the Yuma Crossing was the only location in the vicinity for the railroad to cross the river. As a result, he and Ehrenberg went to work surveying a townsite, which they called Colorado City. This town was to become Arizona City, and later Yuma. During the Civil War, U. S. soldiers at Fort Yuma returned home to fight for the Union or the Confederacy. They were replaced by Col. James H. Carleton's 1600-man volunteer army, known as the California Volunteers or the California Column (Figure 9). In Confederate forces from Texas under Captain Sherod Hunter took over the mines in southern Arizona and set up headquarters in Tucson.

A brief skirmish occurred between the Confederates and the California Volunteers at Stanwix Station on the Gila River east of the Crossing, and a larger encounter ensued near Picacho Peak north of Tucson. These were the only engagements of the War between the States in Arizona. The Confederate soldiers withdrew from Arizona, and for the remainder of the war, the California Volunteers were stationed at Fort Yuma and other posts in the Southwest. The major role of Fort Yuma came about after the Civil War, when the Quartermaster Depot was built on the Arizona side of the Colorado River in (Figure Following the end of hostilities, NE1'R.ASK!i Tt.~R1TOl\Y ~ COLORAPO 'TE TOKY KiiNSNS UNOK.<lAN\ZED TE TO~Y Nr. W MEXl\.0 Tl:.R.K\TOK'{ ~Di ~\~ CA!(t.e1t7N . ~ --~ AN/?

7He -- ~f.lrtJ~NIA Tf..XAS CO/.U}'!N HONTeR ~~ AN!?7He tRUARTt:l(/1A'STf.~ \ Tt=XA~ SUPf'/.leS Vt'1-UN1eelf.? K9UTE~OF ME~lCO WA~ ... . --< ... c D ft -- laio is. too ~ MILIS >-- ~ ~ tTJ ;i... IA?iun by Cbn W f?;i:!en ~ n .. .. ~Z~ " i:.i '"c:I 0 0 (Jq >-- [fJ (1) N w Figure 9. From A Master Plan/or the Yuma Crossing National Historic Landmark, Gerald A. Doyle & Associates, May >-'I z ~ ei 0 be reproduced. WYOM IN~ NE~~J\$~A ~ NEVADA . UTJ\li '\:,OLOMVO KANSl\5 lNV\AM TtR.KITOKY rE.X/\$ . =t . MILITA~Y \ .. SUPPLY \ .. ME.XICO R.0 0rE5 \. 1eeo \ ... . /Ja!IO.-. ~.taO do MILK ~ .. . ~~> by W. ~ (J .. . .~- '"t:I ~ 0 0 fJQ . > o N Figure 10. From A Master Plan/or the Yuma Crossing National Historic Landmark, Gerald A. Doyle & Associates, I z ~ 8j 0 May be reproduced. YUMA CROSSING HAER No.

AZ-63 (Page 20) the need for troops in the Southwest increased dramatically due to the Apache wars and the resulting establishment of military posts. The Yuma Crossing became a vital supply hub, with goods, both military and civilian, brought by river steamboat to the depot and then freighted out by wagon trains to army posts, mines, and towns all over Arizona. Gold had been discovered in Arizona in the late a separate Arizona Territory with its own government had been created in hostilities with the Indians had largely ceased by the late and farms and ranches were burgeoning. In a post office was established as Colorado City, and the following year the name was changed to Arizona City.

That year, Lieutenant Joseph Christmas Ives, exploring up the Colorado River, described the town as "but a few straggling buildings, the principal of which are a store, blacksmith shop, and tavern" (Ives The census listed 85 residents in Arizona City. Additionally, 131 persons made their home in Jaegerville across the river below Fort Yuma. When the post office was reestablished after the Civil War (in post office regulations required a new name, and Yuma was chosen. The little village continued to grow, and, by it had become the territory's second largest city with residents. In the focal point of the community became the Arizona Territorial Prison, which had been constructed across the river from Fort Yuma.

Then, in the town's attention was directed to an event that would become the most important happening in the Crossing's long history-the coming of the Southern Pacific Railroad. With the arrival of the railroad at the Crossing, the usefulness of Fort Yuma and the Quartermaster Depot diminished, and both were soon closed. The military reservation was transferred to the Department of the Interior, and, in the Fort Yuma Indian Reservation was established. The land opposite the mouth of the Gila River was once again the homeland of the Quechan, but the Southern Pacific Railroad now assumed the role as the guardian of the Crossing.

Historical Background The acquisition of what was to become southern Arizona, resulting from the Gadsden Treaty 1 gained for the United States Tucson and a practical route for extension of a transcontinental road through Arizona and into southern California. Until Tucson, then the most important city in what was to become Arizona Territory, 2 was isolated from the Pacific Coast by more than 400 miles of desert and from New Mexico and Texas by only a little less. Travel across the Southwest was slow, costly, and undependable. 1. The treaty was not ratified until June 30, 2. Arizona Territory was created February 24, by Congress. Until then, it had been a part ofNew Mexico Territory.

