F .1 F3 FACTS. FIGURES. CITY OF YUMA BANCIIOFT LilRARY Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/factsfigurespictOOyumarich Laiinid of Promise U. 5. R. 5. Premiier Project ueeni The Colorado River and the New Highway Bridge Which Spans Its Tiarbmlent Flood at Yiflma. ^ n^- The RScliest Farmlog Laod In the Wor COME AND SEE US AND YOU WILL ABIDE WITH US A^ y Facts, Figures and Pictures ABOUT THE City of Yuma and the 1 50,000 acres of valley and mesa land along the Colorado River which is being reclaimed by the Reclamation Service under the "YUMA PROJECT" THE GREATEST FARMING COUNTRY IN THE WORLD NOW IN TH E MAKING THE CITY OF YUMA Yuma is the County Seat of Yuma County. It is located on the East bank of the Colorado River, eighty miles from the Gulf of California, 250 miles from Los Angeles, Cal., and a like distance from Tucson, and 200 miles from Phoenix, the capital of the State. It is on the main line of the Southern Pacific Railroad, and is a division point. Here all trains change crews, and in the town is located the round house, repair and boilershops and division club house. About 300 employes of the railroad make their homes in Yuma. The population of Yuma is in excess of 4000 people. The federal census of 1910 gave the city 2920. A recent census, made for the purpose of securing free mail delivery within the city, gave a popula- tion of more than 4000, and free delivery of mail was established. The 1915 census enumeration of children within school age was 1130, an increase of more than 100 over the census made one year ago. The city is growing at the rate of 500 persons each year. The population is cosmopolitan. Good people from everywhere have located in Yuma and made their homes here. They have found health, happiness and business opportunities, and are making of Yuma one of the most desirable places in the Southwest in which to live. The people of Yuma enjoy all of the modern conveniences of life. A privately owned company furnishes the people of the city with filtered water, gas for cooking and heating, electricity for light and power, all of which is conducted to the business houses and residences in such quantities as are desired. An ice plant of large capacity furnishes ice for all domestic purposes and supplies ice for icing all the thousands of cars of fruits and vegetables carried through Yuma by the Southern Pacific Railroad. Yuma has no bonded debt, and owes only a small floating debt. It owns several hundred city lots and other valuable real estate, the value of which is in excess of $100,000. The city owns two large park cites. One of five acres has recently been improved and the other of twenty-five acres, lying further out, will be improved in the near future. The business portion of the city is located in the valley close to the river. The residence portion of the city stretches away on to the Mesa and is on much higher ground. There could be no more beautiful site for a city, and there is abundant room for expansion. To those who want a place in which to live where there is every opportunity for health, business and pleasure, with all of the material comforts of life, Yuma opens its doors and extends an invitation. 1 I /iiR'f^B YUMA UNION HIGH SCHOOL— COST $50,000 Yuma and all of the lands under the Yuma project are well supplied with churches and schools. The Yuma Union High School Building was completed in the fall of 1914. The building cost $50,000. The building, grounds, experimental farm and the furniture and fixtures have cost the Union High School District $72,000. The district embraces practically all of the lands under the Yuma project. A principal and six teachers are employed. One hundred and fifty pupils are enrolled. All of the advantages of the best high school education are offered to the children of Yuma and surrounding country. f''««3-~!i88^^fc^«:S8«!«»»^!!«Sat*-m'. Two grammar school buildings are used for the lower grades. A principal and twenty teachers are employed. Seven hundred children are in attendance. The increase of the number of pupils in the district will necessitate the erection of another building during the coming year. Good schools with competent teachers and satisfactory equipment and buildings are to be found in all of the valley country around Yuma. Each school, however small, is provided each year with a fund of $1000 with which to employ teachers and pay the expenses of the school. Yuma county has as good schools as are to be found in Arizona and Arizona has as good schools as any state in the Union of States. The person looking for a place in which to locate and educate his children cannot do better than to make his home in Yuma. The teachers employed in both the high school and the grammar schools are the best that can be procured. Many of them are home teachers who came to Yuma to teach and became so enamored of the country that they remained to