Fort Yuma is located on the banks of the Colorado River in Winterhaven, California. First established after the end of the Mexican–American War in 1848, it was originally located in the bottoms near the Colorado River, less than below the mouth of the Gila River. It was to defend the newly settled community of Yuma, Arizona on the other side of the Colorado River and the nearby Mexican border. In March 1851 the post was moved to a small elevation on the Colorado's west bank, opposite the present city of Yuma, Arizona, on the site of the former Mission Puerto de Purísima Concepción.
Fort Yuma
Imperial Valley
Imperial Valley | Fort Yuma
Sorry. I cannot find the answer based on the context. Captain Samuel P. Heintzelman Sorry. I cannot find the answer based on the context. It was established on October 2, 1849, by 1st Lieutenant Cave J. Couts.
who was president when the hoover dam was built
user
Franklin D. Roosevelt.
assistant
where is this dam located?
user
Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the U.S. states of Nevada and Arizona.
assistant
did anyone try to find resources on this dam?
user
An initial attempt at diverting the Colorado river for irrigation purposes occurred in the late 1890s, when land speculator William Beatty built the Alamo Canal just north of the Mexican border; the canal dipped into Mexico before running to a desolate area Beatty named the Imperial Valley.
assistant
how the climate like in this valley?
user
It often has summer temperatures well over , but from late October until mid-April the temperature is relatively mild and can sometimes even reach low temperatures not expected in a desert.
assistant
is there any fort situated here?
user
Yes, Fort Yuma
assistant
and who was it built by?
user
This site had been occupied by Camp Calhoun, named for John C. Calhoun, established in 1849. Fort Yuma was established to protect the southern emigrant travel route to California and to attempt control of the warlike Yuma Indians in the surrounding area.
Imperial Valley | Fort Yuma
Fort Yuma is located on the banks of the Colorado River in Winterhaven, California. First established after the end of the Mexican–American War in 1848, it was originally located in the bottoms near the Colorado River, less than below the mouth of the Gila River. It was to defend the newly settled community of Yuma, Arizona on the other side of the Colorado River and the nearby Mexican border. In March 1851 the post was moved to a small elevation on the Colorado's west bank, opposite the present city of Yuma, Arizona, on the site of the former Mission Puerto de Purísima Concepción.
Imperial Valley | Fort Yuma
This site had been occupied by Camp Calhoun, named for John C. Calhoun, established in 1849. Fort Yuma was established to protect the southern emigrant travel route to California and to attempt control of the Yuma Indians in the surrounding area.
Imperial County, California | Fort Yuma
Fort Yuma is located on the banks of the Colorado River in Winterhaven, California. First established after the end of the Mexican–American War in 1848, it was originally located in the bottoms near the Colorado River, less than below the mouth of the Gila River. It was to defend the newly settled community of Yuma, Arizona on the other side of the Colorado River and the nearby Mexican border. In March 1851 the post was moved to a small elevation on the Colorado's west bank, opposite the present city of Yuma, Arizona, on the site of the former Mission Puerto de Purísima Concepción.
Imperial County, California | Fort Yuma
Fort Yuma was a fort in California located in Imperial County, across the Colorado River from Yuma, Arizona. It was on the Butterfield Overland Mail route from 1858 until 1861 and was abandoned May 16, 1883, and transferred to the Department of the Interior. The Fort Yuma Indian School and the Saint Thomas Yuma Indian Mission now occupy the site. It is one of the "associated sites" listed as Yuma Crossing and Associated Sites on the National Register of Historic Places in the Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area. In addition, it is registered as California Historical Landmark #806.
Fort Yuma | Introduction
During the American Civil War, the Union retained control of Fort Yuma when the First California Infantry replaced Regular Army soldiers sent East in December 1861. The southern half of New Mexico Territory seceded, becoming the Confederate Territory of Arizona until 1862 when the California Column marching from Fort Yuma expelled the Confederacy, marching as far as western Texas. In 1863 the Union established their control of the region as the Arizona Territory. Fort Yuma served as the supply point for the Union garrisons there. There was no battle action at the fort since the western United States was far removed from the Civil War.
Fort Yuma | Civil War
Couts, 1st Dragoons, for the boundary survey party led by 2nd Lieutenant Amiel W. Whipple, Corps of Topographical Engineers. A ferry service, maintained by the soldiers for the survey party's convenience, also accommodated emigrants. Fort Yuma was established during the Yuma War to protect the southern emigrant travel route to California and to attempt control of the territorial Quechan, or Yumans, in their homeland, the surrounding area. Established by Captain Samuel P. Heintzelman, 2nd Infantry Regiment, the fort was originally named 'Camp Independence.'
Fort Yuma | Pre-Civil War
Fort Yuma was closely associated with the Yuma Quartermaster Depot on the Arizona side of the river, which provided military supplies and personnel to posts throughout Arizona and New Mexico. The Quartermaster Depot operated between 1864 and 1891, though the Army terminated most operations there eight years earlier. The depot was used by the Army to store and distribute supplies for all military posts in Arizona, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico and Texas during the Indian War period. A six-month supply of clothing, food, ammunition, and other goods was stored at the depot at all times. Supplies were brought from California by ocean vessels traveling around the Baja Peninsula to Port Isabel near the mouth of the Colorado River.
Fort Yuma | Post-Civil War
Fort Yuma is now part of the Fort Yuma Indian Reservation. Numerous historic buildings remain from the military period in the Yuma Crossing and Associated Sites in the Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area. The Yuma Territorial Prison and Yuma Quartermaster Depot State Historic Parks are in Arizona with buildings preserved or reconstructed, and with museums. The Yuma Proving Ground is the lineal Army descendant of these original military posts in the Yuma area.
Fort Yuma | Present day
First established after the end of the Mexican–American War (1848), the fort was originally located in the bottoms near the Colorado River, less than a mile below the mouth of the Gila River. It was constructed to defend the newly settled community of Yuma, New Mexico Territory, located on the other side of the Colorado River, and the nearby Mexican border. In March 1851 the post was moved to a small elevation on the Colorado's west bank. This site had been occupied by Camp Calhoun, named for Senator John C. Calhoun. It was established on October 2, 1849, by 1st Lieutenant Cave J.
Fort Yuma | Pre-Civil War
The Fort Yuma Indian Reservation is a part of the Quechan's traditional lands. Established in 1884, the reservation, at , has a land area of in southeastern Imperial County, California, and western Yuma County, Arizona, near the city of Yuma, Arizona. Both the county and city are named for the tribe.
Quechan | Fort Yuma Native American Reservation
The Imperial Diversion Dam (National ID # CA10159) is a concrete slab and buttress, ogee weir structure across the California/Arizona border, northeast of Yuma. Completed in 1938, the dam retains the waters of the Colorado River into the Imperial Reservoir before desilting and diversion into the All-American Canal, the Gila River, and the Yuma Project aqueduct. Between 1932 and 1940, the Imperial Irrigation District (IID) relied on the Inter-California Canal and the Imperial Canal and Alamo River.