Tucson was founded in as a Spanish military outpost and remained a walled Mexican outpost until Phoenix, now Arizona's largest city (Tucson is second), had its earliest beginnings in with the establishment of the Swilling Irrigation Canal Company. Henry P. Walker and Don Bufkin, Historical Atlas ofArizona (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, p. 60; G. Wesley Johnson, Jr. Phoenix: Valley ofthe Sun (Tulsa Okla.: Continental Press, YUMA CROSSING HAER No. AZ-63 (Page 21) In California already numbered residents (Faulk and was rapidly developing. However, it was separated from the rest of the country by mountains and deserts and was in dire need of wagon roads to link it with the Mississippi Valley and the industrial centers of the East. Senator John B.

Weller of California (Faulk undertook to have Congress appropriate funds for the construction of three roads to California; one of these, as suggested by Senator Thomas J. Rusk of Texas, was to run from El Paso to Fort Yuma, which was already linked to San Diego by a military road. James B. Leach, one of the first civilians to be entrusted with such an important undertaking, was named superintendent for the El Paso to Fort Yuma road. Construction began in October (Figure 11 ). The road corresponded largely with the Cooke Wagon Road of (Bancroft which had been constructed by the Mormon Battalion of Colonel Stephen Watts Kearny's Army of the West during the Mexican War. The battalion, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Phillip St.

George Cooke and comprised almost entirely of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, had been assigned to the task of finding a route to California for Kearny' s supply wagons, while Kearny proceeded to California with an advanced party along the Gila River through the mountains of eastern Arizona with only pack mules. Leach divided his force of over a hundred men into parties and worked westward from El Paso and eastward from Fort Yuma, completing the road by the end of July (Bancroft The 18-foot-wide roadway was well-graded and drained, and most importantly, watering places were constructed along the way at convenient intervals. The Leach Wagon Road opened the Southwest to major freighting and stagecoach efforts.

Inasmuch as the route was an extension of the old Santa Fe Trail, over which goods had moved in trade between Missouri and New Mexico since the road became a principal route of commerce from the Mississippi Valley to Arizona and California. Among the first to use the route of the Leach Wagon Road on a regular basis was the San Antonio and San Diego Mail [stagecoach] Line, which initiated service between the two cities in the summer of even before construction on the roadway had begun. The San Antonio and San Diego Mail Line followed the general route of Cooke's Wagon Road.

This company remained in service but lost portions of its route in 185 8 to John Butterfield's Overland Mail Company, which began semiweekly service from Missouri to San Francisco by way of El Paso, Tucson, Fort Yuma and Los Angeles, crossing the Colorado River on Jaeger's ferry (Bancroft The trip through Arizona was particularly hazardous because of the depredations of the Apaches; only the presence of federal troops in the area made it possible for the coaches to make the journey. Even then, attacks on the stages by both Indians and desperados were frequent.

The "only through passenger on the first westbound" Butterfield Overland Mail stage from Saint Louis to San Francisco in described the journey in detail: Thus the average rate of speed on the whole route was a fraction under five miles per hour. Now supposing that no better time than this is made, ... a route, like this, which passes through nearly two thousand miles of uninhabited country, ... places San Francisco within twenty-six days of New York ... IOWA WYOMINCr NE.1'MSKA ~ NE.VAPA . UTAH KANSAS C'./\LIFORN IA lNPiAN 1ERKlToR'{ a~ 1 EX/\'7:> . ' ' (' - \, . '' van l\OUTts or iHE. ME.XKO ~TAGet:oACHES --< be.fore e >~ on,. - ... too '&'So MILIS t'IJ > ~ ~n DntUM by W. ~den ~Z~ "'d ~ 0 . 0 (fO > (\) N N I N 0\ L, Figure 11.

From A Master Plan for the Yuma Crossing National Historic Landmark, Gerald A. Doyle & Associates, May '-"wa be reproduced. YUMA CROSSING HAER No. AZ-63 (Page 23) ... travelers will find it convenient to carry with them as much durable food as possible. As for sleeping, most of the wagons are arranged so that the backs of the seats let down and form a bed the length of the vehicle. When the stage is full, the passengers must take turns at sleeping. Perhaps the jolting will be found disagreeable at first, but a few nights without sleeping will obviate that difficulty White pants and kid gloves had better be discarded by most passengers . . . Fort Yuma ... is situated on the Colorado-west bank-near its junction with the Gila. Most of the buildings belong to the government.

