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After breakfast at Arnie’s Cafe Saturday morning, we toured the Yuma Territorial Prison State Park, another historical site for lovers of the old west. Operating as a prison from 1876 to 1909, it was originally located at the confluence of the Colorado and Gila Rivers and surrounded by inhospitable desert. Interestingly, because of man’s efforts to tame and use these rivers through dams and irrigation canals, the Gila now flows into the Colorado some five miles upstream from the prison. And by the time the mighty Colorado reaches this place today, it is but a small stream.

This was not a place criminals wanted to be sent. The 18-foot-high adobe walls were eight feet thick at the bottom and five feet thick at the top, making the prison impregnable. The main guard tower offered a 360-degree view of the land around the facility and guards walked the walls day and night. But by the standards of the day, it was a modern facility with electricity installed in 1884. The prisoners worked outside their cells all day long and were allowed to make handcrafts that were sold at community bazaars held at the prison once monthly. The money they made was put into an account and given to them upon release. I guess that helped make up for the fact that they were chained to the floor every night in their six feet by seven feet cells along with five other prisoners and only a small bucket for their sanitary needs.

If they misbehaved, they were sent to the "dark cell" (the dungeon) chiseled out of the side of the mountain where up to 15 prisoners could be enclosed in a cage with only a small hole in the ceiling to let in oxygen. And there was no bathroom bucket there. Yuk. It is said that guards would often drop snakes and rats down through the air hole and that many prisoners who spent time there went mad.

3,069 total prisoners served time here during the prison’s 33 years of operation. While most prisoners were male, they did add three six-bed women’s cells in 1891 and a total of twenty-nine women were imprisoned here over the next 18 years. When the inmate count rose to 482 in 1909, the prison was closed due to overcrowding. It was then used as the city’s high school after the local school burned. The students subsequently picked the "Criminals" as their mascot and, until this day, they are still called that.

The prison has served numerous other purposes since 1914 when the students moved out including National Guard headquarters, housing for flood victims, and housing for the homeless during the depression. But in 1941, the City of Yuma began operating the prison as a museum although during World War II, the Federal Government appropriated the guard tower as an enemy spotting station. The prison officially became a state park in 1960 and efforts to protect and preserve it are ongoing.

Our next stop was the Mexican border town of Algodones (Al’-guh-doh’-nez) where we parked our car on the U.S. side and walked across the border. There wasn’t even one official at the border – we just walked across without any question from anyone. We had fun spending the rest of our pesos left over from our month in Mexico. Algodones is a neat little town where the merchants speak English and there are lots of dentists, optometrists, and pharmacies that cater to the snowbirds who come across the border for cheap services. And they, like most of northwest Mexico, love American dollars. Our favorite purchase was three bunches of asparagus for $1 a bunch – we are easy to please! Interestingly, we have found asparagus for this price in several Arizona locations. Can you believe it? The last time I bought asparagus in Little Rock, it was $4 a pound! We went into a little cantina and managed to spend our last 160 pesos (roughly $15 dollars US) on refreshments. Then we stood in line for an hour to get back across the border. It wasn’t difficult though – the customs guys just looked in our shopping bags and waved us through. An interesting note: The young man who was in line in front of us was from El Dorado, AR and graduated from the U of A Law School. He is now an attorney in Yuma. What are the chances?

That night we had a quiet evening as we prepared Bubba for entering his 21st state tomorrow. California, here we come!

Happy trails to you . . . til we meet again!