Imperial Dam | Introduction
In November 1850, United States Army Captain Samuel P. Heintzelman ordered a company of the 2nd Infantry to march to Vallecitos to build a post with a warehouse as a supply depot for the expedition he was taking to the post; he was going to establish at the Yuma Crossing to protect the area from outlaws and hostile natives. They built a camp and a one-room sod building near a spring in the Vallicito Valley as a U. S. Army depot, supporting the building and supply of Fort Yuma. After 1851, the fort was partially supplied by sea from Robinson's Landing at the mouth of the Colorado River in Sonora, Mexico, from which cargo was brought northward to the fort overland.
Vallecito, San Diego County, California | Army Camp and Depot Vallecito
The following images are of the historic structures in Fort Yuma.
Fort Yuma | Historic Structures
These they assembled to be poled up the Colorado. However the first barge sank with its cargo a total loss. The second was finally, after a long struggle poled up to Fort Yuma, but what little it carried was soon consumed by the garrison. Subsequently wagons had to be sent from the fort to haul the balance of the supplies overland from the estuary through the marshes and woodlands of the Delta. Despite this failure to supply the fort by the river, Johnson, Hartshorne and Wilcox, formed the George A. Johnson & Company and in 1854 returned with a side-wheel steamboat the "General Jesup", and successfully began supplying the fort, carrying 50 tons of cargo, making round trips from the estuary to the fort in only four or five days, at a cost of $75 per ton, far lower than the $200 per ton cost of carrying it overland from San Diego.,
Sierra Nevada (schooner) | Introduction
The Fort Yuma Indian Reservation is a part of the traditional lands of the Quechan people. Established in 1884 from the former Fort Yuma, the reservation, at , has a land area of in southeastern Imperial County, California, and western Yuma County, Arizona, near the city of Yuma, Arizona. Both the county and city are named for the tribe. As of the 2010 Census the population was 2,189. In 1910, the community of Bard, California, was created after the eastern part of the reservation was declared surplus under the Dawes Act. In 2009, the Quechan Tribe opened a large gaming resort, the Quechan Casino Resort, on their reservation land.
Fort Yuma Indian Reservation | Introduction
The fort was surrounded by high adobe walls that extended for . While called a fort, it was never home to any military troops but like many Mormon forts provided a defense for the local settlers against an Indian attack. As a result of the beginning of the Utah War, the Mormons abandoned the fort. Around 1860, a small detachment of U.S. Army troops was assigned to protect the settlers at the fort. The fort was called Fort Baker during the Civil War, named after Edward Dickinson Baker. In a letter from Col. James Henry Carleton written to Pacific Department headquarters, December 23, 1861, Carleton mentions his plan to send an advance party of seven companies from Fort Yuma to reoccupy Fort Mojave and reestablish the ferry there.
Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort State Historic Park | History
The United States military post at the confluence of the San Pedro River and Aravaipa Creek in Arizona Territory existed from 1860 to 1872. The post was built in May 1860 by B Company, U.S. 8th Infantry Regiment, sent from the first Fort Buchanan. The Fort was sited along the San Pedro River which was a major route of travel from pre-historic times. In 1857, the Leach Wagon Road had been built to provide a freight road from New Mexico to California, and part of the wagon road ran through the San Pedro valley. Reportedly, Leach suggested the fort be built on the route of his wagon road to provide protection for travelers on the wagon road, as well as area settlers and emigrants.
Camp Grant, Arizona | Fort Breckinridge 1860 to 1865
There, cargos were transferred to river steamers and brought upstream to Yuma. Supplies were unloaded at the depot and hauled up a track running from the dock to a storehouse. The depot quartered up to 900 mules and crews of teamsters to handle them. The Southern Pacific Railroad reached Yuma in 1877. There was little need for the Quartermaster Depot and Fort Yuma, and they were abandoned on May 16, 1883. The reservation was transferred to the Interior Department on July 22, 1884.
Fort Yuma | Post-Civil War
The Fort is a government building located at the intersection of Ash and Lincoln Sts. in Taft, California. The building is a replica of Sutter's Fort in Sacramento. The property is surrounded by tall adobe walls with large wooden entrance gates; the interior has a main building surrounded by a courtyard and several smaller offices. The Fort was built by the Works Progress Administration from 1938 to 1940 and was one of the largest WPA buildings constructed in the San Joaquin Valley. The buildings at The Fort have been used for government offices at the federal, state, and local levels.
The Fort (Taft, California) | Introduction
In response to the establishment of Confederate Arizona, California Volunteers of the Union Army took control of the Yuma ferries, built up the garrison and provisions at Fort Yuma and strengthened its fortifications, all with supplies brought from San Francisco with the aid of Johnson's steamboats. The California Column launched its campaign to cut off the Confederate Army of the New Mexico Campaign and retake Confederate Arizona in 1862, and based its subsequent occupation of New Mexico Territory on its depot in Arizona City, again provisioned by Johnson's steamboats. When Fort Mohave was reoccupied by California Volunteers in 1864 it was supplied as before by Johnson's steamboats.
George A. Johnson &amp; Company | Civil War on the Colorado River
The presence of the U.S. Army in Yuma goes back to 1850, when Fort Yuma was constructed on a hill overlooking the important Yuma crossing of the Colorado River. Soldiers at Fort Yuma maintained peace and protected the important Yuma crossing, which was used by thousands of travelers each year. The Army constructed a second facility in 1865, the Yuma Quartermaster Depot, to act as a supply base for Army posts throughout Arizona and parts of New Mexico. Supplies were delivered by riverboats and transported from the depot to military outposts by wagon. After Fort Yuma and the Yuma Quartermaster Depot closed in the 1880s, the Army did not return to Yuma on a permanent basis until World War II.
Yuma Proving Ground | History
Built in Polk County, Oregon, the outpost consisted of a wooden blockhouse, sentry box, barracks, officers’ quarters, carpenter's shop, hospital, cook houses, blacksmith shop, tables, barn, sutler's store, and laundress quarters. The wood blockhouse was built to provide a refuge to settlers of the area in case of attack by the Native Americans. After the fort was abandoned the block house was moved from the hill it was positioned on and served as a jail in the Valley Junction area, and later moved about east to Dayton. Total cost to build the fort was $36,053. The post's first troops were under the command of William Babcock Hazen.
Fort Yamhill | Construction
The beginnings of the use of steamboats on the Colorado River came as the result of the founding of Fort Yuma during the Yuma War. Supplies had to be shipped over long distance from San Francisco to San Diego then overland through the Peninsular Ranges via Warner Pass to Depot Vallecito then across the arid Colorado Desert to the fort. Costs of such transport was minimally $500 per ton. Supplying the fort became so difficult, that for a time it had to be abandoned. Attempts had been made by the Army to bring supplies the up from the Gulf of California.