About a mile below the fort is Arizona City [later Yuma], consisting of a few adobe houses. We crossed the river at this point, on a ferry kept by Mr. Yager [Jaeger], who charges $5 for carrying an ordinary four horse team. The boat is a sort of flatboat, and is propelled by the rapid current, being kept in its course by pulleys running on a rope stretched across the river. ... After a hasty breakfast we changed our horses and were off again (Ormsby By virtually every Overland Mail stage was loaded to capacity with passengers and mail. When the Union troops were moved from the Southwest to the battlefields of the Civil War in stage lines, with a few local exceptions, ceased operations, and regular service between California, Fort Yuma, and Tucson was interrupted.

In the years immediately following the Civil War, the Southwest was without stagecoach service, for there were too few passengers to make the business profitable. It was not until when the Southern Overland U.S. Mail and Express opened service, that the coaches again began to rumble between El Paso and Tucson. Then, in the Tucson, Arizona City [Yuma], and San Diego Stage Company, with service from Arizona to California, reestablished the transcontinental link over the Yuma Crossing (Faulk The stage business was a risky one and, without mail contracts with the government, often unprofitable. Companies frequently changed ownerships and names; many went out of business.

Before the decade was over, the era of transcontinental stagecoach travel and wagon freighting was ended by the "iron horse." The Southern Pacific Railroad Arrives in Yuma Meanwhile, in the first transcontinental railroad was completed. The Union Pacific, laying track westward across the Plains, and the Central Pacific, working eastward from California, met at Promontory Point, a small town west of Ogden, Utah. On May 10, the final spikes were driven and the country was joined by rails-the era of the frontier was drawing to an end. Acting to maintain a monopoly on railroading in California, the developers of the Central Pacific began constructing branch lines to important cities throughout the state. One of these, the Southern Pacific Railroad ran from San Francisco to San Diego.

In May a Southern Pacific spur was completed across southern California to Jaeger's ferry at Fort Yuma, on the California side of the Yuma YUMA CROSSING HAER No. AZ-63 (Page 24) Crossing (Figure Travelers and freight were transported to the Arizona side by ferry, to be carried along the southern route by stage and wagon freighters to Tucson, El Paso, and beyond. The arrival of the railroad to Fort Yuma brought an end to coastal shipping to the mouth of the Colorado and virtually ended the use of steamboats on the river below Yuma. As other rail lines reached the Colorado upstream from Yuma, the use ofriver boats further declined, although some remained in service above Yuma for another quarter of a century (Field Record 1).

With construction of dams on the Colorado, the first in (Laguna Dam about thirteen miles above Yuma), the heyday ofriver trade and travel was over. Construction of the railroad over the Colorado was halted while the negotiated a right-of-way across the Fort Yuma military reservation, the most practical location for the construction of a bridge. Finally, and in defiance of an order by the Secretary of War, the bridge was constructed, and, by cover of night, rails were laid; on Sunday, September 30, the first locomotive, No. 31, steamed into Arizona (Myrick 197 5, 1: 26) (Figure 13 ). Yuma remained the terminus ofthe railroad for some eighteen months while the Southern Pacific sought aid from the territorial legislatures of Arizona and New Mexico.

With the arrival of the railroad in Arizona, the wasted no time in developing its Yuma facilities. Among the first were water storage tanks used to supply water to its locomotives. The story of these tanks and a later water-settling reservoir is told HAER No. AZ-66. In her book Vanished Arizona, Martha Summerhayes provides a firsthand account of army life on the Western Frontier. Arriving by steamboat at Fort Yuma in August with her captain husband, she was to remain only a few days before leaving for Fort Mojave on the steamer Gila "with a barge full of soldiers towing on after us ... " After spending four years at various posts in Arizona Territory, Martha again found herself at the Crossing in the summer of when her husband's regiment was ordered to California.

"By this time," she recounted, "the Southern Pacific Railroad had been built as far [east] as Yuma, and a bridge thrown up across the Colorado at this point. It seemed like an incongruity. And how burning hot those cars looked, standing there in the Arizona sun!" Her recollection of the day continued: After four years in that Territory, and remembering the days, weeks, and even months spent in traveling on the river, or marching through the deserts, I could not make the Pullman cars seem a reality. We brushed the dust of the Gila Valley from our clothes, I unearthed a hat from somewhere, and some wraps which had not seen the light for nearly two years, and prepared to board the train.

WYOMING" IOWA .;f e&N1R.AL PfCirA NEVADA rr.XA~ H01A;ibn...cl'- ~~ '\ ~~ '-----a---~ $QI'\ Antorlio KOUTES or iHf. ME.XfCO M1L~AD5 aboutt66o - ... - ftoMILIS ~ ~~ Drawn by Don W. fo/den ~n z0 0~ Cl1 (ll > cf6 N CIJ. Figure 12. From A Master Plan for the Yuma Crossing National Historic Landmark, Gerald A. Doyle & Associates, May N Z be reproduced. ~~o YUMA CROSSING HAER No. AZ-63 (Page 26) Figure 13. View looking north from Arizona toward California showing Locomotive No. 31 on the first bridge over the Colorado River. Photo dates ca. October No. 31 was the first engine to arrive in Arizona on September 30, The tracks continue to the south along Madison Avenue to the roundhouse. Reproduced from the collections of the Library of Congress (US262 YUMA CROSSING HAER No.

