How Irrigation Changed Yuma

Irrigation in the Yuma county is the most vital and precious thing to the Yuma county. This waterway is a way of life and what put Yuma on the map and in leading the way for agriculture and agribusiness.
Irrigation changed Yuma in many ways. The territory in Yuma changed from fifty thousand acres to sixty thousand acres. This is about twenty five miles south of Yuma to the Mexican boundary. All these lands are fertile and productive. They are all also capable of producing enormous crop yields when provided with a sufficient supply of water. In the years of 1858-59 were the most important. People would come permanently because of the discovery of gold on the Gila river. Another significant point was the National Reclamation Act in June 17, 1902.
This would give yuma the money to help develop irrigation projects. There was development of over sixteen thousand acres of land in yuma Indian reservation. They also had to build the laguna dam. This changed Yuma significantly, providing jobs and creating a boom town. In 1921 there was forty thousand acres under cultivation in the Yuma valley, there is now sixty five thousand acres today.
In 1963 the value was thirty four million dollars or six times the cost of the original project.
The Yuma Reclamation Project (YRP) as approved by the president at the time, would Yuma be receiving water but twenty thousand acres in the North Gila valley. In 1913 there was 18 miles of canal that was capable of serving four thousand acres. This significantly changed Yuma because of the irrigation we would not be one of the largest agricultural producers in America. Yuma alone makes about $540 million in agriculture and related industries. Agriculture and other related industries count for one and four jobs in Yuma. Every one hundred jobs in agriculture supports twenty six jobs in other industries. Irrigation in Yuma makes Yuma huge in farming and producing crops, this means Yuma needs transportation, warehousing, real estate, banking, retailing, wholesale trade and also, health care, food and beverage services, retailing, and auto repair. From a small town to a huge competitor in agriculture, irrigation is a huge key for Yuma being in the top 0.1 percent among U.S. counties in vegetable and melon sales. Yuma would be turned into a major agricultural town and would eventually become a huge contributor to the U.S. and would make up our vibrant economy in Arizona. Without irrigation in Yuma, some other place would be the biggest leader in crop production and no one would have ever heard of Yuma, Arizona, and this town would have never been so
large.
In 1905, the part valley that was located above the overflow line was simple to farm. When places that are left uncultivated the soil becomes alkaline. When this happens and water is soluble so the whole valley can be overflowed, since the whole valley is underlain with sand. Farmers could not be able to farm until the water was under control and not able to overflow and flood. To stop all the flooding the people would have to construct a levee along the river, to connect with the mesa land below, also be strong and high enough when overflowing occurs. Since confining the river would make the river rise, because of this there would have to be a drainage system and a pumping plant towards the end of the valley. This means a lot of money and time will be spent into the construction of these necessary buildings and public works.
Yuma itself is in a bowl, the whole city is surrounded by mountains.
This means getting to Yuma and getting the river to Yuma is hard itself. While the river simply flows through Yuma , Yumans had to build around the river. If you were to go to downtown Yuma and see the river and the buildings, you would see only a city right on the river, there is no fields or agriculture in that area. Therefore they had to build canals off the main river farther away, causing more labor and money spent on the development of irrigation. If Yuma had the fields next to the river we wouldn’t had to have build series of canals for Yuma costing, lots of money. Yuma’s geographical landscape is helpful and stressful in ways. The landscape can be stressful because of flooding of the river and destroying railroads and buildings.
The landscape changed also from the development of the canal because of funds from the government for western farm development. The geography of Yuma was changed because of population and construction. These both would significantly change Yuma’s landscape. In 1849 there was a gold rush because of gold found in the Colorado and in California. People would stop and search there then move on and look for gold. This drastically changed the river and made little streams to different
places.
The Yuma project had both positive and negative effects yes, there was flooding and destruction of buildings and then there was irrigation and successful crop yields. The Yuma project brought new ways to ship things to different places and companies were very successful because of this, bringing our economy alive. The Yuma Project was helpful to people going to California to find gold, without the crossing and Yuma itself, a trip would take longer and more expensive. People began to stay and make businesses and make Yuma bigger. In 1863, a flood happened a year prior and Yuma was still recovering. The flood, which broke the levees flooded the whole town and most buildings were destroyed. The Yuma Project was a very big “project”, the workers created a siphon under the Colorado. This project still gives out irrigation today to every field that has irrigation. During the Yuma Project many miles of canal ways were built to supply all of Yuma with water to help grow plants and use for fields. This would project would provide jobs to the people of Yuma who were in desperate needs. When the Quartermaster depot was built, it served as a supply post and military center and a gateway to California. The Yuma Project brought the railroad and work also. This main line was a key point to the pacific Southwest. The Yuma project brought along the Fort Yuma which means the government was involved and helped support the making and development of the canals. Negative effects on the Yuma county were flooding and levees that broke and destroyed whole towns. These negative effects were caused by bad engineering and blaming of animals like gophers.
Flooding in Yuma was one of the most destructive items in the 1800’s. These floods would destroy the whole town and they would have to rebuild. Where people once walked and used horses they had to row boats and swim. Mechanical and land leveling resulted in better distribution of water and increased water conservation. Because of the Yuma Project every one hundred jobs in agriculture support an additional twenty six jobs in other industries.
In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s the Yuma project started. This project would build and develop a series of canals and waterways to help support farmers in the Yuma county. When the development started the cost of this could be many things. One of these things were habitat destruction, which many animals like fish and mammals had to find new homes because of their wild places being destroyed. When the construction started many ways to go to new places was the use of dynamite. Workers had to light this very dangerous explosion by hand, therefore people could die of collapses and explosions.
During the construction of these waterways, many things would go wrong, engineering techniques could be simply be used wrong and things would fail, therefore making the construction slower by rebuilding something. When the construction started, they had to build levees to make sure flooding couldn’t happen and build a drainage system and pumping plant. This would help stop the flooding and help the development of these waterways.
All these costs had many benefits to the Yuma county. The waterways helped make what Yuma is today. From a small town to a major competitor in crops irrigation is a major key to Yuma’s survival. The irrigation helped by making jobs and making Yuma bigger in population and in territorial size. From forty thousand acres to sixty five thousand acres, Yuma has grown exponentially. After the construction of waterways throughout Yuma, the value of Yuma was up to thirty four million dollars, almost six times more than it was originally. In Yuma irrigation is very reliable and almost always has water flowing throughout Yuma. The Colorado river is one of the biggest keys to irrigation throughout Yuma. The construction brought many people to Yuma looking for jobs to help support their family and making Yuma bigger in population. People from across the world came to Yuma looking and searching for jobs that would help make Yuma what it is now, because of this Yuma is now one of the most efficient in terms of water usage and agricultural purposes.
From a small little town to one of the biggest competitors in the agribusiness, Yuma will always be one of the biggest because of irrigation throughout Yuma and these waterways will always be vital to Yuma’s success. These waterways are what keep Yuma on the map and will always keep them ahead in the agriculture industry.

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