Yuma Quartermaster Depot State Historic Park
Encyclopedia
Yuma Quartermaster Depot State Historic Park, formerly Yuma Crossing State Historic Park, and now one of the Yuma Crossing and Associated Sites
on the National Register of Historic Places
in the Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area. It is an Arizona state park in the city of Yuma
, Arizona
, USA.
The Yuma Quartermaster Depot was an important quartermaster
depot during the 1870s. Goods were shipped up the Colorado River
from the Sea of Cortez and stored at Yuma for distribution to the desert frontier forts in the Southwestern United States
territories.
was established by the U.S. Army
in 1864 to store and distribute supplies to frontier army posts in what is now Texas
, New Mexico
, Arizona
, Nevada
and Utah
. One purpose of the depot was to ensure that a six month supply of much needed goods such as ammunition, food and clothing was on hand at all times. The goods and supplies were brought to Yuma from California
aboard ships that traveled around the Baja California peninsula
and up the Gulf of California
to Port Isabel, Sonora
at the mouth
of the Colorado River
. Supplies were shipped up the Colorado on river boats to Yuma and stored at the Yuma Quartermaster Depot.
The supplies gathered at the quartermaster depot were shipped throughout the southwest via river boats and overland on mule
team freight wagons. Up to 900 mules were kept in stables at Yuma Quartermaster Depot. The arrival of the Southern Pacific Railroad
in Yuma in 1877 signaled the end of the depot. When the railroad reached Tucson
in 1880, the quartermaster depot was closed. The quartermasters moved to Fort Lowell
in Tucson.
The Signal Corps, having arrived at Fort Yuma and the quartermaster depot in 1875, remained there until 1891. Following the departure of the Signal Corps, the property was transferred to the control of the U.S. Weather Service
which worked out of the depot site until 1949.
The Yuma Quartermaster Depot fell into a state of disrepair in the years following 1949. Some of the facilities were used by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection
and other governmental agencies.
by the city of Yuma and donated to the state park system in 1986. Groundbreaking for the park was held in 1986. The park opened in 1990 as a unit of Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park and was established as a state historic park in 1997, under the control of the non-profit Yuma Crossing Foundation.
The Yuma Crossing Foundation established an agreement with the state parks board to manage, develop and operate the site as a living history museum. After seven years of construction and rebuilding the park was opened to the public in 1997 as Yuma Crossing State Historic Park. The park is part of the Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area. The name of the park was changed in 2007 to reflect the original use of the area and its historic interpretive focus.
during the 20th century. A gift shop sells a variety of books and souvenirs.
era on it, and of the mule wagon trains. The office of the depot quartermaster houses two exhibits. One is an historic recreation of the depot as it appeared in its heyday. Another shows out the weather and telegraph stations appeared. The commanding officers quarters is a house museum which mimics how it would have looked in the 1870s, when army officers and their families lived in the space. A biologic exhibit of fish species in the Colorado River is found in the corral house. Outdoor exhibits at the park include ramada
s, a steam boiler, a stone built reservoir and an encampment of wagons.
The park is open to picnicking. A day use facility under a shade ramada is available for group use with reservations. Picnic tables are available throughout the park as is one pavilion.
Yuma Crossing and Associated Sites
Yuma Crossing is a site in Arizona and California that is significant for its association with transportation and communication across the Colorado River. It connected New Spain and Las Californias in the Spanish Colonial period in and also during the Western expansion of the United States. ...
on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in the Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area. It is an Arizona state park in the city of Yuma
Yuma, Arizona
Yuma is a city in and the county seat of Yuma County, Arizona, United States. It is located in the southwestern corner of the state, and the population of the city was 77,515 at the 2000 census, with a 2008 Census Bureau estimated population of 90,041....
, Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
, USA.
The Yuma Quartermaster Depot was an important quartermaster
Quartermaster
Quartermaster refers to two different military occupations depending on if the assigned unit is land based or naval.In land armies, especially US units, it is a term referring to either an individual soldier or a unit who specializes in distributing supplies and provisions to troops. The senior...
depot during the 1870s. Goods were shipped up the Colorado River
Colorado River
The Colorado River , is a river in the Southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, approximately long, draining a part of the arid regions on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains. The watershed of the Colorado River covers in parts of seven U.S. states and two Mexican states...
from the Sea of Cortez and stored at Yuma for distribution to the desert frontier forts in the Southwestern United States
Southwestern United States
The Southwestern United States is a region defined in different ways by different sources. Broad definitions include nearly a quarter of the United States, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah...
territories.
History
Yuma Quartermaster Depot State Historic Park is on the grounds of the former Yuma Quartermaster Depot. The depotDepot
Depot is from the French dépôt which means a deposit or a storehouse. In English, depot can mean any one of a number of things, with minor variances between the different English speaking countries:Transport* Train station...
was established by the U.S. Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
in 1864 to store and distribute supplies to frontier army posts in what is now Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
, Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
, Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
and Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
. One purpose of the depot was to ensure that a six month supply of much needed goods such as ammunition, food and clothing was on hand at all times. The goods and supplies were brought to Yuma from California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
aboard ships that traveled around the Baja California peninsula
Baja California Peninsula
The Baja California peninsula , is a peninsula in northwestern Mexico. Its land mass separates the Pacific Ocean from the Gulf of California. The Peninsula extends from Mexicali, Baja California in the north to Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur in the south.The total area of the Baja California...