AZ-63 (Page 27) The soldiers did not look half so picturesque, climbing into the cars, as they did when loading onto a barge; and when the train went across the bridge, and we looked down upon the swirling red waters of the Great Colorado from the windows of a luxurious Pullman, I sighed; and, with the strange contradictoriness of the human mind, I felt sorry that the old days had come to an end.

Construction began eastward from the Yuma Crossing along the western portion of the Gila Trail in November (Faulk The first train arrived in Tucson on March 20, After arriving in New Mexico, the gandy dancers found their work much easier and raced into Lordsburg on October 18, Deming on December 15; and El Paso on May 19, 1881(Faulk1973, By earlier agreement with the Texas and Pacific Railroad, the Southern Pacific was supposed to end in El Paso, there to be joined by the Texas and Pacific.

The Texas and Pacific, however, was moving slowly, so the Southern Pacific purchased a large interest in an obscure Texas railroad, the Galveston, Harrisburg, and San Antonio, which was already building toward El Paso (Faulk Just west of the Pecos River, the track crews of the Southern Pacific and the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio met on January 12, 18 83.

Another bit of track laying east of Galveston soon completed the line to New Orleans, and the Sunset Route was opened to service on February 5, (Faulk The journey from the Pacific Coast to the Gulf of Mexico, a distance of miles, was now accomplished in the same number of days that had previously been weeks for stagecoaches and months for wagons (Figure The trails of James Ohio Pattie, Ewing Young, Kit Carson, General Kearny, and the Mormon Battalion across southern Arizona, now marked with wood crossties and steel rails, opened the Southwest to a new invasion of settlers that continues today.

The Southern Pacific Railroad Colorado River Bridges According to the Arizona Sentinel for May 25, Congress, by an act that had been passed in granted all railroads in the territories of the United States a right-of-way for a roadbed. Thus, in early the Arizona legislature granted authority to the Southern Pacific Railroad to maintain telegraph and railroad lines across the Territory of Arizona. In the same year the citizens of Yuma donated one hundred acres within the town limits for the purposes of the Southern Pacific (Woznicki The trackage reached the north bank of the Colorado at Fort Yuma across the river from the village of Yuma on May 20, (Woznicki Construction of a railroad bridge had been underway even before the tracks neared the river.

During June and July railroad construction activities continued in the village. A revised survey relocated the main roadbed twenty-five feet west to Madison Avenue, and by the end of July, after the main cut had been completed along the east side of what was to become Reservoir Hill, grading for a spur to the warehouse of the Colorado Steam Navigation Company on the riverbank between Madison Avenue and Main Street was begun. YUMA CROSSING HAER No. AZ-63 (Page 28) Also, grading for the main line continued along Madison Avenue (Figure 14 and Field Record 2) to the southern village limit where a four-stall roundhouse was under construction between Fourth and Fifth streets (Field Record 3).

Timbers for the bridge, cut to size in Oakland, began arriving in the middle of July (Myrick By the end of August, four of the seven foundation piers were in place in the river. Each pier contained 17 wood piles driven to hardpan some thirty feet below the bottom of the river. The bridge superstructure consisted of six Howe truss spans, each 80 feet long, and a double-cantilever, cable-supported swinging span at the Arizona end to permit steamboats to pass, following the deepest channel at the bridge site (Figure 15 and Field Record 4). The total length of the bridge was 667 feet. The swinging segment, which measured 187 feet long, was supported near its midpoint on a wood-pile pier and rotated counterclockwise in a horizontal plane on a steel bearing (Field Records 5, and 6).

The swinging segment, consisting of balanced half segments cantilevering from the midpoint pier, was supported at each end by a seat when the swinging segment was closed. One-half of the swing was over the channel, and one-half over land. The cantilevers were supported by guy cables that ran from a central timber tower to the ends of the spans. Tension in the cables was adjusted by turnbuckles (Field Record 7). The original structure stood until July when a heavy flood washed out four of the spans and two piers, leaving nothing but the abutment on the California side and part of the swing on the Arizona side (Field Record 8).