Steamboats of the Colorado River | Fort Yuma's supply difficulties
The next attempt was made by the contractors George Alonzo Johnson with his partner Benjamin M. Hartshorne who had met when they first came as partners in an enterprise to establish a ferry at the Yuma Crossing. There they built and began operating a ferry, then sold it and returned to San Francisco. These partners got a contract to supply the fort, and arrived at the river's mouth in February 1852, on the United States transport schooner "Sierra Nevada" under Captain Wilcox. On board were 250 tons of supplies for the newly reoccupied fort and a pair of knocked down flatboats, built by Domingo Marcucci in San Francisco.
George A. Johnson &amp; Company | Hartshorne and Johnson
Although temperatures in the southern areas of Arizona and California tend to be hot and precipitation averages a year, the region features a year-round farming season and the Colorado River. The Bureau of Reclamation and the Yuma County Water Users' Association wanted to exploit these conditions and create a large area of irrigation-fed farming. The project would be split into two divisions, the Valley Division in Yuma County, Arizona and the Reservation Division in Imperial County, California. The Reservation Division was further broken down into the Bard Unit and the Indian Unit. The Reservation Division and Bard Unit occupy much of what was Fort Yuma Indian Reservation.
Yuma Project | Background and layout
Carleton then intended to send on from there three cavalry companies and one of infantry to the Mormon fort at Las Vegas, and establish a post called Fort Baker. This was in preparation for an advance to Salt Lake City the following year. The move to reoccupy Fort Mojave never occurred as planned because Carleton's California Column at Fort Yuma were sent instead into Arizona and New Mexico to evict the Confederates there the next year. However, Fort Mojave was later reoccupied in 1863 by Union troops from California. In 1864, a road survey party led by Captain Price, Company M, 2nd California Cavalry traveled on the route from Fort Douglas to Fort Mojave passing through Las Vegas, stopping for water there on June 10.
Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort State Historic Park | History
In 1865, General John Bidwell backed a petition from settlers at Red Bluff, California to protect Red Bluff's trail to the Owhyhee Mines of Idaho. The U.S. Army commissioned seven forts for this purpose, and dispatched a Major Williamson in April to explore a site for a fort in either Goose Lake Valley or Surprise Valley, from which he selected a site near Fandango Pass at the base of the Warner Mountains in the north end of Surprise Valley, and orders to build the fort were issued on June 10, 1865. Although Surprise Valley settlers desired Army protection, ranchers dispossessed of lands for the fort complained, and claimed damages from the Army.
Fort Bidwell, California | History
Captain Wilcox was in command of the 12–man crew, and Lt. George H. Derby was in command of the mission to see if the rations could be delivered by the schooner up the Colorado River from the Gulf of California. Up to this time Fort Yuma had been supplied over land from San Diego, across the coastal mountains and the Colorado Desert. This route was proving difficult and expensive, leading to a ration shortage at the fort. The schooner arrived in San Diego to pick up the rations, then proceeded to the mouth of the Colorado River, stopping only at Cabo San Lucas and Guaymas.
Alfred Henry Wilcox | California
Yuma Quartermaster Depot State Historic Park is on the grounds of the former Yuma Quartermaster Depot. The depot 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.
Yuma Quartermaster Depot State Historic Park | History
Camp Goodwin, then Fort Goodwin, was constructed in June 1864 by the California Volunteers, of the Union Army in Arizona Territory for a base for prosecuting the 1861-1872 Apache War and protecting settlers in the Upper Gila River region. It was named for Arizona's first territorial governor, John N. Goodwin. The adobe buildings it was constructed with began to crumble in a few years due to poor construction. Additionally the camp was plagued by malaria from mosquitoes in the cienega fed by the nearby spring from which the fort obtained its water. Called Camp Goodwin again from 1866, the camp was abandoned by the Army in March, 1871 due to the illness caused by malaria.
Camp Goodwin | History
The buildings, constructed of wood and adobe, were connected by four sections of wooden stockade walls at angles, giving the post an octagonal shape. At the center of one of the stockade walls was a gate one foot thick. The gate opened at its center. Loopholes were cut into the stockade walls to allow those inside to shoot outside in case of an attack. A six-pounder cannon, sometimes called a mountain howitzer, was mounted on wheels. Adobe breastworks were built on the roof of both the northwest building and the southeast building. Before Fort Mann was completed, daily alarms were sounded to alert the teamsters about potential hostilities with area Indians, who opposed anyone from the outside occupying what they considered their land.
Fort Mann | Introduction
R. West, Commander of Fort Yuma to Lieut. Benjamin C. Cutler, acting Adjutant General of the military District of Southern California, in Los Angeles.
Pedrick's, Arizona | Introduction
The Laguna Diversion Dam weathered the floods but its downstream talus at its toe was extended between 1923 and 1924 to help better protect it. An earthquake on May 18, 1940 damaged the Project considerably, especially the Valley Division. Canals, levees and other features were damaged but repaired by late May. From 1936 through World War II, Civilian Conservation Corps workers, Indians from Mexico, Italian prisoners and German prisoners all worked to maintain the project. The Boulder Canyon Project Act in 1928 would signal change for the Yuma Project. The Act authorized the construction of the Hoover Dam which curtailed flooding on the Colorado River but it also authorized the All-American Canal and the Imperial Dam.
Yuma Project | Maintenance and the Imperial Dam change
It was soon after the end of the Mexican American War that the same wagon road Cooke had established was followed by many others intent on joining the California Gold Rush by way of the Santa Fe Trail, the route of the Camino Real from Santa Fe to the turn off near the Val Verde ford, Cooke's route down the Rio Grande, to the turnoff to Cooke's Wagon Road, across New Mexico Territory to join the to the Yuma Crossing into California. By 1857 Cooke's route down the Rio Grande was a well beaten route used by supply trains for the forts and many other travelers.
Fort Craig - Fort Thorn Wagon Road | Introduction
Company D of the Fourth California Infantry took over at the fort on November 11, 1861 under the command of Lyman S. Scott. They replaced the Ninth Infantry that was commanded by 1st Lieutenant Philip A. Owen. For a time between September 1863 and October 1864 the post was under the command of 2nd Lieutenant James Davison.
Fort Yamhill | Notable people
The Colorado Desert was renamed by the Canadian party and is now known as the Imperial Valley. Chaffey along with the other pioneers believed this name would bring more people to this southeastern part of California. In 1905, Chaffey purchased the ranch of John Shepherd at Manzanar, California, located in California's Owens Valley. Chaffey subdivided the ranch, along with other adjacent ranches, and founded the town of Manzanar in 1910. Chaffey's Owens Valley Improvement Company built an irrigation system and planted thousands of fruit trees, and by 1920, the town had more than twenty-five homes, a two-room school, a town hall, and a general store.