live. YUMA COUNTY COURT HOUSE, ERECTED AT A COST OF $50,000 Yuma County's new court house was erected in 1910 at a cost of $50,000. It is a modern and sightly structure with every modern convenience. It houses all of the county officials, and contains two court rooms. In the rear is a substantial and modern jail structure and on the Southwest side a new garage for the county car has been recently built. The court house occupies a sightly position and from its dome a magnificent view of all of the surrounding country may be obtained. Yuma county is one of the largest counties in Arizona. It is 200 miles North and South and 80 miles from East to West. At the last election 2650 voters were registered. It has $13,500,000 of taxable property. The tax rate last year was $1.42 on the $100 of taxable property, a very low rate for a new and rapidly developing country. The development of Yuma County is not confined to any one particular section. In addition to the lands under the Yuma project great development is going on in the Gila valley and in the Cibola and Parker valleys along the Colorado River North of Yuma. YUMA LODGE OF ELKS' HOME, ERECTED AT A COST OF $25,000 Yuma has a large number of secret societies, all of which are prosperous, and many of which boast of a large membership. The Elks are the most conspicuous, and have erected a home of splendid proportions and have furnished it in regal style. The membership of this order exceeds 300. Other secret societies are: Odd Fellows, Masons, Moose, Spanish-American Alliance, Rebekahs, Order of the Eastern Star, Eagles, Knights of Pythias. The Masons own their own home, and the Odd Fellows are pre- paring to build. The women of Yuma take a very active interest in civic affairs. The Ocotillo Women's Club is preparing to build a women's club house. The Yuma Woman's Club has an active organization and holds weekly meetings. The City Club is a woman's organization of a semi-political nature. At Somerton, in the Yuma Valley, twelve miles South of Yuma, the Valley Woman's Club have erected a fine club house, and are active in all good works. All people join hands in working for the civic betterment of the City of Yuma and country surrounding. No better people or country can be found anywhere. YUMA A CITY OF CHURCHES There are four church buildings and as many church organiza- tions in the City of Yuma. Methodist, Baptist, Catholic and Episco- palian. They all have good buildings and a large membership, a regular pastor, conduct a Sunday School at each, which is largely attended and have the usual church organizations and societies. There are two Methodist churches and two Baptist churches in Yuma Valley, with good buildings and active congregations and regular pastors in charge. The spiritual wellfare of the community in both the town and the country is well looked after, and all of these church organizations are strong and healthy and doing a good work. The person who locates in Yuma, or on any of the land within the Yuma project is never beyond the sound of the church bell. The people are moral as well as industrious and take great pride in their churches and schools, and all of their secret societies and civic organizations. It is true, and to some extent remarkable, that in a rapidly growing town and community the size of Yuma and the surrounding country, that there are very few violations of the law. The county jail is comparatively empty, and the police and criminal courts have little to do in the matter of prosecutions of criminals. THE YUMA PROJECT The Yuma project is the premier project of the United States Reclamation Service. When completed it will carry the waters of the Colorado River to 150,000 acres of desert land as rich in agricultural possibilities as can be found in the world. In the construction of the project many engineering difficulties have been met and overcome. The chief engineering feature of the project is Laguna Dam, located twelve miles above Yuma. This dam is a diversion dam and not a storage dam. It is nearly a mile in length, and at either end are located the head gates which controls the flow of the water into the canals. The dam raises the river level above it twelve feet, and in the basin above the dam 75 per ceni of the silt carried in solution in the waters of the Colorado are deposited, so that the water which is drawn off into the canals is comparatively free from silt. INTAKE TO THE SIPHON UNDER THE COLORADO RIVER Here the water which has been brought through the main canal fifteen miles is dropped into a concrete-lined well eighty feet deep, and after passing through a concrete-lined tunnel fourteen feet in diameter, pours out of another well on the Arizona ride of the river, and is conveyed in canals to the 60,000 acres of land in the Yuma Valley. The main canal carries sufficient water to irrigate 150,000 acres of land. Water is taken from the main canal before it reaches the siphon at Yuma to irrigate the San Pascual Valley (about 8500 acres), and the Yuma Indian Reservation (about 10,000). » ^ ;>? t:^ S ,2 H 03 h^ CO © Q< OJ H 0 •a ;*?5 03 © Oi u ■^ OJ S a 5 u 'O !