and up the Gulf of California
Gulf of California
The Gulf of California is a body of water that separates the Baja California Peninsula from the Mexican mainland...
to Port Isabel, Sonora
Port Isabel, Sonora
Port Isabel was a seaport established in 1865 during the American Civil War in Sonora, Mexico near the mouth of the Colorado River on the Sea of Cortez to support the increased river traffic caused by the gold rush that began in 1862 on the Colorado River and the Yuma Quartermaster Depot newly...
at the mouth
Colorado River Delta
The Colorado River Delta is the region where the Colorado River flows into the Gulf of California . The delta is part of a larger geologic region called the Salton Trough. Historically, the interaction of the river’s flow and the ocean’s tide created a dynamic environment, supporting freshwater,...
of the Colorado River
Colorado River
The Colorado River , is a river in the Southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, approximately long, draining a part of the arid regions on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains. The watershed of the Colorado River covers in parts of seven U.S. states and two Mexican states...
. Supplies were shipped up the Colorado on river boats to Yuma and stored at the Yuma Quartermaster Depot.
The supplies gathered at the quartermaster depot were shipped throughout the southwest via river boats and overland on mule
Mule
A mule is the offspring of a male donkey and a female horse. Horses and donkeys are different species, with different numbers of chromosomes. Of the two F1 hybrids between these two species, a mule is easier to obtain than a hinny...
team freight wagons. Up to 900 mules were kept in stables at Yuma Quartermaster Depot. The arrival of the Southern Pacific Railroad
Southern Pacific Railroad
The Southern Pacific Transportation Company , earlier Southern Pacific Railroad and Southern Pacific Company, and usually simply called the Southern Pacific or Espee, was an American railroad....
in Yuma in 1877 signaled the end of the depot. When the railroad reached Tucson
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
in 1880, the quartermaster depot was closed. The quartermasters moved to Fort Lowell
Fort Lowell
Fort Lowell was a United States Army post active from 1873 to 1891 on the outskirts of Tucson, Arizona. Fort Lowell was the successor to Camp Lowell, an earlier Army installation. The Army chose a location just south of the confluence of the Tanque Verde and Pantano creeks, at the point where they...
in Tucson.
The Signal Corps, having arrived at Fort Yuma and the quartermaster depot in 1875, remained there until 1891. Following the departure of the Signal Corps, the property was transferred to the control of the U.S. Weather Service
National Weather Service
The National Weather Service , once known as the Weather Bureau, is one of the six scientific agencies that make up the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States government...
which worked out of the depot site until 1949.
The Yuma Quartermaster Depot fell into a state of disrepair in the years following 1949. Some of the facilities were used by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
U.S. Customs and Border Protection is a federal law enforcement agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security charged with regulating and facilitating international trade, collecting import duties, and enforcing U.S. regulations, including trade, customs and immigration. CBP is the...
and other governmental agencies.
Historical park
Five buildings left over from the quartermaster depot days remain at the park. The site was identified as a possible historic park in the early 1960s. The office of the depot quartermaster was acquired by the state in 1969. More property was added to what would become the park in 1980. The park land was purchased from United States Department of the InteriorUnited States Department of the Interior
The United States Department of the Interior is the United States federal executive department of the U.S. government responsible for the management and conservation of most federal land and natural resources, and the administration of programs relating to Native Americans, Alaska Natives, Native...
by the city of Yuma and donated to the state park system in 1986. Groundbreaking for the park was held in 1986. The park opened in 1990 as a unit of Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park and was established as a state historic park in 1997, under the control of the non-profit Yuma Crossing Foundation.
The Yuma Crossing Foundation established an agreement with the state parks board to manage, develop and operate the site as a living history museum. After seven years of construction and rebuilding the park was opened to the public in 1997 as Yuma Crossing State Historic Park. The park is part of the Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area. The name of the park was changed in 2007 to reflect the original use of the area and its historic interpretive focus.
Visitor Center
In addition to being a state historic park, Yuma Quartermaster Depot State Historic Park is the home of the City of Yuma Visitor Center. The park and visitor center are open year round. The visitor center houses a display on the park's military history in the late 19th century, and a history of the work done by the Bureau of ReclamationUnited States Bureau of Reclamation
The United States Bureau of Reclamation , and formerly the United States Reclamation Service , is an agency under the U.S...
during the 20th century. A gift shop sells a variety of books and souvenirs.
Historic exhibits
Four of the five original buildings house historic exhibits. The storehouse details the history of the Colorado River and the steamboatSteamboat
A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...
era on it, and of the mule wagon trains. The office of the depot quartermaster houses two exhibits. One is an historic recreation of the depot as it appeared in its heyday. Another shows out the weather and telegraph stations appeared. The commanding officers quarters is a house museum which mimics how it would have looked in the 1870s, when army officers and their families lived in the space. A biologic exhibit of fish species in the Colorado River is found in the corral house. Outdoor exhibits at the park include ramada
Ramada (shelter)
For the hotel chain, see RamadaIn the southwestern United States, a ramada is a temporary or permanent shelter equipped with a roof but no walls, or only partially enclosed....
s, a steam boiler, a stone built reservoir and an encampment of wagons.
The park is open to picnicking. A day use facility under a shade ramada is available for group use with reservations. Picnic tables are available throughout the park as is one pavilion.