Jaeger's Ferry was a major river ferry at the

Yuma Crossing Yuma Crossing is a site in Arizona and California that is significant for its association with transportation and communication across the Colorado River. It connected New Spain and Las Californias in the Spanish Colonial period in and also durin ...

of the

Colorado River The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. s ...

in the 1850s until 1862, 1 mile below

Fort Yuma Fort Yuma was a fort in California located in Imperial County, across the Colorado River from Yuma, Arizona. It was on the Butterfield Overland Mail route from 1858 until 1861 and was abandoned May 16, 1883, and transferred to the Department o ...

Early History of the site

Long a crossing point on the river, from the time of

Juan Bautista de Anza Juan Bautista de Anza Bezerra Nieto (July 6 or 7, 1736 – December 19, 1788) was an expeditionary leader, military officer, and politician primarily in California and New Mexico under the Spanish Empire. He is credited as one of the founding fa ...

it was used by Spaniards and later Mexicans, traveling from Sonora to Alta California and still later by American fur traders. During the California Gold Rush it was a major crossing on the

Southern Emigrant Trail :''The Southern Emigrant Trail should not be confused with the Applegate Trail, which is part of the Northern Emigrant Trails.'' Southern Emigrant Trail, also known as the Gila Trail, the Kearny Trail, Southern Trail and the Butterfield Stage ...

, with a ferry being established by A. L. Lincoln who later partnered with the

Glanton Gang John Joel Glanton (1819 – 23 April 1850) was an early settler of Arkansas, a Texas Ranger and noted soldier in the Mexican–American War, and the leader of a notorious gang of scalp-hunters in Northern Mexico and the Southwestern United States d ...

. After the Glanton Gang started hostilities with the local

Quechan The Quechan (or Yuma) ( Quechan: ''Kwatsáan'' 'those who descended') are a Native American tribe who live on the Fort Yuma Indian Reservation on the lower Colorado River in Arizona and California just north of the Mexican border. Despite th ...

by destroying their rival ferry and killing some of them, they were in turn killed. Upon hearing the news of the Glanton Massacre,

George Alonzo Johnson George Alonzo Johnson (1824–1903) 49er, entrepreneur, and California politician. Johnson was born on August 16, 1824, in Palatine Bridge, New York. In 1849 as a sailor he heard of the discovery of gold and left New York drawn by the Califo ...

with some of his fellow sailors came from San Francisco to rebuild the ferry, building a stockade to protect their camp from the Quechan. The hapless California Militia of the Gila Expedition took shelter from the Quechan in the stockade for a time before straggling back to the west coast.

Jaeger's Ferry

After the Army arrived and built

, the ferry was purchased by L. J. F. Jaeger and his partner from Johnson and his partners. Jaeger developed the ferry that could carry a wagon and team of horses between the

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

and

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

shores. Jaeger later built a store and hotel on the north bank, in California, calling it Jaeger City. Across the river he purchased a lot in Colorado City for the price of ferrying its surveying party across the river. In 1858 the ferry became the crossing point of the

Butterfield Overland Mail Butterfield Overland Mail (officially the Overland Mail Company)Waterman L. Ormsby, edited by Lyle H. Wright and Josephine M. Bynum, "The Butterfield Overland Mail", The Huntington Library, San Marino, California, 1991. was a stagecoach service i ...

and Jaeger City became the location of its stage station and its local district office. In the Great Flood of 1862, the ferry, Jaeger City and Colorado City were destroyed by the flooding of the Colorado River. Richard E. Lingenfelter, Steamboats on the Colorado River, 1852-1916, University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 1978
, p.15 Edwin Corle, Gila, River of the Southwest, U. of Nebraska Press, 1951, pp.187-188, 193, 197

References

{{Imperial County, California Ferries of California Ferries of Arizona