GOING TO PRISON

(NOVEMBER 2, 2018) I spent the night in the border town of Yuma, Arizona. I say border town as is only a few miles north of the Mexican Border and is adjacent to the California State Line.

After having breakfast at Denny's next door to my hotel, I made my way to the Historic Yuma Territorial Prison. The prison site is maintained today by the State of Arizona as a historical park.  Several of the actual building and cell are open for tourists including the "Dark Cell" or what some called the hole. 

There is a small museum on site that has several authentic artifact from the prison along with stories of some of the more famous inmates. The prison was actually built by the inmates and opened in 1875. The prison remained opened for a total of 33-years and housed more than 3,000 inmates including 20-women.

One of the more famous inmates housed here at Yuma was Pearl Hart, who committed the last recorded stagecoach robberies in the United States. Click the link to read more about Pearl and he partner Joe Boot.

The prison closed in 1909 when the last prisoners were moved to a new facility in Florence, Arizona.  In the years that followed the closed the prison served as Yuma Union High School from 1910 -1914.

The Great House

I spent about 90-minutes at the Yuma Territorial Prison and then it was time to head east on Interstate 10 and my Next Stop at the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument. 

It was a 200-mile drive across southern Arizona to the Casa Grand Ruins National Monument.  I was not sure what to expect but I wanted to get another Passport stamp for my NPS Passport Book.  The ruins are located just northwest of the town of Coolidge, Arizona.



The Ruins consists of multiple building that are surrounded by protective wall.  The best preserved building on the site is the "Great House." It stands 4-stories high and served a home to the Hohokam people who lived here several centuries ago.The Great House and the other building on the site were thought to have been abandoned about the year 1450.

Today the Great House is protected by a cover that was built in the 1940's.The Casa Grande Ruins National Monument was listed on the National Register of Historic Place in 1966.

It took me about an hour to complete my tour of the ruins and get my Passport Stamp. Then it was off to my Tucson where I will spend the next few days.

Tucson will be my final Arizona Destination as I will use it as my hub for the next couple of while I continue to tour the area.