Into the Mystic: Country Club on the Colorado

Currently In: Yuma, AZ
Heading to Phoenix this week

3:10 to Yuma made the Territorial Prison well known.
Apparently we aren't the only people who liked the reference in the movie - Arizona created a State Park to honor it.

But the State Park was more than just the Prison. We first learned that the area where the Prison is located is the Yuma Crossing - the most narrow part of the Colorado River for thousands of miles. It became the crossing point for Native Americans and later, settlers. Eventually this black railroad bridge was built over the Crossing in 1923. Some of the prison buildings were razed to make room for the bridge.

The Yuma Territorial Prison was opened in 1876. Arizona was not a US State, so it was a territorial prison in the desert. The chances of escape were slim. Over the course of time it housed 3,069 prisoners including 29 women. The Prison was closed in 1909 due to overcrowding.

There are just three remaining original structures. One is the Main Guardhouse.

Just past the Guardhouse is Sallyport, a corruption of the Spanish "salir por the puerta" or "go out the door". This is the entrance to the cell block area and is also a structure from 1876.

We toured the Main Cellblock area with a docent named Bob. Prisoners quarried nearby granite to build the prison. Bob also told us that electricity was brought into the prison in 1885. Later both a library and hospital were added giving the prison the title "Country Club on the Colorado".

The entrance to the inside cells were secured with iron gates.

I bet this one did something really BAD!

A prisoner went to the Dark Cell for rules violations. They were secured to a cage and given bread and water. Not country club treatment, if you ask me.

The women's cells were added in 1891. The prison was used for a couple of other purposes after it closed including classes after Yuma High School burned down. It also housed the poor during the Depression.

Once we saw everything at the prison, we drove 1.5 miles to the Quartermaster Depot Sate Park. Believe it or not, you have to drive through California and then back into Arizona to get to the Park and Visitor Center! We decided not to tour the Park because we were really there for a bike ride. The train depot was located on this property, but no longer exists. I did take a photo of a train that represented how several convicts across the West were transported to the Prison.

We found the bike path next to the State Park. We decided to take the path West first off.

Not scenic. At all. Except maybe for these beautiful flowers.

The railroad tracks were alongside, which was cool. But much of the path looked like this. The mountains in the background were nice, but otherwise hmmm.

We finally get to the end of the West part of the path.

We rode back to where we started from and crossed the tracks.

And we were treated to the Colorado River! And a much more picturesque part of the bike path.

Up a little further we arrived at Gateway Park where we had a great view of the Ocean-to Ocean Highway Bridge across the Colorado. It was built in 1915 and got its name because it was the only automobile crossing that connected the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean in the southern part of the West. That's the black bridge behind it with railroad cars on it. 2 bridges at the Yuma Crossing!

Just past the Bridge there is a hiking trail in the Gateway Park. I noticed a marker for the Juan Bautista de Anza Trail. I read about that trail at the Prison State Park earlier in the day. In 1775, Spain expanded its empire by asking Juan Bautista to explore a new route from Mexico into Upper California. This route was used to move people, goods and livestock to new settlements in San Francisco. I remembered we crossed this Trail in Tucson, too.