Yuma 2

Sunrise at the RV Park

Hello again . . . 
Yes, we're still hanging out with our snowbird friends in Yuma AZ.  We intended to stay for one month (Dec.) to better understand why so many folks spend their winters here.  It didn't take long to figure it out and, when we did, we extended for another month.  There are so many things to do that we're busy every day and most things are geared to the interests of people like us . . . retired empty nestors.  Most folks are here primarily to escape the hardships of northern winters.   Canadians make up the majority of our park.  They are all friendly and happy as clams to be this far from the frozen tundra back home.

Our "Things to Do" list is gradually getting shorter.  We'll try not to cover too much in this chapter of our blog.  We'll pick a few things of interest and add another chapter in a week or so.


Ocean-to-Ocean Bridge

Yuma Crossing:   In the 1800s, thousands of gold seekers and pioneers on their way to California passed through Yuma because this was the easiest place to cross the mighty Colorado River.  A small ferry shuttled people and goods over the river for many years.  Finally, in 1915, the first bridge over the Colorado River was built.  The “Ocean-to-Ocean Bridge”, a one-lane steel structure, is still in operation and is a Yuma landmark, alongside the railroad bridge.

 

Historic Yuma Territorial Prison:   Back in the 1870s, 40 years before Arizona became a state, the southwest had a crime problem and needed a place to put the criminals.  Yuma was chosen as the site of a new territorial prison. 

With labor provided by prisoners, the new adobe prison was opened for business in 1876.  During its brief 33 years of operation, more than 3,000 prisoners, including 29 women, spent time here.  It was closed in 1909 and inmates were moved to a new prison in Florence.


Most of the small cells accommodated six prisoners.  There were no televisions, cell phones (pun intended), carpeting, etc.  However, Yuma prison was a state-of-the-art facility in its time and gained a reputation as the “Country Club of the Colorado”.  The prison offered amenities not found in the city or surrounding areas, such as a clean water system, a sewer system, hot and cold running water and electricity with ceiling fans for summer cooling.  The thick adobe walls were no match for the 115+ degree summer heat.

A typical 6-prisoner cell

The Dark Cell was reserved for the worst offenders and problem inmates.  This cell was hollowed into the rock hillside at the end of a short tunnel.  It was almost totally dark, had no heat or air conditioning, no water or bathroom facilities and no furniture.  It smelled terrible and was not a comfortable place to be.

 

In the early 1900s, Yuma High School burned down.  The prison had recently closed, so the high school moved into the vacant structure and held classes there while the new high school was being built.  During that time, the Yuma football team traveled to Phoenix for a game.  Fans of the opposing team knew they were operating out of the old prison, so they poked fun at them and called them “criminals”.  Yuma won the game and the name stuck.  Today, the Yuma High School mascot continues to be a criminal in striped garb.  During home games, the fans go wild when he is brought into the stadium in a police car with the siren blaring and lights flashing.  During the recent Heritage Festival, supporters were raising money for their Criminal Marching Band.  In Yuma, the "criminal element" is a good thing.

Gathering of the Gunfighters:   For the past 15 years, the Yuma Territorial Prison has hosted this unique event that features period costumes and old west skits.  It’s an historic and often humorous glimpse into the past with confrontations between good guys and bad guys, deciding their issues by shooting it out on Main Street.  It was fun to watch the skits and mingle with old timers from the wild west. 

Gathering of Gunfighters participants

Typical Yumans - 1850 style

Two Guns are Better than One?

Tumco is an easily accessed California ghost town "site" not far west of Yuma.  While most of the town's structures and mining equipment have vanished, it's still a fascinating historic place to visit.  It gets very hot in the summer, so we decided to take advantage of the cool winter weather to visit Tumco before it disappears entirely.



Bonnie hiking to Tumco

Not much left of the town of Tumco

The name Tumco is the acronym for The Union Mine Company. They were mining gold ore. At the height of mining operations the town’s population soared to 3,200 and had the saloons, murders, and a red light district typical of other mining towns. There were dozens of buildings, including a dance hall, the Stingaree Saloon (owned by the town constable) and a grocery store run by Charly Sam, a Chinese immigrant. Tumco didn't last long and, according to historic accounts, it wasn’t a pleasant place to live.

 

Cyanide vats for processing gold

Not much remains of Tumco today.   The old cemetery is still there, as are a few remnants of old buildings and the rusting remains of huge cyanide vats that once separated the gold from the ore and produced gold bars in the final stage of the process.