George Chaffey | Biography
They were joined there by the 1st Battalion of Native Cavalry, California Volunteers. Shortly afterward, Sonora Governor Ignacio Pesqueira, who had fled northward after his army had been destroyed in a series of battles with the Imperialists, arrived at the post with a small party seeking refuge. Colonel Lewis put the post, his officers, and his men at the Governor's disposal. Service at Fort Mason was generally considered miserable. Because of its somewhat swampy (by Arizona standards) location on the banks of the Santa Cruz River, the men suffered from an epidemic which at one point rendered over half of them too sick for duty and led to at least 25 deaths.
7th California Infantry Regiment | Service At Tubac and Fort Mason
In late 1852, George Alonzo Johnson with his partner Hartshorne and new partner Captain Wilcox (formerly of the "Invincible" and "Sierra Nevada"), formed George A. Johnson & Company. Turnbull's financial debacle allowed them to obtain the next contract to supply the fort. Johnson and his partners, all having learned a lesson from their failed attempts ascending the Colorado and with the example of the "Uncle Sam", brought the parts of a more powerful side-wheel steamboat, the "General Jesup", with them to the mouth of the Colorado from San Francisco. There it was reassembled at a landing in the upper tidewater of the river and reached Fort Yuma, January 18, 1854.
George A. Johnson &amp; Company | George A. Johnson & Company established
Company A was then assigned to Fort Yuma in the New Mexico Territory. While at Fort Yuma, Du Barry also served as post commissary, and acting assistant quartermaster. He also designed and helped construct most of the buildings and defensive works of the fort in the latter half of 1855, most of which are still standing and are now historic. Du Barry also made extensive survey of the plant and animal life around Fort Yuma. He collected an important specimen of "Nama jamaicense", a flowering herb, which he sent to the Smithsonian Institution. An important, adult specimen of the desert daisy "Trichoptilium incisum" was also collected by Lt.
Beekman Du Barry | West Point and the frontier
The first permanent settler in the Big Thompson Valley, Medina had built log buildings and recruited people from his hometown of Taos to help build a settlement of 100 people at the trading post. Sixty of his horses were looted by Ute people in 1861. He followed the Utes for 25 miles and shot one of them as the remaining men fled. He then built a stone fort on the north side of the Big Thompson, with six gun ports. The walls were up to 20 inches thick and the roof was built with logs, sandstone slabs, and topped with a foot of earth.
Fort Namaqua | History
Route 12 was added to the state highway system in 1909 from San Diego to El Centro, and Route 27 was added from El Centro to Yuma in 1915. Before a highway was constructed through the Imperial San Dunes, travelers had to pass to the north in order to reach Yuma. The first route through Imperial Valley was originally a plank road made of pieces of wood that were tied together. The road was completed by October 1912, and portions were still visible into the 2010s. The Ocean-to-Ocean Bridge across the Colorado River was open in 1915, and a new plank road was opened that year which became state-maintained in 1917, and used a foundation of wooden rails, with the planks bound together by steel, as opposed to simple planks that were fastened to rails.
U.S. Route 80 in California | Construction
Fort Fillmore was originally constructed in the jacal style with upright wood posts plastered over with adobe; later, more substantial adobe walls were erected. Much of the work on the fort was done by the soldiers with the assistance of local Mexican laborers who made the adobe bricks. The post was built on sand hills above the Rio Grande. The Rio Grande would later change its course, making the fort about 1 mile from the river. This forced the army to use water wagons to supply the post with water and made it hard to defend in the event of attack.
Fort Fillmore | Construction
Between 1850 and 1854 the U. S. Army explored the lower reach of the Colorado River from the Gulf of California, looking for the river to provide a less expensive route to supply the remote post of Fort Yuma. First in November 1850 to January 1851, by its transport schooner, "Invincible" under Captain Alfred H. Wilcox and then by its longboat commanded by Lieutenant George Derby. Later Lieutenant Derby, in his expedition report, recommended that a shallow draft sternwheel steamboat would be the way to send supplies up river to the fort. The next contractors George Alonzo Johnson with his partner Benjamin M.
Colorado River | Exploration and navigation below Fort Yuma, 1850–1854
There is no evidence that Confederate troops ever permanently garrisoned the fort. The fort was inspected by troops from the California Column looking for any evidence of further Confederate activity or stragglers in 1863, but did not see any need to garrison the post. The Fort was regarrisoned in January 1868 by Buffalo Soldiers of the 9th Cavalry Regiment and 42 Infantry under command of Major Albert Payson Morrow of the 9th Cavalry. Much of the post was in bad condition and was never fully restored. Soldiers would complain about adobe from the walls falling into their bunks as the slept due to the poor condition of the buildings.
Fort Quitman | Establishment
The district is headquartered in Imperial, California. Prior to 1942, irrigation water delivered to the Imperial Valley was diverted from the Colorado River near Pilot Knob through Mexico to bypass the Imperial sand dunes west of Yuma and into the IID-operated Alamo Canal (also known as the Imperial Canal). Since 1942, water has been diverted at Imperial Dam on the Colorado River through the 82-mile All-American Canal, all of which the IID operates and maintains, although the structures are owned by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
Imperial Irrigation District | Introduction
Following the failure of the California Militia against the Quechan people ("Yuma Indians"), in the Gila Expedition, the U. S. Army sent the Yuma Expedition under Captain Samuel P. Heintzelman, to establish a post at Yuma Crossing of the Colorado River in the vicinity where it met the Gila River in the Lower Colorado River Valley region of California. He was to protect travelers on the overland route from the east to California and to quell any hostilities by the Quechan people ("Yuma Indians"). After reconnoitering his route, Heintzelman marched out of San Diego on 3 October 1850 with three companies of the 2nd Infantry Regiment with another infantry company establishing a depot at Vallecitos.
Yuma Expedition | First Establishment of Camp Yuma
Camp Independence was established on Oak Creek in the valley on July 4, 1862, during the Owens Valley Indian War. It also served as an American Civil War army post. The fort was briefly abandoned at the end of hostilities with the Owens Valley Paiute in December 1864. However, it was reoccupied by the Nevada Volunteers in March 1865, due to renewed conflict with the local Paiute. The post was finally abandoned on July 5, 1877. The military reservation was transferred to the Interior Department for disposition on July 22, 1884.
Fort Independence (California) | Camp Independence
When the military left the valley, the native Paiute and Shoshone peoples of the area held various allotments of land adjacent to the fort. The Fort Independence Reservation was officially established through executive orders Number 2264 and 2375 in 1915 and 1916. This provided the tribal members with of land adjacent to Oak Creek in the southern Owens Valley, near the Owens River and town of Independence.
