Yuma Quartermaster Depot State Historic Park Yuma Quartermaster Depot State Historic Park , formerly Yuma Crossing State Historic Park , and now one of the Yuma Crossing and Associated Sites on the National Register of Historic Places in the Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area . It is an Arizona state park in the city of Yuma , Arizona , USA . The Yuma Quartermaster Depot was an important quartermaster depot during the 1870s . Goods were shipped up the Colorado River from the Sea of Cortez and stored at Yuma for distribution to the desert frontier forts in the Southwestern United States territories . 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 . Historical park . Five buildings left over from the quartermaster depot days remain at the park . The site was identified as a possible historic park in the early 1960s . The office of the depot quartermaster was acquired by the state in 1969 . More property was added to what would become the park in 1980 . The park land was purchased from United States Department of the Interior by the city of Yuma and donated to the state park system in 1986 . Groundbreaking for the park was held in 1986 . The park opened in 1990 as a unit of Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park and was established as a state historic park in 1997 , under the control of the non - profit Yuma Crossing Foundation . The Yuma Crossing Foundation established an agreement with the state parks board to manage , develop and operate the site as a living history museum . After seven years of construction and rebuilding the park was opened to the public in 1997 as Yuma Crossing State Historic Park . The park is part of the Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area . The name of the park was changed in 2007 to reflect the original use of the area and its historic interpretive focus . Facilities . Visitor Center . In addition to being a state historic park , Yuma Quartermaster Depot State Historic Park is the home of the Yuma Visitors Bureau Visitor Information Center . The park and visitor center are open year round . The visitor center houses a display on the park ' s military history in the late 19th century , and a history of the work done by the Bureau of Reclamation during the 20th century . A gift shop sells a variety of books and souvenirs . Historic exhibits . Four of the five original buildings house historic exhibits . The storehouse details the history of the Colorado River and the steamboat era on it , and of the mule wagon trains . The office of the depot quartermaster houses two exhibits . One is an historic recreation of the depot as it appeared in its heyday . Another shows out the weather and telegraph stations appeared . The commanding officers quarters is a house museum which mimics how it would have looked in the 1870s , when army officers and their families lived in the space . A biologic exhibit of fish species in the Colorado River is found in the corral house . Outdoor exhibits at the park include ramada s , a steam boiler , a stone built reservoir and an encampment of wagons . The park is open to picnicking . A day use facility under a shade ramada is available for group use with reservations . Picnic tables are available throughout the park as is one pavilion .