Foundations from the dismantled mill can still be found and there are lots of old bottles, broken glass and rusted tin cans littering the site.

 

Gold was discovered in this area of the Cargo Muchacho Mountains as early as 1853, and it's possible that the Spanish mined the area long before that. But the mining history is based largely on tales of lost treasures and short on documentation. The most accurate of the tales describes a railroad worker named Pete Walters who discovered "mica schist heavily laced with gold" in this area. Prospectors began pouring into the area in the early 1880’s and established the tent city of Gold Rock Camp, which later became Tumco.

Imperial Sand Dunes Nat’l. Recreation Area:   Not far from Tumco and along the east side of California’s Imperial Valley lies the largest inland sand dunes in the U.S.  We drove out to the small dusty town of Glamis to view the dunes and play in nature’s huge sandbox.  A few dunebuggies were climbing up and down the dunes.

We did a little climbing of our own . . . without a motor vehicle.  That's Bonnie getting near the summit.

The dunes were very impressive.  Fortunately, not all of the area is open to motorized recreation.  The North Algodones Dunes Wilderness Area, beyond the highway in the photo below, is being protected in its natural state.

 

Farm Tour:   Near the town of El Centro, the Univ. of Calif. operates its Desert Research and Extension Center.  This 255 ac. complex raises crops and cattle and conducts extensive research in areas of agriculture and the desert environment.  One of their outreach activities is agricultural education through the “Farm Smart” program.

We drove over to El Centro one day and took the Farm Tour.   It turned out to be much more than we had anticipated.

Greenhouse

After a lecture, video presentation and greenhouse tour, we were treated to an excellent lunch of salad, fresh from the farm.  Then we climbed onto hay-wagon trailers behind antique tractors, for a tour of the farm.

Farm Tour behind a 1953 Massy Harris tractor

Friends Dave, Dorothy, Dick and Arlene also enjoyed the Farm Tour

At the end of the tour we were invited to help ourselves to a large variety patch of vegetables.  We walked through the rows of cauliflour, broccoli, lettuce, Napa lettuce, beets, radishes, etc., and picked a nice variety to take home.

Bonnie is knee-deep in the veggie patch

Before leaving the farm, we were treated to ice cream in souvenir mugs while listening to some down home style fiddle tunes played by our hosts.  It was a terrific day on the farm.

Quartzsite – the Main Event:   Many RVers looking for a little winter excitement head for the small desert town of Quartzsite AZ in January and February.  Thousands of travel trailers, campers and motor homes arrive from all directions and claim their camp site in one of the many RV parks or camp for free on the BLM lands surrounding the city.  

The Desert Boondockers near Quartzsite

Hundreds of vendors set up their tables and tents to buy, sell and trade just about everything at the “Main Event”.  We did a day-trip to Quartzsite on a cool cloudy day with friends Dave and Arlene to check it out.  For several hours, we wandered through the maze of buildings and tents looking at the amazing array of “stuff”.  

This huge tent is crowded with vendors and shoppers

We bought an interesting stove-top grill and Bonnie found a style of jacket that she had been looking for.  We also collected a bag full of informational brochures, picked up some free ballpoint pens, had a concession stand lunch and topped it off with a huge bowl of ice cream.

Dining at one of the many fine restaurants in Quartzsite

The “Main Event” is the first of many Quartzsite activities.  It’s followed by the “Tyson Wells Sell-A-Rama” which features gems, rocks, minerals, lapidary, precious metals, silver and goldsmithing.  Then there’s the “Vacation and RV Show”, the “Quartzsite Improvement Assn. Pow Wow”, the “Arts and Crafts Fair”, the “Rock and Roll Classic Car Show”, “Hobby and Gem Show” and others.  When it’s all over, the place empties out and returns to being just a small dusty town in the desert.

Mexicali Expo:   Mexicali, Baja California, is a city of nearly 700,000 people just an hour’s drive from Yuma.  A one day festival (Expo) was held at the Yuma Civic Center to promote tourism and inform people of the many services and activities offered in the Mexicali area.  It was a colorful event with nearly two hours of Mexican music and dancing from different states of Mexico.  Very entertaining.

And that's about the size of it for this time.  We'll probably be leaving for home in early February.  This is a happy colorful place to spend time in the winter and we'll miss Yuma and the people we've met here when it comes time to leave.  But, we have business to take care of at home.  Maybe we'll come back next year.