A temporary bridge was rapidly constructed and was ready for use on August 13,just one week after work began (Myrick On September25, 150men were at work on a new permanent bridge, which was completed on November 29. The structure had three Howe truss spans, one 200 feet long and two 160 feet long, supported on four piers, each containing 44 piles, and a swinging element with a length of 200 feet at the Arizona end (Myrick (Field Records 9 and When deck planking was installed a few weeks later, a wagon and two horses could cross the bridge upon payment of A horse and rider were charged 75 cents and people on foot went free (Myrick On October 17, the new bridge was discovered in flames and the timber superstructure, except for the swinging segment, rapidly burned to the water.

A temporary bridge was hastily constructed by 150 experienced men from the Coast, taking only about a week.

A permanent replacement, also constructed of timber, was opened early in In the summer of the railroad decided to replace the old timber swinging span with a steel swinging span, and in February the 148-foot 8-inch steel span was completed (Field Record Three years later the rest of the bridge was rebuilt with steel, utilizing two 157-foot-long spans at the California end and one 196-foot-long span next to the already completed swinging span (Field Record The 196-foot span is characterized by its "humpback" configuration, used to achieve the greater truss depth required to accommodate the longer span (Figures 16 and The next bridge over the Colorado at the Crossing was a single-span highway bridge, located at the river bluffs a short distance upstream from the SP bridge, between Prison Hill on the Arizona side and Indian Hill on the California side (Figures 18 and Known as the Ocean-to-Ocean v ~ e > ~ m> ~n ~Z~ ::ii '"t:i 0 0 (JQ > Figure 14.

Madison Avenue, ca. View looking northeast. Fort Yuma is seen in the distance and the first bridge atthe upper ~ N N 1 z left of the image. Reproduced from the collections of the Library of Congress (US262 1' '' .. ~. :. - \. ' i. l '-l ~ ~ l I ~ t\ c \'i\.. >-~ trJ > ?O n ?O ,. -. _ z " " '"O Pl 0 0 UC/ >- r/J ro N r/J Figure 15. Segment of drawing titled Colorado River Bridge, transmitted to Chief of Engineers with letter dated May VJ I z 31, showing swinging span. Original drawing includes entire bridge. National Archives (Roll). 8 8:j 0 -< tl1 ~~> ~n ,."'O-.,_ z0 0~ p; > r:r.i n N r:r.i VJ I Figure 16. Colorado River ferry and first steel bridge at Madison Avenue, ca. View looking west. National - O'I L, Archives 115-JAJ-0731 (Box w 0 ~~ ~> n "i:I 0 0 ~ rJQ . > Figure 17.

steel bridge at Madison Avenue. View looking southeast from California toward Arizona, ca. The (D N W I z steamboat Cochan is waiting for the bridge to open. The water settling reservoir (HAER AZ-66) is seen on the hill behind the ~~o boat. National Archives 115-JAJ-0734 (Box ~~ ~~ :;io > () 0 , '"t:i-. _ z :;io0 cfci Figure 18. Looking south from Fort Yuma with the Ocean-to-Ocean Highway Bridge at the left edge of the image and the OI N r/1 W I bridge at the right edge, ca. National Archives 115-JAJ-1304 (Box w 0\ L, '-"wO ><: ~~ ~> -- z "'d 0 0 ~~ N r/1>en Figure 19. The Ocean-to-Ocean Highway Bridge crosses the Colorado River (right edge of image) at the location selected for a I z railroad crossing by Jefferson Davis in Collection of Gerald A. Doyle. May be reproduced.

~ ei Cl YUMA CROSSING HAER No. AZ-63 (Page 35) Highway Bridge, the structure is listed on the National Register of Historic Places for its own significance. It served cross-country motorists from until when the Interstate Highway 8 bridge was constructed nearby (Figure The historic bridge was extensively rehabilitated in and is today used mainly by residents of the Quechan Reservation and Yuma (Figure With continuing floods on the Colorado, notably those in and SP decided it was time to build a new railroad bridge and selected a site immediately adjacent to, and upstream from, the Ocean-to-Ocean Highway Bridge.

There the company constructed a 400-foot-long, single-span steel- truss bridge that was completed in February (Figure 21 and Field Record The site of these two bridges is the one recommended by Jefferson Davis, then Secretary ofWar, in a speech made to Congress in At that time, Congress was appropriating monies to make explorations necessary to determine the best route for a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, and Davis favored a southern route.

In his speech Davis said, "The most favorable point for crossing the Colorado is at the junction of the Gila, where the river is narrowest, 650 feet wide, and has bluffs on both sides" (Martin The new bridge required the relocation of trackage on both the Arizona and California sides of the Crossing, resulting in the removal of the west side of Prison Hill and the construction ofnew railroad facilities, including a new station and freight yard east of Prison Hill. On April I, the new line was opened to railroad traffic. After the bridge was in use, the steel bridge was removed. Only the concrete pier (foundation) for the swinging span remains (Figure Today it is covered by a wood deck and is used as a river overlook.