Fort Independence (California) | Fort Independence Reservation
In 1913, following massive pressure against Arizona Congressman Carl Hayden by the citizens of Yuma, Hayden lobbied Congress, proposing federal aid be used for construction of a permanent highway crossing spanning the lower Colorado River. Congress authorized the construction of the bridge under the pretense that it was to be used in connecting Yuma to the Fort Yuma Indian Reservation located on the opposing bank of the river. It was therefore, the federal funding would be provided through the Office of Indian Affairs (OIA). Further capital was raised and provided by the State of Arizona and Imperial County, California; each providing $25,000.
Ocean to Ocean Bridge | History
Fort Benson was a Fort built in 1856 in present-day Colton in San Bernardino County, California. The Fort is named for its builder, Jerome Benson. The Fort was abandoned a year after it was built in 1857. Fort Benson was designated a California Historic Landmark (No.617) on September 11, 1957. Jerome Benson, in fear, built the Fort because of land disputes. The fort on his land claim, was made of earthworks and wood. The fort was defended by a brass cannon. The fort was used only one year as about half the Mormons around his land were told to return to Utah during the Mormon War, also call the Utah War.
Fort Benson | Introduction
Perhaps it is best noted that the area now known as Fort Dick was once used by indigenous peoples of the region in the normal way they used any land. There were several tribes in the Humboldt region, but by the time Crescent City was founded, the Caucasians were having battles with the Tolowa nation, as well as other Native American tribes. Many of these tribes were frequently in a state of conflict or involved in minor battles with the individuals who came to settle the parcel of land. Due to continuous unrest between the white settlers and the Native Americans, the military was eventually called in, at the bequest of the Department of Indian Affairs, in 1862 to establish a military presence on the site known as Fort Dick in 1862.
Fort Dick, California | Fort Dick during the Civil War
For those reasons Fort McRae was built in McRae Canyon a mile and a half below the spring in 1863, to help protect travelers on the Jornada del Muerto and impede Apache raiders movement across the Jornada basin and the Rio Grande valley.
Cañon del Muerto (Sierra County, New Mexico) | History
Empire Ranch is located on the eastern slope of the Santa Rita Mountains in Cienega Valley, fifty-two miles southeast of Tucson and about ten miles north of Sonoita. The property overlooks a shallow depression called Empire Gulch, through which a spring-fed rivlet bordered by cottonwoods courses eastward to Cienega Creek. The surrounding meadows are "thickly covered" with sacaton and salt grass. Tucson businessman Edward Nye Fish first occupied the site of the ranch in 1871, but it is uncertain whether or not he built the original four-room adobe house and corral, which may have already been there when he arrived.
Empire Ranch | Establishment
Henry Palmer and Company K of the 11th Ohio Cavalry from Camp Chase, Ohio, to Fort Kearney, Nebraska, and thence on to Fort Laramie, Wyoming in 1864. They were also the only former Confederate cavalrymen (originally part of Morgan's Raiders) to see service as "Galvanized Yankees" on the Western frontier. The historical Fort Thorn was built in December 1853 on the west bank of the Rio Grande, north of Las Cruces, New Mexico (near present-day Hatch) to defend local settlements against raids by Apache Indians, primarily those of the Mescalero band. Fort Thorn became the eastern terminus of a road built in 1856 across Arizona from Fort Yuma until 1860, when the post closed as a permanent garrison.
Two Flags West | Historical basis
At the start of the Civil War, Major Ketchum now with US Fourth Infantry Regiment commanded Fort Dalles in Oregon, protecting settlers from Indian raids. He was ordered to San Francisco and then sent to take command of the federal troops in Southern California to protect it from secessionist rising and Confederate invasion from Arizona or Texas. Headquartered in San Bernardino, California his troops kept an eye on the secessionists of the region and reinforced Fort Yuma. Relieved by California Volunteer troops, Ketchum and his regiment assembled in San Pedro for the voyage to eastern United States in the late fall of 1861.
William Scott Ketchum | Civil War
The Pyramid Mining District east of El Dorado Canyon and the river in the Black Mountains and in the vicinity of Fort Mohave the San Francisco Mining District northeast of the fort in the Black Mountains were established in 1863. The Sacramento Mining District 37 miles from Fort Mohave were established by soldiers in September 1863, to the east beyond the Black Mountains in the southern end of the Cerbat Mountains. A party led by John Moss founded the Waubau Yuma Mining District in the Hualapai Mountains 50 miles east of Fort Mohave. West of the fort in the Providence Mountains of California, silver was found and the Rock Springs Mining District was established in April 1863 and the Macedonia Mining District in September 1864.
George A. Johnson &amp; Company | Civil War on the Colorado River
Following the Gadsden Purchase, the United States Army sent Major Enoch Steen and four companies of the 1st U. S. Dragoons (now the 1st U. S. Cavalry) to occupy the former site of the Mexican Presidio de Calabasas. Major Steen arrived on November 27, 1856, and named his post Camp Moore. The dragoons put roofs on the old adobe structures and added a few new ones. Camp Moore was abandoned in March 1857 after another location in the San Rafael Valley was chosen for a permanent fort that was christened Fort Buchanan. With the coming of the American Civil War all military posts in western New Mexico Territory (now Arizona) were abandoned.
Fort Mason, Arizona Territory | Introduction
Following the United States establishing Fort Yuma, two towns developed one mile downriver. The one on the California side was called 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. The other was called Colorado City. Developed on the south side of the river in what is now Arizona by speculator 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.
Yuma, Arizona | First settlements
Flooding continued to be a problem for the Yuma Project. In January 1916, a flood larger than the one in 1912 caused in breaks on the Reservation Levee as the Gila River reached a maximum flow of . The river again flooded a few days later, reaching a flow of . Afterward, 10,000 of the Reservation Division was inundated while 3,000 of the Valley Division's flooded. The floods also displaced 50,000 yards of main canal. The Bureau of Reclamation worked quickly to restore the project in 15 days. In 1918, the Colorado River's meandering damaged part of the Reservation levee and it was repaired slowly with unskilled labor because of World War I's troop demands.
Yuma Project | Maintenance and the Imperial Dam change
In October 1850, U.S. Army Topographical Engineer Lt. George H. Derby was ordered to travel from California to the Colorado River to determine a supply route over water to Heintzelman's command. For his voyage, Derby was provided with transport by Captain Alfred H. Wilcox commanding the army transport schooner "Invincible". They departed San Francisco on November 1, 1850. Garra was captured at Razon's rancheria in the Coachella Valley, by the Mountain Cahuilla leader Juan Antonio and turned over to the volunteer company from Los Angeles. He was later tried and executed in San Diego, January 10, 1852.
Yuma War | War
The three partners that formed the business came from various walks of life. But all had previous experience dealing with the extreme conditions of the Colorado River during their earlier frustrated attempts to bring supplies up that river to Fort Yuma. At that time Fort Yuma was one of the most remote and difficult to reach places in the United States. It had been at first supplied from San Francisco to San Diego by sea and from there overland across the Colorado Desert at the exorbitant rate of $500 per ton.
