Yuma Crossing and Associated Sites | |
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| Nearest city | Winterhaven, California andYuma, Arizona |
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| Coordinates | 32°43′43″N114°36′56″W / 32.72861°N 114.61556°W /32.72861; -114.61556 |
| Area | 149 acres (60 ha) |
| Built | 1852 |
| NRHP reference No. | 66000197[1] |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | November 13, 1966[1] |
| Designated NHLD | November 13, 1966[2] |
Yuma Crossing is a site inArizona andCalifornia that is significant for its association with transportation and communication across theColorado River. It connectedNew Spain andLas Californias in the Spanish Colonial period in[2] and also during the Western expansion of the United States. Features of the Arizona side include theYuma Quartermaster Depot andYuma Territorial Prison. Features on the California Side includeFort Yuma, which protected the area from 1850 to 1885.[3][4]
The history of the Yuma Crossing began at the formation of two massive granite outcroppings on the Colorado River. The narrowing of the river provided the only crossing point for a thousand miles, thus making it a focal point for thePatayan tribes, and later theQuechan.
In 1540, well before the British Europeans touchedPlymouth Rock in 1620,Yuma's European history began here with the arrival of Spanish explorerHernando de Alarcón. It was not until after the 17th and 18th century explorations of the padresKino andGarcés that the crossing came to be used by the Spanish expeditions ofJuan Bautista de Anza and others along this route from 1774. This route, sometimes called theSonora Road, ran from the SpanishTubac Presidio, inSonora toAlta California. An attempt to establish missions and colonize the area of the crossing was made by the Spanish soon after but it failed, when the formerly friendlyQuechan were angered to the point of a violentrevolt that ended the missions, the colony and the use of the land route until the 19th century. Mexican expeditions mollified the Quechan and persuaded them to allow the use of the crossings, reopening the Sonora Road to Alta California from the later 1820s.
Much later the Yuma Crossing became the focal point for travel to theWild West, from the 1840sCalifornia Gold Rush era to the arrival of the railroad in the 1877, and finally theOcean-to-Ocean Bridge, which linked the East coast and the West coast in one land route.
Immediately after the Mexican–American War in 1848, the U.S. Army builtFort Yuma here to protect travelers from Indians raiding the area. It was the center point of conflict in theYuma War of 1850–53. From 1864–1890, the fort and nearby facilities was the main army base to support the US Army's efforts to control the Indians throughout the greater southwest.
At about the same time, theButterfield Stage established a stagecoach station here for their main line coming from the east to California.
It was declared aNational Historic Landmark in 1966, under the nameYuma Crossing and Associated Sites.[2][5]
TheYuma Crossing National Heritage Area is aU.S. National Heritage Area. It was the only lowerColorado River crossing point in the 18th and 19th centuries for non-Native American travelers and immigrants. The Heritage Area is part of the Yuma Crossing and Associated Sites on theNational Register of Historic Places and aNational Historic Landmark, inArizona andCalifornia.
As with other U.S. National Heritage Areas, the Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area is a local entity in partnership with various stakeholders. At Yuma Crossing, thestakeholders are particularly diverse, includingIndian tribes, agricultural interests, environmental and wildlife non-profit organizations, as well as many federal, states, and local agencies.
The Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area includes theYuma Quartermaster Depot State Historic Park (formerly known as Yuma Crossing State Historic Park), theYuma Territorial Prison,Fort Yuma, and other sites, all showcasing the area's history. They are amidst the beautiful and vital Yuma East and West Wetlands, and against the silhouetted backdrops of theCastle Dome,Chocolate (Arizona) andChocolate (California) Mountains.
The heritage area's interpretive themes include Yuma's importance as a cultural crossroads, emphasizing the region's intersection of three major cultures: Anglo-American,Native American, and Hispanic-Latino. The heritage area recognizes that this rich blend of traditions can best be sustained by their continued expression through architecture, art, music, food, and folkways within the heritage area.
The Yuma Crossing is a designated site of theJuan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail, aNational Park Service area in the United StatesNational Trails System.
The Yuma Heritage Area has championed awetland andriparianhabitatrestoration project for the East Wetlands, including returning the Colorado's water flow, in a multiyear, multimillion-dollar effort. In 2004, heritage area partners secured aClean Water Act permit from theU.S. Army Corps of Engineers to begin restoration work. More than 200 acres (0.81 km2) of nonnativeinvasive species vegetation have been removed and more than 130 acres (0.53 km2) have been replanted withcottonwoods,willow,mesquite, nativebunchgrasses, andpalo verde trees. A one-mile (1.6 km) length of back channel has also been excavated, and some 20,000 new trees were planted in 2006.
To date, ten different funding sources have provided almost $6 million toward the eventual goal of $18–20 million to complete the project.[6][7][8]