This prominent feature is a critical benchmark against which historic maps and photographs can be compared. Additionally, remnants of two other bridge piers can be seen in the river, marking the location of the Madison Avenue bridges. In the last of the tracks were removed from Madison Avenue, ending the Southern Pacific's use of the first railroad location in Arizona (Myrick The Southern Pacific Railroad Hotel As the Southern Pacific's passenger business increased, the need for a railroad hotel at the Crossing, where travelers could get a meal or spend a night, brought about the construction of the Southern Pacific Hotel and Depot at the foot of Madison Avenue. On March 28, the Arizona Sentinel reported: Supt.

Seth Green on Thursday morning with a large force of men broke ground for the new hotel and eating house of the to be erected at this place. The ground plan contemplates a building fronting south having a length of east to west 123 feet and width of 55 feet 6 inches the ground floor of which will constitute the dining appartment [sic] and ~ ::i:: >~ tTJ > ~n ~Z~ '"'O 0 0 Figure 20. View of the Yuma Crossing looking west. From bottom to top of the image are: bridge, Ocean-to-Ocean ~>en (D N r/1 Highway Bridge, Interstate Highway 8 Bridge, and Fourth Avenue Bridge. (The last is not referenced in this document.) This VJ I z figure is the same as HAER AZ-63-1. May be reproduced. ~eio (1 ~~ ~ z "'d ~ 0 . 0 Figure 21.

The Ocean-to-Ocean Highway Bridge (front) and the bridge (rear) at the narrows between Indian Hill (JQ >-- (I) N (left) and Prison Hill (right) as seen from beneath the Interstate Highway 8 bridge. View looking northeast. Gerald A. Doyle I z photographer, May be reproduced. ~ 8j 0 ~t ::i:: c _,. ' 'fr ' '~ "'" ~ ~~ ~n Figure 22. Aerial view of the Yuma Crossing looking west. The bridge and the Ocean-to-Ocean Highway Bridge are , '"O- ._ z0 0~ p.i at the bottom of the image. The site of the bridges at Madison Avenue is marked by the remnants of two mid-stream bridge r:JCi N piers. The circular foundation of the swinging span of the steel bridge is on the shore line at the left of the south (left) pier. This VJ z I figure is the same as HAER AZ-63-2. May be reproduced.

~ 8i 0 YUMA CROSSING HAER No. AZ-63 (Page 39) office of the Hotel. Extending north and comencing [sic] at a point 20 feet from the east end of the building will be the kitchen 66 by 36 feet, with a cellar under the whole of the same. The location is one that reflects great credit to the Company being [illegible] on the banks of the river near to and adjacent to their Depot building and but a few feet from the track. Passengers will at all times find it cool and pleasant, with a fine breeze from the river, good shade and romantic scenery which will soon make it the favorite [illegible] on the entire road.

On May 7, the Sentinel related: The new railroad hotel which is being put by the Company at the Depot has been eagerly watched at every stage of progress by the people of Yuma and now that the roof, floors, and petitions [sic] are completed and the plasterers and painters are at work, this magnificent building begins to assume an appearance of comfortableness [sic] civilization.

The first floor of the hotel is divided into eleven spacious compartments consisting of ticket office, bar room, reading room, dinning [sic] room, kitchen, pantries, and side-board rooms, the second floor consists of nineteen airy bed-rooms and a pleasant parlow [sic] beside a large brick lined celar [sic] at the basement and we understand that the furniture will be of the latest patern [sic], these making it one of the most pleasant and comfortable Houses on the road this side of San Francisco. The new hotel, according to the Sentinel, was "near to and adjacent to their Depot building ... " [and] "is being put by the Company at the Depot.

" The "Depot building," which preceded the hotel, has not been positively identified in the historic photographs or other documents and was probably demolished when the hotel (with a "ticket office") was completed. On May 28, the Sentinel provided additional information on the hotel: This beautiful airy, neat and splendid Hotel is situated on the Southern bank of the famous Colorado River and is to be under the management of Mr. Henry Weaver, formerly of the Grand Central Hotel of Oakland Cal. who will spare neither money or pains to make this the leading Hotel of Arizona (Field Record Its appointments are complete in every respect.

In a short time the Hotel will be surrounded with beautiful grounds, ornamented with shade trees, shrubbery and flowers, making it a delightful and pleasant resort. The scenery from the grand verandas of this Hotel is magnificent. The majestic monument[-]like rocks ofthe Picacho mountains, the famous Castle Dome, far to the Northeast, the jagged Gila Range, the Carga Muchacho mountains to the Northwest, the Gila and Colorado River, Fort Yuma, and many other points of interest can all be seen from this Hotel. Mr. Weaver knows how to keep a Hotel and will conduct this establishment on the true principles making it first class in every particular. YUMA CROSSING HAER No.

