Prison visit…

In the last picture of my previous post, (re-posted below!), off in the distance, on the left side of the bridge, is a bunch of buildings. As it turns out, that’s the old territorial prison. So that is what we’ll visit today. I’d come down here specifically today to visit the prison but first I drove the 1/2 mile or so past the prison to check out the casino with it’s RV park, also passing that terrible museum mentioned in last post that’s just to my right in this picture. Up the hill a bit.

First we have to get to the other side of the river. This old bridge is soooo much like the bridge I grew up with in Kennewick, Washington. Built in a similar way.

Wanted to get a look at the river so I stopped along the side of the road just after crossing the bridge and took the above picture of the old bridge and the next picture after I crossed the street looking back at the RR bridge.

And there is the Colorado River. Much tamed now from how the Spanish first mentioned in their chronicles since they passed through here on the way to California. The river would flood yearly like the Nile, and deposit tons of nutrient rich soil in the valley. This the natives were able to farm successfully for over a thousand years. The lands were so rich that the natives were able to feed all the Spanish travelers from the 1500’s on without problem. And they did the same for travelers from the new United States as they started crossing through here too. From all accounts they were very friendly and helpful. They even built and operated a ferry for many decades. Of course they were enslaved by the Spanish (eventually they rebelled) and than cheated by the US government and herded onto a tiny reservation with their children forced into the Catholic school of torture. The adults were not allowed to work because they’d take jobs from whites. All their ancestral lands went to white farmers. After that short visit to the bridge, took the several block drive around to get to the prison parking lot. The road to the south of the prison cuts it pretty close to the walls so there’s no access road onto the prison grounds from the south.

The guard tower will be visited later. Seems they built it over the water cistern. A look from the prison’s wall towards the north. Imagine that some years that entire area would be covered with water.So after paying the fee, walked through the gift shop onto the prison grounds. There’s a short self tour around the area where the prison officials and their families lived. The river and river valley is fascinating so I got several shots from several angles. That tower is interesting, might tour that first… This is the entrance into the prison.  But I bypassed the entrance and climbed up to the tower instead. I’ll come back and go inside the prison later. Big space here in the guard tower since it covered a big cistern to help keep the water from evaporating. The guards would sleep up here. There used to be many bunks and other furniture for them up here. Summers in Yuma are brutal so this open air sleeping area was a relief. Train came by and rumbled along shaking the ground. Even whistled. Most of this guard tower was rebuilt by local carpenters and craftsmen. There was enough of the old structure left to use for templates when they decided to restore that it came out nearly exactly like the historians wanted. After passing through the right side of the museum, headed outside to the main cell block for a look. Contrast the cells to the open air platform the guards got to sleep in. Looks like a fun place to live in the summer heat and winter chill, doesn’t it?

Some of the day to day tools prisoners used to work the gardens and grounds. This is one of the ‘trusties’ cells in a part of the prison that was cooler than where the general population lived. When there were more women here, they got these cells because they were slightly separated from the rest. The prison library (shown in the photo and this is the room it was originally in) was a big hit with the inmates, guards, and staff of the prison. The prison yard. It probably looks much nicer than it ever did when it was in use. This is a typical cell. There’d be a thin mattress thrown on the floor and a bucket for a toilet. And now I’ve finished the tour of the main structures and wandered back to the museum. An old Gatlin Gun. And time again to head home. A few feet down the path…I did wander around in it for a moment but there’s not much to see.Now a portion of the city park, this area use to flood regularly as I recall from my reading. And that was the prison museum tour. It’s just a quarter mile or so from downtown Yuma. So if you visit downtown, it’s worth the extra time to visit the prison. Well worth the 3-4 hours I hung around reading all the plaques and such. Enjoyed visiting and reading the histories.

Thanks for visiting!