Where Legends Linger

Yuma is an amazing place with a unique and diverse history. Going back to the 1500s with the arrival of the Spanish Conquistadors in their quest for riches of gold and silver, the missionaries’ efforts to convert the local indigenous natives, and the hordes of gold prospectors who traveled through here on their way to the riches of California (and then returned to find what they had passed by).

Opportunity and geography brought them to Yuma because, no matter which direction you were traveling, this was where you crossed the mighty Colorado. From the time of Juan Bautista de Anza, it was used by the Spaniards and later the Mexicans traveling from Sonora to Alta California. Mr. A.L. Lincoln established the first ferry, which was highly utilized by fur traders (Yes, there were beavers on the Colorado) and even more so during the California Gold Rush. It had become a major crossing.

Legend: John Joel Glanton

John Joel Glanton was a bad hombre. Basically, a scalp hunter with no respect for the indigenous natives. Rumor had it that they killed numerous Mexicans and Americans returning from the gold fields to take their money and goods.

Blood on the Ferry: The Glanton Massacre at Pilot Knob

The Glantons partnered up with Lincoln. Being the rough sort that they were, I suspect Mr. Lincoln probably did not have a vote in this merger. The Glantons got a little greedy and ran off the Quechans from their own ferry at Pilot Knob, killing a few in the process, not realizing that they signed their own death warrant.

At dawn on April 23, 1850, a band of Quechans led by Caballo en Pelo killed Glanton with an axe, then took his scalp and the majority of his crew to establish their ferry monopoly.