AZ-63 (Page 40) As at other depots, the SP had leased the new facility to an independent operator who placed a prominent advertisement in the Sentinel on August 20, announcing the opening of the Southern Pacific Railroad Hotel (Figure The hotel business must have been very successful, because on December 3, the Sentinel reported "the Railroad Company was about to make improvements about the depot and hotel." The article continued: Another thing proposed is an addition to be built on the west side of the hotel building. This will be a two story building feet, and will be so arranged as to provide rooms for the following purposes: R. R. waiting room, baggage room, conductor's room, R. R. office, 2 private offices, barber shop, 2 bathrooms and water closets.

On the second story will be sleeping rooms, the whole number of which will nearly, if not quite, double the present capacity of the hotel. This building will be connected with the main building by a walk of 1Ox25 feet, on the ground floor, and by a bridge of the same dimensions, up stairs, thus leaving a wide passage between the two buildings. The construction of this addition will necessitate the removal of those unsightly hills and will be a great improvement all around. Such alterations will be made with the present hotel building as will admit of the erection of a lunch counter, and other needed changes. On March 25, the Sentinel described the progress on the addition: Bricklayers are building a wall around the sweep of the draw bridge, on the side of the river next to the hotel.

On top of this wall a picket fence will be put, which will add materially to the good looks of that portion of the hotel grounds. The work on the addition to the R. R. Hotel continues rapidly. The plasterers have commenced their part of the work, and will give [the] place to the painters next week. The hotel is pictured in Figures 24, 25, and 26 and Field Record 15. In when SP decided to relocate the Colorado River bridge and tracks to a new alignment immediately east of Gila Street and west of Prison Hill, a new station (without a hotel) was constructed east of Gila Street between Second and Third streets.

The new station was ready for business when the new line opened on April 1, (Field Record Subsequently, the City of Yuma acquired the property from the SP and leased it to the Yuma Fine Arts Association for a year for use as the Yuma Arts Center. The building was destroyed by a fire in By as shown on the Sanborn map (Field Record 17) of that date, Cochan Sanitarium was occupying the old SP Hotel on Madison A venue. According to a local informant in the building was demolished about (Stone By California Pine Box Distributors was occupying a new building on the site of the old hotel (Field Record The company remained until at least YUMA CROSSING HAER No. AZ-63 (Page 41) f'~ l'llllftlml~fitf!f iZHZ:sA#i!-lk#& c.iJ.&11u.u;r. (' - Tam . . 1 ~~tiries, 80UTHIRN , PAIJJPJV f . . .:&:ft'e .

~D~!o< .. . - . ./ .. .. !'. . ~- - acll'I _Jtapettc. Bell . . . . . .$IO ~aeu..--,s. . . ... ... DIIL R0 "D HO"' ' . . . -.. ..- , . ... Jitlll . . ' IJl , . . JJW 1 :~x-.a.u.;.-.~ u. Do Not , . .~ ._ . tM' "'"i i ;SE-~~ :: . . -t3llfo ~ali. : ;; . tSHOW-COMPLUE :, ... ~ .;~ : . . . . . . . ; . ;;: .: '. < '. ,;. (,f.L~jL.L;I;,;.:.&;;;""' . -.. . .ga'V&lmg ;; : . --- { , '~ . < ,~ f ..~i11 1u11 < < .. 'fARKBREWERY. . . . 1-~ -~ . . ... . :. ... <.. ~ s1i)poyerlt-fe"7aa~,; :c:o,~~ + ';i weekt\r ~: ln:oll.ths ;=~-~.~!~t&imtl~~~~~~~~~-; 1 . .. . . ~IEllllllf:LUJCHts. ~~= '.U~t and~~ld'W'.a1;e~l~~~~~~~~1tt . :, ~t~cr.f.rt:e~~itct <~ . -~. {< ~~th$,.}j:tu.-'1Je~ Sli~:p ~ 17coot.f.1 ei m~1c:.-r.tdJt1!iciifeis ,,. . ;: . ; .. , . i~-t;i . . . . I# J.:t-sPzcur:tr~. <. ; ~ !.at , !

111 ~ ~rid '111.ri~ , -; i~~;_. ; . r 1 - . .. ~ ~IEllPlftU . . -. . . <} : o~e or.~ 'tlfe ~- - ~ . . .. .. .. w.. A! t> . . . . -. ': ., . . >-; ,-<~i:.f . ., ~~-~~e~ ;.....,.()u;O~$.>e,_ , t . -~~ ~~u,,~ . -. ' Call*and .~ -" - ~ .see ' ' ' ' ' '. - ' ~- me. r, . l'l~o lir'Drie!"tor~oob AVSR Pto9t' ~ tr ~tr ~ ., ,IJVtf li~~l1;G~t~;ii:~iih ~}i1r1 l~ ~\ -, .. Figure 23. Advertisement for the Southern Pacific Railroad Hotel in the Arizona Sentinel, August 20, Mav be reoroduced. -< ::i:: c >~ n ,-'"O-,_ 0z 0 ~ ~VJ (I) N VJ I z Figure 24. Hotel, ca. View looking northwest. Courtesy of Emil Eger, Yuma. May be reproduced. ~ 8i Cl ~~ ~> () ~ z ~oo ~ .> Figure 25. Hotel, ca. View looking west.