^ 1-}^ 0 s Xi rn i^ h^ u 13 >:! S25 a *^ ^ a a u CO a < •3 S ^ » 0) ^ » Xi B Eb H 0 a © © fl ^ 52; H 0 0 « » 0 H 0) © -95 ^ 0 b •a (U ,a H^ (V ^ ^ W) U 0 a •0 2 H ee H CO s H 2 s 5 -«5 OJ 0 O ea J O s 0 a ■§ » CO CO H a 04 •c ;f < THE YUMA VALLEY AND ITS CANALS The Yuma Valley, lying down the Colorado River, South and West of Yuma, is the largest unit of the Yuma project, containing approximately 60,000 acres of arable land. This unit of the project is practically completed. Water is available for all of its rich acres. Water is conveyed from the Yuma siphon in two main canals, one on the West and the other on the East side of the valley, diverted at intervals as necessity demands into laterals which carries it to every farm. The valley is twenty-four miles long and from three to seven miles wide, and is practically level, sloping gently to the South and West to conform to the fall of the river. BRIDGE OYER MAIN CANAL IN YUMA About 23,000 acres of this land are now ufider water and in a state of cultivation. The remainder is raw land, some of which is being leveled and put into crops all of the time. It is expected that this entire acreage will be put in crops within the next year or two. The valley is protected from the Colorado River and its flood waters by a levee constructed by the reclamation service, extending from Yuma to the international line. On top of this levee, for further protection, a government-owned railroad has been built, twenty-three and one-half miles in length. The river side of the levee has been blanketed with rock to a good depth, and the valley has every assurance that the waters of the Colorado when at flood will give it no trouble. a >> ,£: ^ o >> o X3 o ^ « C3 'O a> fl -a ctf 0) ^ +j H 0) ,C3 — ' o o 13 •^ o o '^ U5 CM M :^ VSr o o O o ■■ , i-> X5 ^ o O o s o H o lO o c^ ■/} o «©■ Ji ^ ;j o ■4^ ■1^ a CO 8 A ni 3^ > 5 ;*H 0) rn ^ s S S 02 2 S 8 C3 -a ^ % a to •^ a» '^^ CO A 3 +j •r-, "C ri OS rrt OJ PI S bl) n 3 'O ts >^ Pi C«-l o CG 4-1 >» ^ o ■^ H 0) o OS OJ w ALL ROADS LEAD TO YUMA Yuma is located on the Southern Ocean-to-Ocean Highway and the Borderland Highway, both of which highways use the same route from Phoenix to the Coast, In addition to this all of the travel on the " Old Trail," or Lincoln Highway, during the Winter months will pass through Yuma on account of the snow and cold on the Northern route. The completion of the new Highway Bridge across the Colorado River at Yuma marks an epoch in the construction of a permanent highway across Southern Arizona and California. This is the first highway bridge across the Colorado River South of the Grand Canyon. It was erected by the Omaha Structural Steel Com- pany, and is a beautiful steel bridge. It is erected at a point where the Colorado River is crowded into a narrow gorge between Fort Yuma Indian Hill in California and Prison Hill in Arizona. One span reaches across the 397 feet of the river between the shore abutments. This bridge was thrown open for travel April 15, 1915. Another bridge of equal importance to this highway is being erected across the Gila River fifty miles East of Yuma at Antelope Hill. This bridge is being built jointly by the State of Arizona and Yuma County. It is a concrete structure and will, when finished, be massive and permanent. It will be completed and open to the public seme time during the year 1915. Yuma County has voted half a million dollars of highway bonds with the proceeds of which to build a permanent system of good roads. A part of this fund will be used to build eighty miles of permanent road across the county on the line of the National Highway and connecting with Maricopa County on the East and California on the West. Out of this fund one hundred miles of permanent highway will be built in the Yuma Valley, a second bridge will be constructed across the Gila River near its mouth, connecting the South and North Gila Valleys, and a line will be built to the Northern part of the county and across the Northern part of the county connecting the towns in that section with one another and the county seat. California is carrying the National Highway from the Colorado River to the Coast. A good portion of this road has already been built and work is progressing on the remainder. The end of the year will find the National Highway across Arizona and California, if not entirely completed, at least in fine condition for auto travel. The road is at present in fairly good condition and a goodly number of autos are passing over it every day. All roads will "Lead to Yuma," or at least through Yuma at an early date. o c -u 3 H CO C M O) > H) s c H^ cS o !5 a ^ o; -o ^ c ^ -•-> as >^ cc ti £3 s » a a