History
Yuma Quartermaster Depot State Historic Park is on the grounds of the former Yuma Quartermaster Depot. The depot was established by the U.S. Army in 1864 to store and distribute supplies to frontier army posts in what is now Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and Utah. One purpose of the depot was to ensure that a six month supply of much needed goods such as ammunition, food and clothing was on hand at all times. The goods and supplies were brought to Yuma from California aboard ships that traveled around the Baja California peninsula and up the Gulf of California to Port Isabel, Sonora at the mouth of the Colorado River. Supplies were shipped up the Colorado on river boats to Yuma and stored at the Yuma Quartermaster Depot.
The supplies gathered at the quartermaster depot were shipped throughout the southwest via river boats and overland on mule team freight wagons. Up to 900 mules were kept in stables at Yuma Quartermaster Depot. The arrival of the Southern Pacific Railroad in Yuma in 1877 signaled the end of the depot. When the railroad reached Tucson in 1880, the quartermaster depot was closed. The quartermasters moved to Fort Lowell in Tucson.
The Signal Corps, having arrived at Fort Yuma and the quartermaster depot in 1875, remained there until 1891. Following the departure of the Signal Corps, the property was transferred to the control of the U.S. Weather Service which worked out of the depot site until 1949.
The Yuma Quartermaster Depot fell into a state of disrepair in the years following 1949. Some of the facilities were used by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and other governmental agencies.
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