George A. Johnson &amp; Company | Early attempts to navigate the Colorado and formation of the partnership
The Imperial Valley extends southward for from the southern end of the Salton Sea into Mexico. Part of a trough stretching from the Coachella Valley to the Gulf of California, it is almost entirely below sea level— below at the edge of the Salton Sea. Its hot desert climate is characterized by daily temperature extremes. It was once part of the Gulf of California, from which it was cut off by the dam-like deposits of the Colorado River Delta Fan as it carved out the Grand Canyon. Bordered by sand dunes and barren mountains, it was uninhabited until 1901, when the Imperial Canal was opened and diverted Colorado River water into the valley through Mexico.
Imperial Valley | Geography
The southwest section of the building contained the Vallejo family living area, for when they visited the ranch. Some walls were plastered and whitewashed. The outdoor kitchen and the dining room (featuring imported glass windows) were on the ground floor. The second floor of the "fort" (as it was called by Vallejo) housed the family's sleeping rooms, Vallejo's office, the sleeping room for the ranch manager, guest rooms, and communal sleeping areas for the most privileged workers. The downstairs dining room and the rooms of the family and manager had interior fireplaces. Construction of the eastern building was never fully completed.
Rancho Petaluma Adobe | Description
Faver built the first of his three adobe forts, El Fortín del Cíbolo, in 1857, as a defensive measure against Apaches, Comanches, and bandits of all kinds. His ranching empire boasted as many as 20,000 longhorns—some say as many as 100,000—irrigated farms, and herds of sheep and goats, making him the preeminent pioneer rancher of the Big Bend. El Fortín del Cíbolo (the Fort on Cíbolo Creek) was Faver’s stronghold, where he operated a sizable farming enterprise irrigated by Cibolo Springs. Faver later built El Fortín de la Ciénega (the Fort at the Marsh), where he headquartered his cattle operation, and El Fortín de la Morita (the Fort at the Little Mulberry Tree), which became the center of his sheep and goat operations.
Milton Faver | Defensive Forts
In the Spring of 1865, the Regimental Headquarters and Companies D, E, and G were assigned to Tubac, Arizona Territory. Though they were there primarily to operate against the Apaches, they were also assigned the job of reinforcing the International Line against potential incursions by the forces of the Mexican Empire and its French allies. As part of the ongoing war of the French Intervention, Imperialist forces had made recent advances into the neighboring Mexican State of Sonora, causing considerable alarm among officials in the United States. In September, the garrison was moved south to Calabazas, a small settlement near the border where they established a post called Post at Calabasas, later renamed Fort Mason.
7th California Infantry Regiment | Service At Tubac and Fort Mason
The Imperial Reservoir is an artificial lake formed by the construction of the Imperial Diversion Dam across the Colorado River in the Lower Colorado River Valley of Imperial County, California, and Yuma County, Arizona. A component of the Imperial National Wildlife Refuge, the reservoir is northeast of Yuma, Arizona.
Imperial Reservoir | Introduction
Later it also served the same function for American soldiers, 49ers and their herds of animals being driven to the goldfields on the Southern Emigrant Trail. The non native settlement of the site began in 1850 as a camp with a one-room sod warehouse as the U.S. Army Depot Vallecito for the supply of Fort Yuma. It was later increased in size and became a store, a stage station, and a ranch house. Eventually reduced to ruins, the Station house was restored in 1934 and is now the site of a San Diego County Park.
Vallecito, San Diego County, California | Introduction
Fort Ruby, also known as Camp Ruby, was built in 1862 by the United States Army, during the American Civil War, in the "wilderness of eastern Nevada." It protected the overland mail coaches and Pony Express, in order to maintain links and communication between residents of California and the Union. It was operated 1862 to 1869, in territory dominated by bands of the Western Shoshone. The fort was located at the east entrance to the Overland Pass from Ruby Valley, near Hobson on the west side of Ruby Lake. To secure access and safe passage through this area, as well as to provide for construction of railroads and other needs, the US signed the Treaty of Ruby Valley with twelve chiefs of the Western Shoshone, who did not cede any territory.
Fort Ruby | Introduction
Jaeger City, then in San Diego County, California was the first and largest settlement near the fort until 1862. It began as a stockade for defense of the ferry and its operators against the Quechan, and a collection of tents. It was a station of the San Antonio-San Diego Mail Line from 1857 to 1860. At its height it consisted of the Fort Yuma Station of the Butterfield Overland Mail and its local office, a hotel, two blacksmiths, two stores and other dwellings. Colorado City begun in 1853 lay across the river and Arizona City lay a mile above it across from Fort Yuma.
Jaeger City, California | History
Col. John M. Francisco, the sutler at Fort Garland, and his business partner, Henry Daigre, purchased 48,000 acres of land in Cuchara Valley in 1862. The land was part of the Vigil land grant. They established a settlement for farmers and ranchers, with Francisco Fort as the commercial center. The 100-foot-square building was constructed with 2-foot thick adobe walls, interior rooms, that opened up to a central plaza. It was built with a flat roof with gun ports along the parapets. In 1863, the fort was attacked by a band of Ute people. Men got on the roof to defend the fort, and a volunteer rode to Fort Lyon.
La Veta, Colorado | History
The Eastern Mono live in several colonies from Lone Pine to Bishop. Trade between Native Americans of the Owens Valley and coastal tribes such as the Chumash has been indicated by the archaeological record. On May 1, 1834, Joseph R. Walker entered Owens Valley at the mouth of Walker Pass. Walker and his group of 52 men traveled up the valley on their way back to the Humboldt Sink, and back up the Humboldt River to the Rocky Mountains. In 1845, John C. Fremont named the Owens valley, river and lake for Richard Owens, one of his guides. Camp Independence was established on Oak Creek nearby modern Independence, California, on July 4, 1862, during the Owens Valley Indian War.
Owens Valley | History
Salvation Mountain (location ) is a colorful artificial mountain north of Calipatria, California, near Slab City. It is made from adobe, straw, and thousands of gallons of paint. It was created by Leonard Knight to convey the message that "God Loves Everyone". Mr. Knight refused substantial donations of money and labor from supporters who wished to modify his message of universal love to favor or disfavor particular groups.
Imperial Valley | Salvation Mountain
While under construction in May 1860 the post was referred to as the Camp on San Pedro River. It was named Fort Aravaipa (or Aravaypa), when constructed, then officially designated as Fort Breckinridge in August 1860 to honor John C. Breckinridge, vice president from 1857 to 1861 under President James Buchanan. This was the second military post in the area of the Gadsden Purchase (1853).
