Yuma, Arizona

What was in 1878 a thriving mining town larger than Yuma, is today a ghost town and a museum showcasing the way of life of a mining town. Located in the Castle Dome Mountains, Castle Dome Mines Museum & Ghost Town recognizes the pioneers who came to make their fortune from silver and copper. The town looks almost frozen in time, it’s almost hard to believe that the miners, post office workers, bartenders and customers are not going to return at any moment.

There are about 50 buildings that were brought from different locations in the area to form the museum. The buildings are furnished with authentic artifacts collected from the surrounding mine shafts. Visitors can see original structures such as the mills, an original boiler, the stamp mill, an elevator, the boardwalks, the church, the five saloons, and so much more. This remnant of a lively frontier town serves as a piece of history to honor a place where only the rugged and brave could survive.

Address: Castle Dome Mine Rd, Yuma, AZ 85365, Phone: 928 920-3062

Imagine a sea of dunes, some 300 feet tall, stretching for 40 miles to the horizon, like some foreign land you have just stumbled upon. This sandy wonder is known as Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area, and is one of the most popular film locations for movies involving sandy settings.

This huge sand box is located only 20 miles west of Yuma, which serves as a gateway for all off-road driving enthusiasts – more than a million of them come every year in spite of all the heat. There are several camping areas including Buttercup, Grays Well, Gecko, and Roadrunner; all sites have parking pads and toilets.

Address: State Historic Park,201 N. 4th Avenue,Yuma, AZ 85364, Phone: 800-293-007

About ten miles outside Yuma is a lush oasis in the desert, with 8,000 date palms swaying in the wind, looking almost like a mirage in the hot desert sun. It actually is an oasis, dug out of rough desert land by the hands of Nels and Martha Rogers in 1990. Today, they have one of the largest date farms in the area, with a 3,000-square-foot store surrounded by 130 acres of Medjool date palms.

The whole date industry in the United States started in 1927 when USDA scientist Walter Swingle brought 11 shoots from Morocco to Nevada. All palms in the United States today are offshoots of these original trees. Martha's Gardens Medjool Date Farm is a popular place to stop for a date shake or for a tour of their beautiful desert oasis.

Address: 9747 S Avenue 9 3/4 E,Yuma, AZ 85365, Phone: 928-726-8833

The Yuma Art Center and Historic Yuma Theatre forms the cultural and artistic heart of the city, bringing the wonder of visual and performing arts to the Yuma community. There is always something interesting on at the center, which hosts more than 20 art exhibitions each year. The vibrant theatre produces several stage productions every year as well as hosting dozens of performing arts classes and visual arts workshops and lectures. The center also coordinates many arts and performance festivals and several outdoor public art installations which you can find scattered throughout the Downtown area; these include diverse murals and the interesting Sculptures on Main Street.

Address: Yuma Art Center and Historic Yuma Theatre, 254 S. Main Street, Yuma, AZ 85364, 928 373 5202

Just outside of today’s Yuma, there are two massive granite rock outcroppings on the Colorado River that significantly narrow the river. For more than 500 years, these rocks provided the only river crossing for more than a thousand miles, affecting the history of the entire area. This crossing was important for the lives of the local Patayan and Quechan tribes, Spanish explorers, adventurers traveling to the Wild West, and for those joining the California Gold Rush. Fort Yuma Crossing was built in 1848 to protect emigrating travelers from Indians.

Today declared as a National Heritage Area, the Yuma Crossing includes two state historic parks, the Yuma Crossing National Historic Landmark, two beautiful new riverfront parks with trails and paths, an interpretive plaza with signs that tell the story of the Yuma Crossing, and 350 acres of restored wetlands.

Address: 180 W 1st St,Yuma, AZ 85364, Phone: 928-373-5190

Because of its unique location on the high ground overlooking the Colorado River, the Yuma Quartermaster Depot provided the lifelines to the military posts in Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Texas and New Mexico from 1864 to 1883. The U.S. Army's warehouses kept a six-month supply of food, clothing, ammunition and all other goods for the soldiers stationed in the forts.

The goods were first brought by ocean vessels to the Gulf of California. From there, they were loaded onto river steamboats and sent up the Colorado River to Yuma, and from there shipped farther or upriver or overland, by the 20-mule wagon teams - a part of Western lore. After the closing in 1883, the site continued to serve as a telegraph and weather station, a customs office, and even as the home of the Bureau of Reclamation.

Address: 201 N. 4th Avenue,Yuma, AZ 85364, Phone: 928-329-0471

The Yuma Territorial Prison played a big part in the history of the Old West, inspiring fear in those on the outside of the law, although it only operated for 33 years. Its legacy lives on thanks to the movie 3:10 to Yuma, and of course the museum located on-site. Built in 1875 by the first group of prisoners, the prison hosted 3,069 prisoners in its time, among them were 29 women. Surrounded by the enormous desert and the huge Colorado River, the chances of escape were slim. While nobody was ever executed here, 111 prisoners died while serving their time.

After the prison was closed for overcrowding in 1907, it was used by the Yuma Union High School from 1910 to 1914, and during the Great Depression as a shelter for homeless. Today, the prison is managed by the Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area, serving as a museum that tells the story of this interesting part of Wild West history.

Address: Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park, 220 Prison Hill Rd, Yuma, AZ 85364, Phone: 928-783-4771