The Arizona sentinel., 1888-02-25
YUMA COUNTY-ITS GEOGRA- PHICAL POSITION AND AD- VANTAGES.

water. no part of Arizona can sur pass Yuma County, which is, des- tined to become one of the richest and most prosperous counties in Arizona.
 It lies between 320 OO' and 340 2O' north latitude and 113' 20' and 1140 4O' west longitude. It contains G. 4S8, ,320 acres. It is about as large as the States of Rhode Island, Con- necticut and Delaware combined, or as large as either New Hamp- shire, Vermont or Massachusetts.
 The western boundary of Yuma County is formed by the Colorado river, which separates Arizona from California. The county is bounded on the north by Williams Fork and the Santa Maria river, whose waters flow into the Colo rado; on the east by the counties of Pima, Maricopa and Yavapai, and on the south by Sonora, Mexico. Its county seat is the town of Yuma.
 The Colorado river is navigable for a greater distance, without portages, than any other river on the American continent which flows into the Pacific ocean. Large river steamboats, towing barges laden with freight, steam up the river from the gulf of California, north erly, @ distance of 6O5 miles. One can scarcely imagine more de- lightful trip than that up this grand river, through its magnificent cahons in the north to the mouth of Virgin river, in the State of Nevada, a distance of 440 miles above the town of Yuma
 The grand and awe-inspiring scenery of the Williams Fork, Mo- have, Bulls Head, Painted and Black cahons, where in places the precipitous banks rise thousands of feet above the bed of the river, would well repay the tourist for his voyage. The powerful stern-wheel steamboats, "Gila", 176 feet in length by 36 feet in width, con- manded by Captain J. A. Mellon, and the "Mohave", 187 feet in length by 36 feet in width, com manded by Captain Isaac Polhe- mus, furnish every accommodation to passengers and are so admirably managed as to render such an ex- cursion one of continuous pleasure for the whole distance travelled.
 From the Virgin river, the more adventurous tourist can make his way to the Grand Canon of the Colorado, the most stupendous chasm on the globe. It is a tre- mendous gorge, about 400 miles in length and from 1000 to 1000 feet in depth and is without a parallel in the world.
 The Colorado river drains the entire territory of Arizona, and every drop of water which falls on its mountains and plains finds its way to this mighty river. It is formed by the union of the Green and Grand rivers, fed by the streams which rise in the Rocky Mountains, and the melting snOws cause a greater depth of water in this river in summer than in win ter, thus furnishing the most water at the season when it is most re- quired for the purposes of irriga7, ton and agriculture.
 It will be seen that for the entire distance along it's western bound ary, Yuma County possesses the great advantage of cheap water transportation.
 The Gila river rises in the west ern part of New Mexico and is fed by numerous streams, among the most prominent of which are the San Pedro, Agua Fria, Hassayam- pa and Salt rivers. It flows west through Yuma County and empties into the Colorado at the town of Yuma.
 Yuma County, traversed by these great rivers from its northern to its southern, and from its eastern to its western boundaries, possesses far greater water supply than any other county in the Territory, and far more than can be found in all California.
 This water is now being diverted from its natural channels by means of numerous large irrigating canals, and utilized for the purpose of re- claiming and irrigating the i'm mense tracts of lands which lie in this favored county, and which are as fertile as any in the world.
 The Southern Pacific Railroad crosses the Colorado river at the town of Yuma and runs through the county, following the general course, and at an average distance of about four miles south, of the Gila river, rendering all the lands susceptible of irrigation and culti- vation along the river accessible to railroad facilities. The products of the vast tracts of land along this river, which are now being pre- pared for cultivation, can find an easy outlet in this way and can be transported to all the markets and centers of population in the East or West.
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