Yuma

“ We now turn to that part of the Yuma area which lies along the course of the Gila, and more especially the parts along the Cocomaricopa villages, of which one portion of the occupants speak a language belonging to the Yuma, the other one belonging to the Pima class. ”

“ Since then Fort Yuma has become a noted frontier fortification, surrounded by many hundreds of American citizens, who live, for the most part, on the eastern bank of the river, and carry on a lucrative trade with the interior of Arizona and the Yumas, Cocopahs, Cushans, Amojaves and other tribes. The waters of the Colorado are now plowed by half a dozen steamers, and my old enemies, the Yumas, do the "chores" and menial offices for the whites. ”

“ Flowers bloom there, always, the reader can easily believe—people suffer and sweat, and swear, morning, noon and night, and wear out their stanchest energies fanning themselves. It gets hot there, but if you go down to Fort Yuma you will find it hotter. ”

“ Between Tucson and Yuma the heat was simply infernal. I believe this tract is the bed of what, ages ago, was an inland sea; anyhow it had all the appearance of it, and I was later told geologists thought so too. It is, to say the least, very likely, for Yuma, I heard, is several hundred feet below sea-level. The latitude is 321⁄2° north, a warm latitude in any case, but with desert for hundreds of miles all round, with perhaps [Pg 85] as low an elevation as exists on earth, shut in on all sides so that not a breath of air can get at it, what wonder that Yuma and all about there is hot? ”

“ When these people come west in their comfortable Pullmans and discover nothing more interesting in the shape of Indians than a few old squaws selling trinkets and blankets on station platforms, as at Yuma; when they visit one of the famous old towns where in days gone by white men were wont to sleep with one eye and an ear open for marauding Indians, and find electric cars, modern office buildings, paved streets crowded with luxurious motors, and the inhabitants nonchalantly pursuing the even tenor of their ways garbed in habiliments strongly suggestive of Forty-fourth street and Broadway ”

“ The Yuma of Turner is therefore adopted as of precise date and of undoubted application. Pimentel makes Yuma a part of Piman stock.
GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION.
The center of distribution of the tribes of this family is generally considered to be the lower Colorado and Gila Valleys. At least this 138 is the region where they attained their highest physical and mental development. With the exception of certain small areas possessed by Shoshonean tribes, Indians of Yuman stock occupied the Colorado River from its mouth as far up as Cataract Creek where dwell the Havasupai. ”

“ Yuma itself is situated in a hollow, surrounded on three sides by sand-hills. No breeze can cool the air, and the sun, beating down with almost tropical fervor, often causes the thermometer to register 120° in the shade. Even at night it is hot, for the earth radiates the heat received during the day, and the inhabitants find it almost unbearable. Many sleep on the house-tops, and many more on the sidewalks in front of the houses, making their morning toilets in the open air. ”

“ Yuma to El Dorado, in good operation, her population, as it increased, would naturally overflow to other districts; and, in the end, arid Arizona would become reasonably prosperous. But, like all other commonwealths, she must have a base to stand on and work from. That base seemed naturally and necessarily the Colorado River, indifferent as it was. And all attempts to develop herself, except from that, in the absence of a railroad, seemed likely to end like the efforts of the man, who tried to build a pyramid with the apex downward. ”

“ So near the sea-level, it is said to be less rarefied, and to comprise, therefore, a greater quantity of oxygen to a given bulk, than that of mountain districts, which, in purity and dryness, it resembles. It is thought to be beneficial in lung troubles. Yuma, among its arid sand-hills, has aspirations to be a sanitarium. Civilized people also may yet resort there to engage in a sensible sun-worship, basking in the genial heat, and then plunging into the river, after the fashion of the resident Indians, who make of it in this way a kind of natural Turkish bath. ”

“ We resigned ourselves to the dreadful heat, and at the end of two more days the river had begun to narrow, and we arrived at Fort Yuma, which was at that time the post best known to, and most talked about by army officers of any in Arizona. No one except old campaigners knew much about any other post in the Territory. ”

