Yuma: Frontier Crossing of the Far Southwest. By Clifford
Trafzer. Wichita, Kansas: Western Heritage Books for the Yuma County Historical
Society, 1980. Maps. Illustrations. Bibliography. Index. 151 pages. $6.95.
This book is now the standard work on the subject. In a well
researched and documented study, Trafzer has described the Indians of the area,
their first contacts with the Spaniards, the Mountain Men and the Americans. He
deals with exploration, military posts, the prison, and transportation—
stagecoach, steamboat and railroad. The book focuses on Yuma Crossing and is not
a full scale history of the city of Yuma, nor does it contain much on the 20th
century.
