Well, it’s February and we’ve come to Arizona to dry out and
warm up. Not only that, we are spending a little time in Yuma. In all of our
Arizona years we never spent any time in Yuma to see why so many snowbirds
spend there winters there. Our conclusion is that it is a big enough city to
have everything you need but not “really” big and cumbersome like the Phoenix
and Tucson areas. I would never spend a summer in Yuma (heat to the extreme)
for sure and it is not desirable for us even in winter because there is nothing
to do outside whatever little community you settle in (and there are dozens of snowbird
communities). Ok, enough of that.
The real reason we were drawn to finally get to Yuma was history,
of course. The Yuma Territorial Prison combined with the historic Yuma
Crossing. They can be visited at the Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park. Any readers of this blog will notice our travels are dominated by
historic sites and this is one of the few remaining in Arizona that we had not
been to. There really isn’t much left of the original prison but there is
enough to get an idea of what it was like with the aid of the museum and interpretive signs on the
grounds. The Yuma area has an interesting history and the prison facility has an interesting history even after the prison
was closed (use the link above to read the history). Of course, the historic Yuma Crossing of the Colorado River also
requires the imagination but you can see the general location. Anyone that has
spent time on the length of the Colorado River will understand why this was the
best place to cross for hundreds of miles.
In a nutshell, we found it worth the visit in our Meanderings.
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| Cell block |
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| Prison Cemetery |
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| Site of Colorado River Crossing |
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| Prison watchtower |
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