Camp Grant, Arizona | Fort Breckinridge 1860 to 1865
The fort was purchased from Bruce Husband, a member of the American Fur Company, for $4,000 in June 1849 by U.S. Army Lt. Daniel P. Woodbury on behalf of the United States Government. Three companies of cavalry arrived at the fort that same month, and Company 'G', 6th Infantry, which was the post's permanent garrison for many years, arrived on August 12, 1849. By 1849 gold seekers had joined the Oregon-bound settlers and Mormons heading to Utah, and westward travelers were estimated to number between 20,000 and 40,000 in 1849. The fort itself occupied a location where the westward trail diverged in the direction of either Oregon, Salt Lake City or California.
Fort Laramie National Historic Site | Frontier army post
The Californians under Colonel James H. Carleton captured the Confederate Fort Yuma on traditional Arizona's side of the Colorado River. No fight occurred as the rebels' cavalry garrison retreated into Mexico before Colonel Carleton's arrival. The Californians then moved on, using the old Butterfield Mail route as their path. Tucson's garrison was then tasked with delaying the Union invasion from the west. The garrison burnt several hay stations, which were actually former mail stations, abandoned before the war. Californians and Confederates under Second Lieutenant John W. Swilling fought the small Battle of Stanwix Station. Gradually, Union pickets made their way to the Pima Villages.
Traditional Arizona | Civil War
The camp site of June 14 was on Elk Creek, one-fourth of a mile west of the junction of U.S. 101 and the Elk Valley road. Exactly one month later, while eating breakfast the morning of July 14, 1828, Jedidiah's party was attacked by at least one hundred Native American Indians. Everyone in the party except for Jedidiah and two companions died in the ambush. They escaped and headed directly to Fort Vancouver.
Fort Dick, California | Jedidiah Smith's party reaches Lake Earl
By December 1908, the water bypass around the dam was complete and workers began to pour the rock-fill. Three large concrete walls supported by sheet-wood pilings were built across the river for the dam's foundation. Rock-fill was placed in between and on the outsides of these walls for support. The California sluiceway consisted of three iron gates while the Arizona had one. Mexican-Americans mostly worked on the dam while a few Native American Indians did as well. White-labor worked in the cooler months.
Yuma Project | Laguna Dam
The building was designed by William Pereira, who developed a stepped pyramid silhouette that is rare in American architecture. The unusual form references ziggurats, ancient Mesopotamian temples. The building was originally constructed in 1968 for North American Aviation, a defense and aerospace industries manufacturer, to house the company's corporate offices on the top floors and hold an electronics manufacturing plant on the bottom two floors. The building is located in the heart of a shallow valley surrounded by the San Joaquin Hills. The site was chosen in part because, in the mid 1960s, it was a very desolate and quiet area of southern Orange County, and North American Aviation wanted an area that would be private and secure.
Chet Holifield Federal Building | History
First in November 1850 to January 1851, by its transport schooner, "Invincible" under Captain Alfred H. Wilcox and then by its longboat commanded by Lieutenant George Derby. Later Lieutenant Derby, in his expedition report, recommended that a shallow draft sternwheel steamboat would be the way to send supplies up river to the fort. The next attempt was made by the contractors George Alonzo Johnson with his partner Benjamin M. Hartshorne who arrived at the river's mouth in February 1852, on the United States transport schooner "Sierra Nevada" under Captain Wilcox. On board were 250 tons of supplies for the newly reoccupied fort and a pair of knocked down flatboats, built by Domingo Marcucci in San Francisco.
Steamboats of the Colorado River | Fort Yuma's supply difficulties
The United States established Fort Yuma and an influx of settlers and farmers of European descent invaded the area. The Yuma Crossing was ideal during and after the California Gold Rush to the late 1870s. It was known for its ferry crossings for the Southern Emigrant Trail.
List of historic properties in Yuma, Arizona | Brief history
Col. West commander of Fort Yuma, to prevent any crossings by a Confederate force attempting to cross the Colorado River. Fecunda Gonzales the owner of Gonzales' Ferry had abandoned the location after his ferry was destroyed by Union troops in November 1861. He moved to Los Angeles and tried to get restitution for his loss. The Mariposa ferry would have been on the river just west of the settlement shown as Mariposa on the 1865 map of Arizona Territory. Due to the hostilities with the Hualapai and Paiute that began in 1865, many mines the vicinity of the northern Colorado River shut down for several years until they ended.
Hualapai Smith's | History
The Imperial Dam would serve as the lower Colorado's diversion dam and would also supply the Yuma Project with water. The dam was completed in 1938 and in 1941, the Bureau of Reclamation sealed off the Yuma Main Canal from the Laguna Diversion Dam. All outlets from the Laguna Dam were sealed on June 23, 1948 allowing for full supply from the Imperial Dam. Becoming obsolete, the Bureau decommissioned the power plant at the Siphon Drop Spillway in 1972.
Yuma Project | Maintenance and the Imperial Dam change
However the locality remained in use as a watering place for travelers on the Southern Emigrant Trail and was a post for Union Army units moving back and forth between California and Arizona Territory. In the journal of an 1861 march of California Volunteers to Fort Yuma, Lieut. Col. Joseph R. West described the old station: November 1.- Left Alamo Station at 4.50 p.m.; road inferior. Gardner's Wells (old mail station, but water has failed), nine miles; thence by same character of road and country to Salt or Seven Wells, and camped. Water plenty, but brackish; wood abundant. Weather warm.
Salt or Seven Wells | Introduction
It is quadrilateral in layout with internal dimensions measuring 97x88 meters. Thirteen bastions reinforced the walls, located in the corners and at regular intervals along the curtains. Two gates led to the fort, one from the riverside (from the east), the other from the desert (from the west). In 2018, the fort curtains were preserved to a height of about 0.7 meters. Geophysical research conducted in 2018 proved that there are numerous structures erected along the inner faces of the walls as well as free-standing buildings. The fort was inhabited until the mid-seventh century. Afterward, it was no longer maintained.
Hosh el-Kab fort | Introduction
Fort Yamhill was an American military fortification in the state of Oregon. Built in 1856 in the Oregon Territory, it remained an active post until 1866. The Army outpost was used to provide a presence next to the Grand Ronde Agency Coastal Reservation. Several officers stationed at the United States Army post prior to the American Civil War would later serve as generals in that war.
Fort Yamhill | Introduction
The soldiers lived in tents heated by fireplaces and sometimes stoves or in timber huts. As at other forts, they also built temporary timber frame or picket buildings lined with canvas insulation. Over 1868, Cram began a dispute with Major Ben Ficklin, the regional mail line superintendent, that resulted in Cram's having Ficklin arrested. The Postmaster General soon became involved and by August Cram was reassigned out of the Concho valley. He was replaced with Major George A. Gordon, who handed Fort Concho's construction to Captain Joseph Rendlebrock, the 4th Cavalry's quartermaster. By the end of 1868, Rendlebrock had completed the commissary, quartermaster's storehouse, and a wing of the hospital.
