There has been some confusion regarding the origin of the name Yuma. It seems probable that it doesnot, as has been suggested, reflect the title of a hereditary chief Yahmayo ("son of the captain"), but that the word Yuma derives from the habit this tribe had of making huge fires to induce rain, creating the a tremendous amount of smoke in the process, and that their name in consequence comes from the Old Spanish word umo, meaning smoke. Yuma is only one of the four original counties in Arizona which still retains its original boundaries. The county encompasses 6,390,400 acres. The first county seat was at La Paz but since 1870 it has been at Yuma, the principal city in the county. Mining from the first was among teh chief industries of Yuma county. Today agriculture is also of prime importance."
Barnes, Will C.; Granger, Byrd (ed.). Arizona
Place Names. University of Arizona Press. 1960
p. 367
"In 1860, Mowry, elected first and second delegate to congress, but not admitted, got out a mpa of Arizona, dividing it into four counties: Castle Dome, Ewell, Mesilla, and Dona Ana. "The present Yuma county was called Castle Dome. Pima county was designated as Ewell. Mesilla county extended eastward clear to the Rio Grande in New Mexico. Dona Ana extended eastward to west boundary of Texas. The bill, known as the Gwin measure, creating this Arizona, never passed Congress." Farish.
When first territorial legislature met and organized for business, 1864. Yuma was one of the four counties named in the bill. So called for the Yuma Indians."
Barnes, Will C. Arizona
Place Names. University of Arizona Press. 1997
p. 498
County Profile-Arizona Department of Commerce
http://www.commerce.state.az.us/pdf/county/yuma.pdf
Local Government Website
http://www.co.yuma.az.us/
Arizonan.com- Yuma County
http://arizonan.com/YumaCounty
Yuma Metropolitan Planning Organization
http://www.ympo.org/
San Luis
Somerton
Wellton
Yuma-County Seat
Sites to See
Yuma County Library District
http://www.yumalibrary.org/
Arizona Historical Society--Rio Colorado Division, Yuma
140 Madison Ave., Yuma, AZ 85364
(928) 782-1841
http://www.yumalibrary.org/ahs/
Quechan Tribal Museum
PO Box 1899 Yuma, Arizona 85366
Yuma Territorial Prison State Park
1 Prison Hill RoadYuma, Arizona 85364
(928) 783-4771
http://www.pr.state.az.us/parkhtml/yuma.html
Yuma Crossing State Historic Park
201 N. 4th Avenue Yuma, Arizona 85364
(520) 329-0471
http://www.pr.state.az.us/parkhtml/yumacross.html
Books/Manuscripts found in the ASU Library Catalog
Anza, Garces, And The Yuma Frontier : During The Era Of The American
Revolution / by Cliff Trafzer.
F817
.Y9 T7x
Yuma, Arizona : Yuma County, City of Yuma, Yuma Project : U.S.R.S. Premier
Project.
F817.Y9
Y9x 1987