H Xi ;p^ ^ 1-^ 1 ^ .c CM o =2 >> o 03 0) > o -s5 Fi o P^ ct a JSC ^^ "^ M TS c; M a> a e xi o u >> a o ^ (1) .55 MUSCAT GRAPES ON THE HUSS RANCH, YUMA VALLEY Yuma Valley is becoming famous for the excellence of its small fruits, and particularly of its grapes. The climatic conditions are such that grapes grow to their greatest perfection. All varieties reach maturity early and are the finest grown in the country. Two, and sometimes three, crops are gathered from the same vines. * m o a 5? o z O bl) ;3 as C ^ s g OJ y: o fi V X2 9 0) > "■ eS 5^ cc OJ ^ o ^ b 0S ^ 2 a S j3 -o H >< 2 u O o 5 ■^ 0) (n c -- o W) *'"' fi^ 03 T3 < A ^ O Ch -M g Mil «»-i .M a H 5S *3 OJ » 03 > S H 0) 'S 03 Sa^ ^3 O ^ cd .s ^ £2 ^ s H Of — " (U N tt O "m *-• ^ o o •2 c ^ bfi o tH s: 'En X o 03 (X> — ^ (-1 3 , b£ TS u 0) C o > ^ 03 ^ 73 0) C ^ Oi 03 a 'P> •-C A YUMA DATE TREE LOADED WITH HUNDREDS OF POUNDS OF CHOICE FRUIT Date culture is an established industry of the Yuma country, and the yield of the date trees and the income from the sale of the fruit is astonishing to the new comer. Not many date orchards are yet in bearing, but a number have planted fair sized orchards. The old trees, which have been bearing fruit for a number of years, have demon- strated that an acre of land planted to date palms when it comes into bearing will yield a larger profit than any other crop or fruit. 0) > nS > V ^ ■t^ p A -«-> a o S >> (h OJ H > » 0) h^ ^ h^ -a < £3 eg > -i-> -0^ o 03 2 H Oh H OJ S?; fl OS ^ o fii, 3 O) S^ a » « .22 o 3 o b +J ^ ^ E3 -^ O) EiM . S ? '■^ '2 o 'I " o -il O c a> o Si o u A GREAT MONEY MAKING INDUSTRY— FEEDING CATTLE ON YUMA VALLEY ALFALFA On Yuma Valley and other Yuma project lands there are about two thousand dairy cattle. From the various daries the local demand for milk in Yuma and surrounding country is supplied. The Southern Pacific Railroad Company and its dining car service is supplied on the Yuma division from Gila Bend to Indio. The Yuma Ice Company's dairy in Yuma takes all of the milk and cream that is not sold direct to consumers. This dairy has a capacity of 2500 pounds of butter per day. It could use the milk and cream from a largely increased number of cows. There are some fine herds of dairy cows in the Yuma country. Holsteins, Jerseys and Herafords. At no place in the country can the dairyman find a better opening than in Yuma and its adjacent farm land. Abundant feed, equitable climate, plenty of water, a good market for the product all combine to make condi- tions ideal. Fattening beef cattle for the market of Yuma Valley alfalfa and other feeds has become a staple and profitable industry. During the winter of 1914-1915 more than 4000 head of feeders were brought into the Yuma Valley to fatten on the richest alfalfa in the world. It is a fact that the alfalfa grown in the Yuma Valley has a much larger proportion of fattening properties than alfalfa grown in a damp climate. It is extremely rich in the elements which make beef and butter. A MORTGAGE LIFTER THAT DOES THE WORK There are mortgage lifters and mortgage lifters, but there are none that give results quicker in the Yuma Valley than Mr. and Mrs. Hog With an abundance of green alfalfa, plenty of water and no cold Winters to stunt their growth, hogs come to early maturity. They make good weight and sell for top prices. The hog industry has already assumed the proportions of a big business and is growing an the country under the Yuma Project tills up with new farmers. At the present price of meat there is no industry on the farm which pays better returns for the money and labor put into it. As compared with raising hogs for market in the cold states of Nebraska, Iowa and Kansas, the corn belt states, raising hogs in the Yuma country is a gentleman's game. THE POULTRY INDUSTRY I> THE YUMA YALLEY The poultry industry in the Yuma Valley offers amazing oppor- tunities to the man or woman with intelligence and a small amount of capital. There is no better place in the whole country for the establishment of a poultry farm than here. Chickens do exceedingly well in the Yuma country. The laying season is long and eggs are always a good price, seldom going below thirty cents per dozen, and often selling for forty, fifty and sixty cents. The local market and the nearby mining camps absorb all of the eggs and chickens now pro- duced here. Plenty of green feed the year around gives the local poultry man a great opportunity. On a very small tract of land, one to five acres, one can raise all of the feed needed to run a large flock of chickens. THE VALUE OF YUMA VALLEY LAND Land under the Yuma project is largely in private ownership. Unimproved land can be purchased at from $75.00 to $125.00 per acre. Improved land at from $100.00 to $300.00 per acre, according to loca- tion and the value of the improvements. There is very little govern- ment land in any of the valleys under the