Fort Concho | Construction
Fort Barrett was a temporary earthwork built by the United States Army's California Column in 1862 during the American Civil War. It was located in the Pima Villages two miles from the Gila river nearby Casa Blanca, New Mexico Territory and was built around the mill of settler Ammi M. White to protect it and provide a safe location to gather food and forage from the Pima people for the advance on Tucson. The fort was named after Lieutenant James Barrett who was killed in the Battle of Picacho Peak. Following the capture of Tucson in May the construction of the post ceased, and was abandoned, except as a post for vedettes and express riders.
Fort Barrett | Introduction
4th Infantry Regiment. Like Buchanan, many of the soldiers of this unit were veterans of the Mexican–American War. Starting about 1853, Seth Kinman was hired as a market hunter to supply elk meat to the fort. Fort Humboldt was sited on a strategic location on the bluff overlooking Humboldt Bay and Bucksport, a town named after David Buck, a member of the Josiah Gregg exploration party. In addition to serving to protect the local inhabitants, it was also a supply depot for posts around the California and Oregon borders such as Fort Gaston in Hoopa and Fort Bragg in northern Mendocino County.
Fort Humboldt State Historic Park | Early years, 1853–1860
During the attack, Friar Luis Jayme was murdered; he is considered to be the first Catholic martyr in Alta California. During the period when the canyon was within Alta California, it was part of Rancho Tía Juana in 1829. By 1833, the canyon was part of Rancho Melijo. Sometime after the end of the Mexican–American War in 1848 the land between Imperial Beach and Monument Mesa was owned by Elisha Babcock, who went on to develop Coronado. The land was passed to James Crafton, one of the owners of the Agua Caliente Casino and Hotel, around the time of the Great Depression.
Goat Canyon (Tijuana River Valley) | History
The YVRY was originally owned by the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Reclamation. It was part of the Interior Department's irrigation and flood control project along the levee of the Colorado River. The U.S. Government's railroad was known as the Yuma Valley Railroad and operated from 1914 and into the 1980s. The Yuma Valley Railroad originally extended 25 miles from Yuma to the Arizona/Mexico border town of San Luis. In 1947 the Yuma Valley Railroad was leased to and operated by the Southern Pacific Railroad, at which time the 9 miles from Gadsden to San Luis were idle and later abandoned.
Yuma Valley Railway | History
The Civil War prompted the construction of several coastal defense batteries located inside the Golden Gate. Initially these defenses were built as temporary wartime structures rather than permanent fortifications and one of these was constructed in 1864 at Point San Jose, as the location of Upper Fort Mason was then known. A breast-high wall of brick and mounts for six Rodman cannons and six 42-pounder guns were built on the site. Excavation in the early 1980s uncovered the well-preserved remains of the western-half of the temporary battery, and it has now been restored to its condition during the Civil War.
Fort Mason | The fort as government property
Sutter's Fort was a 19th-century agricultural and trade colony in the Mexican "Alta California" province. The site of the fort was established in 1839 and originally called New Helvetia ("New Switzerland") by its builder John Sutter, though construction of the fort proper wouldn't begin until 1841. The fort was the first non-Indigenous community in the California Central Valley. The fort is famous for its association with the Donner Party, the California Gold Rush, and the formation of the city of Sacramento, surrounding the fort. It is notable for its proximity to the end of the California Trail and Siskiyou Trails, which it served as a waystation.
Sutter's Fort | Introduction
In 1869, one-armed John Wesley Powell led the first successful navigation of the Colorado River through what Powell named "the Grand Canyon". The earthwork walls are the original Fort D, as constructed in 1861 and restored in 1936. A palisade wall, probably made of upright logs, constituted the rear wall and was pierced by a gate. The gap in the south wall may have been a "sally" port, allowing soldiers access to the rifle pits below the parapet. The fort was armed with three 32-pounder cannons and two 24-pounder cannons; all mounted on movable siege carriages. A 32-pounder cannon was a smoothbore cannon that could fire a 32-pound solid round shot over one mile.
Fort D | Construction
After gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill (also owned by John Sutter) in Coloma on January 24, 1848, the fort was abandoned. The adobe structure has been restored to its original condition and is now administered by California Department of Parks and Recreation. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1961.
Sutter's Fort | Introduction
The fort was built in 1865 amid escalating fighting with the Snake Indians of eastern Oregon and southern Idaho. It was a base for operations in the Snake War that lasted until 1868, the Battle of Infernal Caverns in 1867 with General George Crook, the Modoc War of 1872–73 and the Bannock and Nez Perce campaigns. Although traffic dwindled on the Red Bluff route once the Central Pacific Railroad extended into Nevada in 1868, the Army staffed Fort Bidwell to quell various uprisings and disturbances until 1890. Both Fort Bidwell and Camp Bidwell, near Chico were named for General John Bidwell.
Fort Bidwell, California | History
Mismanagement of the funds that were to be spent on adobe walls stalled their construction. A near disastrous attack by Apache raiders in June 1782 resulted in renewed efforts to complete the fort, which was accomplished in May 1783. The fort measured about to a side with square towers at the northeast and southwest corners. The main gate was on the center of the west wall, the presidial chapel was located along the east wall, the commandant's house was in the center, and the interior walls were lined with homes, stables, and warehouses. The massive adobe walls required constant maintenance, especially in times when attacks by Native Americans were anticipated, mostly from Apache.
Presidio San Agustín del Tucsón | Spanish Period
On November 11–12, 1846, 3 miles above what was later the site of Fort Thorn was the camp of Major Philip St. George Cooke and the Mormon Battalion who were tasked by Brig. Gen. Kerney with explore a route and building a wagon road from the Rio Grande valley to recently captured Alta California. This camp was the place where the road left the river to the southwest. This road would come to be called the Cooke's Wagon Road. According to Cooke, his camp lay across the river from the New Mexican settlement of San Diego, and was 258 miles southwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Fort Thorn, New Mexico | History
The following routes are treated as an extension of the Imperial Valley Transit system, funded and administered by the Imperial County Transportation Commission (ICTC), YCIPTA, and Quechan. The routes are operated with Yuma County Area Transit (YCAT) buses.
Imperial Valley Transit | Partnership with Yuma County Intergovernmental Public Transportation Authority (YCIPTA) and the Quechan Indian Tribe
The building was thought to exist very close to the original site of Yaanga, a prominent Tongva (or Kizh) village. The one-story adobe structure was built in 1835 by "three American trappers" — William Wolfskill, Joseph Paulding and Richard Laughlin — as a home for Isaac Williams, a New England merchant who had arrived in Los Angeles in 1832. The single-story adobe became the last capitol of Mexican Alta California when Governor Pío Pico bought it and used it as his office.
Bella Union Hotel | History