Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1912-09-06

/ III
IONA and the older one of Cali
~ fornia, they revel in the dis
| tinction Of possessing the hot
test place under the stars and stripes.
When the rest Of the republic has been
gripped by winter. Thermometers in
Yuma register 100 degrees. Just how
high they go In the summer no man
has as yet vouchsafed.
That Yuma is inhabited by human
salamanders goes without saying.
Only people who like such heat would
come there from choice, and would
try to get away after they do get
there.
There are several things at Yuma
that excite the attention Of the stran-
ger. 1t seems just the sort OF place
you pictured It before you came. Most
interesting are the Indians. Here.
alone, of all places under the flag,
Uncle Sam allows polygamy, and the
Yuma buck is permitted to maintain
as many wives as he can induce to live
with him in the wigwam. The pris-
on at Yuma Is different from any pris-
on west of Gibraltar, and the only
counterpart OF the village Jail, which
is a sort Of stepping stone to the pris-
on, is In the heart of Turkey. The
people OF Yuma are otherwise so typi-
cally Mexican that one wonders almost
II ones under the rule OF the stars and
stripes.
How to Get TO Yuma.
To get to Yuma you leave Tucson.
Ariz.. at $40 at night. At 6:15 in the
morning you're at Yuma On the map
the journey seems nothing. but in the
west distances are startling in their
magnitude.
The hotel is what Dickens might
have described as a depot restaurant,
built over the station itself. and with
fits porches looking down into the tur-
gid Colorado river. There is a bridge.
with the Indian women trundling past
constantly. A boat landing is near by,
while on the opposite bank is the gov
eminent Indian school Everywhere
there are the Yuma Indians. The gay
garments and blankets they wear are
genuine. and not put on simply to at
tract the tourist As a matter of fact,
the Yumas hate the whites, and while
they sell trinkets to them at the station
too few sightseers visit the town to
win themselves to affability. The
bucks, who squat along the changing
river banks in their straw hats and
jeans. idle the year round. are, In fact,
positively discourteous to the stranger.
After one has left ones belongings
at the hotel and started to explore.
Yuma Is found to be interesting for
what II lacks In modernity. There is ,
practically but one long street This
is lined with low one and two story
cottag 3, built Of frame. and housing
almost without exception. saloons and
shops, In addition to the homes of the
householders.
There is q fair public school build |
ing and a Catholic church. The latter
Is interesting for its Indian communi.
cants. who come there as did the red
men to the missions in the Pre-Mexi-
can days in California
At the time of day that you are out |
Yuma Is still half in its slumbers.
Aside from a fight Of crows on the |
main highway. the quiet Of dawn reigns |
supreme. You can walk over the en-
tire place In an hour. and you do so
while you may, unobserved. There
are lemons growing In one garden. the
FIRST you encounter. Today It is cold
until the sun has risen. but then. and
In summer, Yuma is, next to Death
valley, the hottest place in the world.
30 that you may look for tropical foil
age.
You wonder at the foolish custom of
the milkmen OF Yuma, who knock at
zach door until told by the tenants
10 leave the milk outside, a custom
whose origin lies shrouded In mys-
.ery. Two women, seemingly intoxi-
lated, attract your attention. They
ire following a man. expostulating as
,nIy Mexicans can.
II is to the Jail that the women are
directing their footsteps. One is weep
ng, the other seems angry. Both be-
lin pleading with the jailer. Last night
he husband Of the weeping woman
;ame home furiously drunk and began
lsing a knife upon her. So the police
we're called and now he is here. She.
however, had no idea 1t was SO vile
place. and now she has come to beg
IFS release. Finally she becomes con-
Iinced that her pleadings are In vain
md she and her friends depart.
The environs Of the town attract.
n the rainy season. when the narrow.
lark brown. shrunken Colorado RACES
'eneath the great iron bridge OF the
ailway. steamers run to the gulf and
% river. Then one may take one OF