Editing Yuma, Arizona (section)

===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.