Fort Yuma

Fort Yuma is a California Historical Landmark in Arizona, Imperial County.

Imperial County · On right bank of Colorado River, opposite present city of Yuma, Arizona · location approximate

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As a result of the increased activity of prospectors in Arizona and the rush of forty-niners by way of the Yuma Crossing, Fort Yuma was established in 1850. A previous establishment had been made here in 1849 by Lieutenant Cave J. Couts, who had pitched a camp which he called Fort Calhoun. In November 1850 Major S. P. Heintzelman established a camp below the ferry which he called Camp Independence. A few months later it was moved to the hill and named Fort Yuma. An attack by the Yuma Indians on the fort resulted in its abandonment in June 1851.

1971 register text, presented as a historical document. It uses the period's terms for Native people; the state's landmark listings still carry most of this wording, and the California Office of Historic Preservation maintains the program's current texts.

Many of these plaques have since been recast or their texts revised. The California Historical Landmarks program and its current texts are maintained by the California Office of Historic Preservation. California Office of Historic Preservation ↗

TodayHistorical map

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

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under a mile from where William Gabby lived in the 1760s

what this marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years here

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Marker data: State of California, Department of Parks and Recreation, California Historical Landmarks (1971)

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