Local Historian Speaks On The Mythology Of Trade At The Crossroads To The West Along The Colorado River
The crossroads of the American Southwest are a place of lore between notions of gunfights and native conflicts. But the true context of the area always revolves around trade and transportation. Because of its confluence of water, natural formations and an inherent path into what became known as California, Yuma, Arizona was unilaterally situated as a gateway. The Yuma Quartermaster Depot especially through its different incarnations was the funnel of this activity and through its eyes we can see a specific glimpse into America's past. Tammy Snook, historian at Yuma Quartmaster Depot History State Park spoke to the Buzz about history, geology and the evolution of a unique site.
The Buzz: How did the structure and functionality of the Quartermaster Depot begin?
Tammy Snook: The town of Yuma really grew up first around Fort Yuma which was the first permanent non-native settlement in the area and then later around the Yuma Quartermaster Depot. We really grew up as this military town. And as far as the Yuma Quartermaster Depot goes, the Depot served as the main supply depot for all the army posts in the Arizona territory and even beyond as well. There was a smaller sub depot up north of us in the Aaronsburg but still we've served as the main depot. At the depot, we would store six months of army supplies for all the forts in Arizona. The supplies would come mostly from San Francisco but they would also come from Los Angeles and San Diego as well. From the coast of California, the supplies would be loaded onto these large ocean steamers which would come all the way down the coast, around Baja California and up to the mouth of the Colorado River where they were transferred onto smaller river steamboats. The river steamers would come up to the Yuma Crossing and then to the Yuma Quartermaster Depot where they would then be unloaded into our large storehouse building which we still have. From that location they would be dispersed into the interior of Arizona by wagon train. So as far as the depot goes, we were probably the number one employer in Yuma at that time because unlike the fort...Fort Yuma…we were not a military base that had a lot of troops. We actually generally only had three officers on staff as a majority of the folks that worked at the depot were civilians that came from the town of Yuma. We employed a lot of folks but even beyond the community of Yuma, we played a really important role in the post native settlement of Arizona. Our heyday was really the Indian War period which is, of course, the period when the Federal government was using the army to kind of force the Native Americans into reserved areas and open up that land to encourage westward expansion.
The Buzz: Can you talk about that time in Yuma and what was normal for a resident there?
TH: Yuma was still a pretty small town for the time period but as I mentioned the town did grow up first around the fort and later around the depot. We were a bustling town because we did have the Yuma Crossing and we were this important place to cross between Arizona and California [plus] we had this major supply depot. As far as the civilians go, by the time the depot was established, the local tribe…the Quechan Tribe…were peaceful with the civilians. Yuma, at least, did not really have to worry too much about conflicts with the natives at that point.
The Buzz: Geographically what can people see today around the depot…how has the topography changed?
TH: A lot has changed since historical times but the most important thing that put Yuma on the map and is the reason that Fort Yuma existed in this location. The reason the town of Yuma sprung up was because of this geographic location called The Yuma Crossing. The Yuma Crossing is a natural crossing of the Colorado River that was created where the river ran in between these two bluffs that were very close together. So on the California side of the river, we have a hill or bluff that was either called “Indian Hill” or “Mission Hill”. And then on the Arizona side of the river we have a hill that is today called “Prison Hill”. It is the hill that Yuma Territorial Prison sits on so back before all the dams on the river, the river was a lot wider than it is today. This narrow spot where these two bluffs were close together was considered the best place to cross the entire lower Colorado River…hence why we had the ferry crossing here. Even prehistorically there were trails that came through this area. There were a lot of early Spanish missionaries and explorers that came through this area as well but then gold was discovered in California in 1848. By 1849, the word has gotten out. We had the gold rush. There were thousands of people heading to the California gold fields and the Yuma Crossing was along the Southern Emigrant Trail which is also sometimes called the Santa Fe Trail. We had lots of people streaming through here on their way to the California gold fields. It is believed that our main street is where the trail kind of ran through Yuma. The ferry crossing was right at the end of Main Street.
The Buzz: How should people explore on a day trip?
TH: At the Yuma Quartermaster Depot we have today, we have 6 of the original buildings remaining. 5 of them have displays in them and the exhibits that we have here kind of focused on two different periods of history. We have the early Army history when the site operated as the Yuma supply depot and then we have a secondary period which was equally important and that came after the turn of the century. After the military left in the 1880s, the federal government owned all of the buildings. Several different government agencies started to move into them. The agency that moved into our old storehouse where the supplies were kept as well as another building called our corral house was the Bureau Of Reclamation (or as they were called earlier]: The United States Reclamation Service. The depot site became their Yuma Project Headquarters. The Yuma Project was the first large scale government-sponsored irrigation project on the lower Colorado River. It transformed Yuma into the agricultural powerhouse we are today. It really helped the town grow as the depot. Both of these things happened at our location. When you come here to the depot, you'll see exhibits on both of these time periods. That is all, of course, connected to the Colorado River so we have exhibits that talk about the past, present and future of the river. We also have specific Yuma Project related exhibits. The siphon we were talking about earlier was one of components of the Yuma Project. There were three basic components of that project. The first was the construction of Laguna Dam which became the very first dam built on the river. The second was the construction of the Yuma Main Canal which, if you've seen maps of the facility or have been to our facility, it is the canal that swings back behind the park. The third project component is the actual Colorado River siphon which brings canal water from the Colorado side of the river actually underneath its bed and then pops it back up on the Arizona side. That is what delivers water into the Yuma Main Canal on the Arizona side of the river. And that is still in use today.
Tim Wassberg
A graduate of New York University's Tisch School Of The Arts with degrees in Film/TV Production & Film Criticism, Tim has written for magazines such as Moviemaker, Moving Pictures, Conde Nast Traveler UK and Casino Player. He enjoys traveling and distinct craft beers among other things.
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