History
The history of the Yuma Crossing began at the formation of two massive granite outcroppings on the Colorado River. The narrowing of the river provided the only crossing point for a thousand miles, thus making it a focal point for the Patayan tribes, and later the Quechan.
In 1540, well before the British Europeans touched Plymouth Rock in 1620, Yuma’s European history began here with the arrival of Spanish explorer Hernando de Alarcon. Much later the Yuma Crossing became the focal point for travel to the Wild West, from the 1840s California Gold Rush era to the arrival of the railroad in the 1870s, and finally the Ocean-to-Ocean Bridge, which linked the East coast and the West coast in one land route.
It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1966, under the name Yuma Crossing and Associated Sites.
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