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YUMA AND VICINITY
Yuma's rich historical background and sunny, subtropical climate make it an attractive destination. In winter, snowbirds double and even triple the town's year-round population of 83,330. RVs spread across the landscape, filling the many RV parks in town, along the river, and out on the desert. Boaters and anglers explore countless lakes and quiet backwaters on the Colorado River. Date palms, citrus trees, and vegetables on irrigated farmlands add a touch of green. The Mexican border towns of Algodones (8.5 miles southwest) and San Luis (25 miles south) offer colorful shopping.
HISTORY - Yuma's Beginnings
The long recorded history of Yuma begins in 1540, nearly 70 years before
the founding of Jamestown, Virginia. Captain Hernando de Alarcón, the
first white person to visit the area, led a Spanish naval expedition
along the west coast of Mexico and then a short way up the Colorado
River. He hoped to meet and resupply Francisco Vásquez de Coronado's
expedition to the fabled Seven Cities of Cíbola farther east, but the
two groups never met.
While searching for a land route between Mexico and California,
Spanish explorers discovered that the best crossing on the lower Colorado
River lay just below the mouth of the Gila River. Soldiers and missionaries
built a fort and missions here, across from present-day Yuma. Angry
Quechan destroyed the settlements during a violent uprising in 1781,
ending Spanish domination of Yuma Crossing.
Although small bands of American mountain men started drifting through
in the early 1800s, little attention was paid to the area until the
Mexican War. Kit Carson passed this way in 1829 with a group of trappers,
returning in 1846 to guide Colonel Stephen Kearny and 100 soldiers endeavoring
to secure former Mexican lands between Santa Fe and San Diego. Colonel
Philip Cooke followed with the Mormon Battalion and supply wagons, blazing
the first transcontinental road across the Southwest. Crowds of '49ers,
seeking gold in the Sierra Nevada of California, pushed westward along
Cooke's Road a few years later.
In 1851, the army built Camp Yuma atop a hill on the California
side to protect Yuma Crossing from attacks by local tribes. Nearby mining
successes, the coming of steamboats, and road improvements encouraged
the founding of Colorado City on the Arizona shore in 1854. Residents
changed the name to Arizona City in 1858, rebuilt on higher ground after
a disastrous 1862 flood, and adopted the present name of Yuma in 1873.
Yuma Territorial Prison, the town's first major construction project,
went up in 1876. Laguna Dam ended the riverboat era in 1909, but guaranteed
water for the fertile desert valleys.
Modern Yuma
Today Yuma ranks as one of Arizona's most important cities and the center of a rich agricultural area. Farmers take advantage of the year-round growing season to raise more than 100 crops. The military has a big presence, and you'll likely see aircraft speeding overhead from the Marine Corps Air Station on the southeast edge of town. The army tests combat vehicles, weapons systems, and other gear at Yuma Proving Grounds, 26 miles north.