Yuma Quartermaster Depot State Historic Park

February 14th, 2009: Yuma Crossing Day: Celebration of Historic Yuma at Yuma Territorial Prison, Yuma Quartermaster Depot, Sanguinetti House Museum, Yuma Library & historic main street.

April 18 & 19, 2009: Civil War Days: Living History with two Re-enactment Battles per day. Open to the public at 9 am. Regular park entrance fees apply. Organized by Moodyʼs Battery and Battery D 5th US. Recommended by the American Civil War Society. Download Event Flier ( 398 KB PDF)

Step into the past and learn more about the Yuma Quartermaster Depot State Historic Park.

As you walk the grounds of the Yuma Quartermaster Depot State Historic Park, imagine the once-bustling grounds teeming with military life, preparing to travel to all parts west. The Yuma Quartermaster Depot was used by the U.S. Army to store and distribute supplies for all the military posts in Arizona, and some in Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, and Texas. Five of the original depot buildings remain on the park grounds, and four of these buildings contain exhibits which cover both the military history of the site and the history of the Bureau of Reclamation’s construction of major irrigation works in the Yuma area during the early 1900s.

The Yuma Quartermaster Depot State Historic Park is located within the Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area, an area that seeks to conserve, enhance, and interpret the natural and cultural resources of the community. The park offers a visitor center, exhibits, video presentation, gift shop, picnic areas, group use areas, and restrooms.

History

Yuma Quartermaster Depot State Historic Park, site of the Yuma Quartermaster Depot, was used by the US Army to store and distribute supplies for all the military posts in Arizona, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico and Texas. A six month supply of clothing, food, ammunition, and other goods was kept at the depot at all times. The supplies were brought from California by ocean vessels traveling around the Baja Peninsula to Port Isabel near the mouth of the Colorado River. There, cargos were transferred to river steamers and brought upstream to Yuma.

The supplies were unloaded near the stone reservoir just west of the commanding officer's quarters and hauled up on a track running from the river dock through the center of the storehouse. They were shipped north on river steamers and overland by mule drawn freight wagons. The depot quartered up to 900 mules and a crew of teamsters to handle them. The Southern Pacific Railroad reached Yuma in 1877 and heralded the end of the Quartermaster Depot and Fort Yuma. The railroad reached Tucson in 1880, and the functions were moved to Fort Lowell in Tucson.

The Signal Corps established a telegraph and weather station here in 1875. The supply depot was terminated by the Army in 1883, and the pumps, steam engines and equipment were sent to Fort Lowell near Tucson, but the Signal Corps remained until 1891. The U.S. Weather Service was established as a separate agency and operated at the depot site until 1949.

Five structures from the depot's active period are still standing. The commanding officer's quarters were acquired by the U.S. Customs Service. 1908. The Bureau of Reclamation, the Boundary Commission, the Yuma County Water Users Association, and the Assistance League of Yuma have also utilized portions of the old depot during the twentieth century.

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Yuma Quartermaster Depot State Historic Park

History