Editing Yuma, Arizona (section)

==History==
[[File:Fort Yuma California 1875.jpg|thumb|left|Fort Yuma, California, c. 1875]]
[[File:YumaLanding1885.jpg|thumb|left|Steamboats on the Colorado River at Yuma, c. 1880]]
[[File:Yuma Crossing and RR bridge in 1886.jpg|thumb|left|Yuma Crossing in 1886.  The railway bridge over the Colorado River was built in 1877.]]
The area's first settlers for thousands of years were [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] cultures and historic tribes. Their descendants now occupy the [[Cocopah]] and [[Quechan]] [[Indian reservation|reservations]].

In 1540, Spanish colonial expeditions under [[Hernando de Alarcón]] and [[Melchior Díaz]] visited the area and immediately recognized the natural crossing of the Colorado River as an ideal spot for a city. The [[Colorado River]] narrows to slightly under {{Convert | 1000 | ft}} wide in one area. Military expeditions that crossed the Colorado River at the [[Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area|Yuma Crossing]] include [[Juan Bautista de Anza]] (1774), the [[Mormon Battalion]] (1848) and the [[California Column]] (1862).

During and after the [[California Gold Rush]] to the late 1870s, the Yuma Crossing was known for its ferry crossings for the [[Southern Emigrant Trail]]. This was considered the gateway to California and the "Great Southwest,"<ref>{{Cite web |title=Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area |url=https://www.yumaheritage.com/history.html |access-date=2025-04-29 |website=Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area |language=en}}</ref> as it was one of the few natural spots where travelers could cross the otherwise very wide Colorado River.

===First settlements===

Following the United States establishing [[Fort Yuma]], two towns developed one mile downriver. The one on the California side was called [[Jaeger City, California|Jaeger City]], named after the owner of Jaeger's Ferry, which crossed the river there.  It was for a time the larger of the two, with the [[Butterfield Overland Mail]] office and station, two blacksmiths, a hotel, two stores, and other dwellings.<ref name="Lingenfelter">{{Cite book| publisher = University of Arizona Press| isbn = 978-0-8165-0650-7| last = Lingenfelter| first = Richard E.| title = Steamboats on the Colorado River, 1852-1916| location = Tucson| date = 1978|url= http://www.ansac.az.gov/UserFiles/PDF/08182014/X028_FMIBurtellLingenfelterSteamboats/FMI%20Lingenfelter%20Steamboats/Steamboats%20on%20the%20Colorado%20River%201852-1916.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160118031332/http://www.ansac.az.gov/UserFiles/PDF/08182014/X028_FMIBurtellLingenfelterSteamboats/FMI%20Lingenfelter%20Steamboats/Steamboats%20on%20the%20Colorado%20River%201852-1916.pdf |archive-date= January 18, 2016|via=Arizona Navigable Stream Adjudication Commission}}, p.15</ref>

The other was called '''[[Colorado City, Yuma County, Arizona|Colorado City]].''' Developed on the south side of the river in what is now Arizona by speculator [[Charles Debrille Poston|Charles Poston]], it was the site of the [[custom house]]. When started, it was just north of the border between Mexican-ruled Sonora, Mexico and California.  After the [[Gadsden Purchase]] by the United States, the town bordered on the [[Territory of New Mexico]]. This area was designated as the [[Territory of Arizona]] in 1863.  The Colorado City site at the time was duly registered in [[San Diego]]; both banks of the Colorado River just below its [[confluence]] with the [[Gila River|Gila]] were recognized as being within the jurisdiction of California.  The [[county of San Diego]] collected taxes from there for many years.<ref name="Farish">{{Cite book| publisher = Second Legislature of the State of Arizona| volume = 1| pages = 319–326| last = Farish| first = Thomas Edwin| title = History of Arizona| chapter = Early Settlements And First Attempts At Organization Of Territory| location = Phoenix, Ariz| date = 1915|chapter-url=https://azmemory.azlibrary.gov/digital/collection/asabooks/id/207|via=Arizona Memory Project|access-date=February 18, 2021}}</ref>

From 1853 a smaller settlement, '''[[Arizona City (Yuma, Arizona)|Arizona City]]''', grew up on the high ground across from the fort and was organized under the name of its post office in 1858.  It had adobe dwellings, two stores and two saloons. Colorado City and Jaeger City were almost completely destroyed by the [[Great Flood of 1862]] and had to be rebuilt on higher ground. At that time Colorado City became part of Arizona City,<ref name="Lingenfelter"/><ref>
{{Cite book| publisher = Second Legislature of the State of Arizona| volume = 1| pages = 252–253| last = Farish| first = Thomas Edwin| title = History of Arizona|  location = Phoenix, Ariz| date = 1915|url=https://azmemory.azlibrary.gov/digital/collection/asabooks/id/188/rec/8|via=Arizona Memory Project|access-date=February 18, 2021}}</ref>  later on taking the name '''Yuma''' in 1873.

===Early development===

From 1854, Colorado City was the major steamboat stop for traffic up and down the Colorado River.  After the 1862 flood, it became part of Arizona City.  The steamboats transported passengers and equipment for the various mines and military outposts along the Colorado; Colorado City was the terminus of wagon traffic up the Gila River into New Mexico Territory.  They offloaded the cargo from ships at the mouth of the Colorado River at [[Robinson's Landing]] and from 1864 at [[Port Isabel, Sonora|Port Isabel]].  From 1864, the [[Yuma Quartermaster Depot]], today a state historic park, supplied all forts in present-day Arizona, as well as large parts of Colorado and New Mexico. After Arizona became a separate territory, Yuma became the county seat for Yuma County in 1871, replacing [[La Paz, Arizona|La Paz]], the first seat.

The [[Southern Pacific Railroad]] bridged the river in 1877, and acquired [[George Alonzo Johnson]]'s [[Colorado Steam Navigation Company]], the only steamboat company on the river.  Yuma became the new base of navigation on the river, ending the need for Port Isabel, which was abandoned in 1879.  The warehouses and shipyard there were moved to Yuma.