“ Fort Yuma is probably the hottest place on earth. The thermometer stays at one hundred and twenty in the shade there all the time—except when it varies and goes higher. It is a U.S. military post, and its occupants get so used to the terrific heat that they suffer without it. There is a tradition (attributed to John Phenix [It has been purloined by fifty different scribblers who were too poor to invent a fancy but not ashamed to steal one.—M. T.] ) ”

“ Mountains of a jagged, eccentric formation follow its general course northward. Peaks impressively counterfeiting human work. Castle Dome, Chimney Peaks, Picacho, and Cargo Muchacho, loom up along the horizon, a fitting prelude to the marvels of Arizona.
It was at the close of an Indian war that this visit was made. It had been said, in rumors much exaggerated, that the whole white civilization of the Territory was in danger by the outbreak, and troops—but now on their return—had been hurried thither from all sides. The first view of Indians, therefore, at Yuma was of a double interest. ”

“ The first house entered gave the alarm and the settlement scattered amid yells. Only two Cocopa were killed by the Yuma and two young women, sisters, called Night-hawk, captured by the Mohave. The latter stayed with the Yuma four days to watch the scalp dance; but no one of them having touched the corpses, they were not in need of purification, and returned home.
The whole tribe came out to escort them to the kohota’s house. There the captives were made to sit down, while the kohota stood up 200 and sang Pleiades. Then men and women, facing each other, danced. ”

“ The 150 mile journey to San Luis was necessary in order to reach a priest who would bury the dead woman. All the dead were treated in the same manner.
While I was in Yuma the railroad reached Dos Palmas, Southern California, and one day I went there with a wagon and bought a load of apples, which, with one man to accompany me, I hauled all the way to Tucson. That wagon-load of apples was the first fruit to arrive in the Territory and it was hailed with acclaim. I sold the lot for one thousand dollars, making a profit well over fifty per cent. Then with the wagon I returned to Yuma. ”

“ The rainfall is very scant the average annual precipitation at Yuma being less than three inches. The climate is not dry from any lack of surface water, as it has the Gila and Colorado rivers, the Gulf of California and the broad Pacific Ocean to draw from. But the singular fact remains that the country is extremely dry and that it does not rain as in other lands. ”

“ One or the other made a trip once a month from Yuma to the upriver landings if freight demanded,^^^ but a reliable report states that the "commerce of the river above El Dorado Canyon is practically nothing."^^^ In 1 899 the Gila., last survivor of the fleet, was remodeled at Yuma and cut down to 1 59 feet in length. ”

“ The first yard was constructed at Yuma in 1862, although boats were assembled at the mouth of the river prior to that time. At Yuma were constructed the Colorado No. 2, the Mohave No. I, and the Cocopah No. 2. In the early seventies a shipyard was constructed at Port Isabel on the California shore near the mouth of the river. Here the Mohave No. 2 and the Gila were launched, and here, too, the constant business of scraping, calking, and painting the "Arizona Fleet" was conducted. The most important single feature of the port was the dry dock. ”

“ The Colorado River at Yuma is a good-sized stream. The water is very muddy, and, even when settled, has a milky tinge. It is, nevertheless, very good to drink, being, in fact, the best in the country. The stream is navigable for small steamers for about three hundred and seventy-five miles above Yuma, but in low water the boats often run aground on the sand-bars, and have to be stilted over them with timbers. ”

“ A squad of soldiers was sent out from Fort Yuma to bury the bodies, of which eight were women and children and nine were men. The desert has no compassion on the human intruder, and he who ventures there must count only on his own resources.
The crossing of Green River was also difficult, except at low water, on account of the depth and force of the current. Sometimes the emigrants utilised a waggon-box as a boat, and the Mormons, who passed in 1847, established a ferry. Later others operated ferries, and the valley vied with Yuma in the matter of human activity. ”