The small building seen above the roof of the hotel (at the right of the C'D N r/J ~ I chimneys) is on Reservoir Hill. Courtesy of Lyle M. Stone, Tubae. May be reproduced. w O"I L. '-"wO --< :I: c >~ trJ > i'J n ~ i'J z '"O Pl 0 0 (JQ > VJ Figure 26. Hotel, ca. View looking northwest. Reservoir Hill is seen beyond the wood columns (left). The railroad 0 N VJ I z track is located between the hotel and the hill. Courtesy of Emil Eger, Yuma. May be reproduced. ~ ei 0 YUMA CROSSING HAER No. AZ-63 (Page 45) In Archaeological Research Services (ARS), under the direction of Lyle M. Stone, conducted extensive test excavations at the old hotel site and located many subsurface architectural features of the hotel and numerous hotel artifacts. The project was sponsored by the City of Yuma.

A copy of the report on the excavations, project records, and artifacts were delivered to the city for permanent curation (Stone The site is now covered with asphalt pavement and is used as a parking lot. No elements of the hotel or subsequent buildings are visible today. Significance of the Yuma Crossing The narrows below the confluence of the Gila and Colorado rivers is one of those unusual locales that became the stage for historic events of uncommon significance to the development ofthe United States. In the historic era, paths of the Spanish soldiers and missionaries, trails of the American mountain men, wagon roads of the U.S.

Army and the Forty-niners, the track ofthe Southern Pacific Railroad, and transcontinental highways have all converged on the Colorado River at the same location-the Yuma Crossing. The arrival of the Southern Pacific Railroad at the Yuma Crossing from California in resulted in the construction of the first bridge across the Colorado River, which was used not only by trains but also by wagons and pedestrians, and in the opening of a route to New Orleans in The journey by train from the Pacific Coast to the Gulf of Mexico, a distance of miles, could then be accomplished in the same number of days that had previously been weeks for stagecoaches and months for wagons. The result of opening the railroad to the East was immediately felt in Yuma and throughout Arizona.

Where once the Territory, and especially Yuma, had been visited only by the hardiest of men and women, it now could be visited by travelers who came on the Pacific Express to marvel at how foreign, how un-American the Southwest seemed. At the same time, the Southern Pacific made Yuma more American, as it brought Eastern and California building materials and architectural styles, ice-making machinery, traditional Anglo foods, and comfortable hotels, such as the one built at the Crossing in by the Perhaps more than any other single event, the arrival of the Southern Pacific Railroad to Yuma laid the foundation for Arizona statehood in and opened the Southwest to the wave of settlers that continues today. YUMA CROSSING HAER No.

AZ-63 (Page 46) REFERENCES CITED Bancroft, Hubert Howe, History of Arizona and New Mexico, San Francisco: The History Company, Publishers, Reprint. Albuquerque: Hom & Wallace, Publishers, Bolton, Herbert Eugene. Anza 's California Expeditions. 5 vols. Berkeley: University of California Press, Faulk, Odie B. Destiny Road: The Gila Trail and the Opening of the Southwest. New York: Oxford University Press, Hammond, George P. and Agapito Rey. Narratives of Coronado Expedition, Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, Ives, Joseph C. Report Upon the Colorado River of the West: Explored in and by Lieutenant Joseph C. Ives, Corps of Topographical Engineers, Under the Direction of the Office ofExplorations and Surveys, A. A. Humphreys, Captain Topographical Engineers, in Charge.

Cong., 1st sess., Washington: G. P. 0. Martin, Douglas D. Yuma Crossing. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, Myrick, David F. Railroads of Arizona. Vol. 1: The Roads of Southern Arizona. Berkeley: Howell-North Books, Ormsby, Waterman L. The Butterfield Overland Mail. Eds., Lyle H. Wright and Josephine M. Bynum. San Marino: Huntington Library, Stone, Lyle M. Archaeological Investigations Within the Yuma Crossing National Historic Landmark: The Southern Pacific Railroad Station/Hotel Site in Yuma, Yuma County, Arizona. Tempe: Archaeological Research Services, Inc., Whipple, Amiel Weeks. Report of Lieutenant Whipple's Expedition from San Diego to the Colorado. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. cong., 2nd sess., Senate Executive Document 19. Woznicki, Robert.

The History of Yuma and the Territorial Prison.