Today we went out to Yuma Territorial Prison State Park. They were having a "Gathering of the Gunfighters" competition today. There were 10 groups each putting on a re-enactment of the old west.
The groups were judged on content and costumes. Unfortunately, we were in the back of the crowd and the sound system there was almost non existent so we couldn't hear some of the dialog.
Here is a picture of Ed with the town drunk!!
He was very funny walking around in the crowd all day.
The history of the prison was also interesting. It was built in 1876 and only operated as a prison for about 30 years. The cells were made of strap iron that came from California and granite rock, that was quarried right next to the prison, and then plastered and whitewashed.
Each cell was a 9 by 12 room that held 6 prisoners. Originally, they had wooden bunks with straw mattresses, but an infestation of bed bugs caused them to burn the wooden bunks and re-made then out of iron. Boy were they hard!!
The "Dark Cell" above was for prisoners who were being punished for various reasons. The room was really dark. You went down a short hall to get to the opening where they were chained to the grid.
In 1900, they expanded the prison by adding an exersice yard and a hospital. The cells that were built around the yard were used to house prisoners who had tuberculosis.
After the prison was closed it became home to the Yuma High School students from 1910 to 1914. To this day, the Yuma High Schools athletic teams are called "The Criminals"! The empty cells provided free lodging for hobos riding the rails in the 20's and home to several families during the depression.
This last picture is of the guardhouse. They built it over the water tank to keep the water from evaporating during the hot summers.
What an interesting day!!