project and none that is open to entry at this time. As the country develops all of this land is sure to increase in value. Its ultimate value would be hard to forecast. That all lands under the project will double in value within the next five years is a conservative forecast. The individual who buys now is sure to reap a substantial reward. COTTON GROWN ON YUMA VALLEY RANCH The agricultural resources of Yuma project lands are inexhaust- ible and the variety of crops which can be grown with profit is very large. Cotton is a staple product and promises great things when the market once more becomes stable and prices normal. Fifty acres of cotton in the Yuma Valley in the season of 1914 produced 74 bales of cotton of an average weight of 500 pounds. Had it not have been for the slump in cotton prices on account of the war this rancher would have secured a net income from his crop of more than fifty dollars to the acre. CITRUS FRUITS AM) THE YUMA MESA The Yuma Mesa has recently been added to the Yuma project. The Mesa begins at the city limits of the City of Yuma and extends South and East to the international boundary. It contains about 60,000 acres of irrigable land. It is the largest contiguous body of citrus fruit land in the United States. There is but one grove planted to citrus fruits upon the Mesa at this time. This grove was planted as an experimental orchard twelve years ago by Hiram W. Blaisdell, who owns the controlling interest in the Yuma Electric & Water Company. Water to irrigate the orchard is pumped from the Colorado River one and one-half miles away. This grove has surprised all who have seen it by the abundance of fruit which it produces and the excellence of the quality of the fruit. ON THE ROAD TO EVERYWHERE Yuma and the lands under the Yuma project are extremely fortunate in the matter of transportation. Yuma is located on the main line of the Southern Pacific Railroad, and has direct communi- calion with the East and the Coast country by this great system. Five passenger trains, all of high class, pass Yuma each way during every twenty-four hours. The Southern Pacific main line traverses the lands of the Yuma project for a distance of more than twenty miles, with convenient sidings and small stations. Three branch railroads run out of Yuma. One branch twelve miles long runs from Yuma through the Indian reservation to Laguna dam, affording ample shipping and passenger facilities for the San Pascuale Valley. This is a branch line of the Southern Pacific. The Inter-California Railroad runs from Yuma to the Mexican line at Andrade and on to Calexico and El Centro, in the Imperial Valley, a distance of seventy miles, and puts all the intervening country in close touch with Yuma, which is its market place. This road is a branch of the Southern Pacific road. A government-owned railroad runs from Yuma down the Colorado River a distance of twenty-three and one-half miles to the interna- tional line, following the crest of the reclamation service levee. This railroad puts a large portion of the Yuma Valley within a short distance of railroad communication with Yuma and the outside world. This road will be extended by the reclamation service across the lower end of the valley at the international line and brought back to Yuma on the East, or Mesa, side of the valley, thus giving to the valley fifty miles of railroad and putting every farm in the valley within two or three miles of its shipping point. The California-Arizona Railroad is building from San Diego to Yuma, and is at this time about two-thirds completed, and will probably reach Yuma by the close of the year. Two automobile stage lines run from Yuma into the Yuma Valley connecting Yuma with Scmerton and Gadsden, two thriving villages, twelve and nineteen miles South of Yuma, respectively. All parts of the valley can be reached by auto stage several times each day, and at a very reasonable cost. An automobile stage line runs from Yuma to Holtville and El Centro in the Imperial Valley, making daily trips at a reasonable charge. The reclamation service is building a railroad from Yuma to Laguna dam on the Arizona side of the river. Several miles of this road South of Laguna dam has been completed, and the line will probably be finished the coming Fall and Winter. With one main line railroad, four branch lines, reaching to all parts of the Yuma project and numerous stage lines, Yuma is indeed " On the Road to Everywhere." For quick information about Yuma and Yuma Project lands, address L W. ALEXANDER, Secretary Yuma County Commercial Club, Immigration Commissioner Yuma County Board of Supervisors Yuma County J. A. Donovan, Chairman; Ike Proebstel. J. H. Shanssey Officers and Directors Commercial Club E. S. Kirkpatrick, President; A. J. Eddy, Vice President; E. H. Tobias, Treasurer Emil C. Eger, Paul Moretti, Max Czuczka, J. Homer Smith PRESS MORNING SUN. YUMA :