“ They occupy each side of the Colorado, both above and below its junction with the Gila. How far they extend northwards is unknown, probably more than 100 miles. They are also called Cuchans, and are a fierce predatory nation, encroaching equally on tribes of their own language and on aliens.
From these Yuma Indians I take the name for the group now under notice. It contains, besides the Yuma Proper, the Dieguno of San Diego and the Coco-maricopa.
The Coco-maricopa Indians are joint-occupants of certain villages on the Gila; the population with which they are associated being Pima. ”

“ The Explorer at length arrived at Yuma. Here the remainder of the party, including Dr. Newberry, having come across country, joined the expedition, and further preparations were made for the more difficult task above. The craft was lightened as far as possible, but at the best she still drew two and one-half feet, while the timbers bolted to the bottom were a great detriment, catching on snags and ploughing into the mud of the shoals. ”

“ The peninsula of California was inhabited by several Yuma tribes differing in dialect but much alike in culture, all being on its lowest stage. Wholly unacquainted with metals, without agriculture of any kind, naked, and constructing no sort of permanent shelters, they depended on fishing, hunting and natural products for subsistence. ”

“ Your face always gives you away; if you knew all the very shrewd people I'm buckin', you'd give 'em the marble eye, and they'd watch you. Not knowin' 'em, you'll treat 'em all alike, and you won't act suspicious.
"Listen now: You drift out quiet and go down on the Gila, somewhere between Mohawk Siding and Walton. Know that country? Yes? That's good. Leave your teams there and you go down to Yuma on the train. I'll get a bit of money for you in Tucson, and it'll be waitin' for you in Old Man Brownell's store, in Yuma. ”

“ They were generally hostile to Americans, and Forts Yuma and Mohave were erected to keep them in subjection. Early travellers frequently commented upon their physical beauty, but contact with the whites rapidly pauperized and debauched them. At present some fifteen hundred Mohave are located at the Colorado River and San Carlos reservations, in Arizona; the Yuma, to the number of about a thousand, are at the Mission Agency of California, and at San Carlos; and about three hundred Maricopa are living on the Pima reservation, in Arizona.—Ed. ”

“ He organized a battalion of recruits and convalescent soldiers at Vera Cruz, and marched them to the city of Mexico. From 1849 till 1855 he served in California, where he had some rough experience with the Coyote and Yuma Indians, and established Fort Yuma on the Colorado river. ”

“ The country about Yuma is particularly suited to subtropical fruits. Temperate fruits—peaches, pears, apples, apricots and small fruits—do excellently; as do all important vegetables. The fruit industry is becoming more and more important. Farming is very intensive, and crop follows crop in swift succession; in 1905 the yield of barley per acre, 44 bushels, was greater than in any other state or territory, as was the farm price per bushel on the 1st of December, 81 cents ”

“ Though it bled profusely, Yuma said, "Just grazed him. I reckon he'll live without no trouble."
"If he lives, he'll hang! He's murdered Becky," said Penny flatly. "And I hope he lives."
Yuma, holding the bandanna against the wound, looked at the girl and spoke with an exasperating drawl.
"Maybe you ain't heard straight, Miss Penny, but I tried tuh tell you a little while ago that they don't hang killers in this Basin. What they do is tuh hire 'em an' sleep 'em an' eat 'em an' keep 'em hid so's the law cain't git at 'em." ”

“ The Post here was established about 1857 to overawe the Yumas, then a stalwart and numerous tribe of Indians, occupying both banks of the Colorado for a hundred miles or more. Though much reduced, they still numbered over a thousand souls; and physically speaking, were the finest specimens of aborigines we had seen yet. They cultivate the river-bottoms to some extent, and raise barley, wheat, beans, melons, etc.—for their surplus of which, when any, they find a ready market at Fort Yuma and Arizona City. ”