The old City had 5 bars in town. At one time, it was larger than Yuma, AND Phoenix! I think 6 or 7 mines in a small area, with a population of 2500 people!
A large percentage of the buildings, and ALL the artfacts are original. The few reproductions of the buildings were built as close as possible to what was there back in the day.....you can hardly tell the difference in them and the real ones.
The second nicest bar in town.
This "Sherrif" is a volunteer that enjoys talking about the old west. I seriously doubt if there was ever a gun fight in Castle Dome, but he enjoys dressing up and impressing the greenhorns and their kids.
I this old bar. Lots of Class.
Jim joined up for some Sarsaparilla
The walls are made from standing up Saguaro Cactus skeletons.
Jim is getting very good with his Christmas Camera. He has a good eye for composure.
The church is next to the Sheriff's office and jail
The Sheriff worked here, and the bad guys spent the night here.
The church is partly original, part reconstructed. There is a pump pipe organ. Some metal pipes, and some made from wood.
We know this is old! You don't see Hymn books in churches any more. What a shame!
Here you could catch the 3:10 to Yuma!
Inside the restored stage depot. This lady was very knowledgeable and like to share the information. That old Davenport against the wall brought back memories for Katie, she used to sleep on one just like that when she was a small child.
Probably the nicest bar in town. Too nice, I liked the other ones better. :-)
It's well kept. Of course, there is no booze in town, or even any food. Except a few candy bars and small bags of chips that are sold on the "honor" system. Just put a buck in the tin box and take what you want.
This is a better shot of the Depot Lobby
This modern bathroom is up stairs. It was built as a Guest Room for friends and family of the little city's owners.
This is the guest bedroom.
Looking down from the upstairs rooms.
Misc. stuff in the stair well.
We say safes like this in several of the buildings.
Inside the Sheriff's office. These are real guns. There are hundreds of items that are just out for people to look at and handle. No security. I think that with more people finding out about this place, and the dirt road being graded into better condition, that will have to change. The more people that come here, the more chance of things disappearing. Sad, but true.
The back 3 sides of the jail were made of rock and concrete. That is an original bed with the screen on it.
A small wind operated pump circulated water on an elevated aquaduct.
The Blacksmith shop and Machine Shops were my favorite. (except the old gas station, which I think we missed on this trip) I thought of my good friend Bob. He would have a lot of fun running an old shop like this.
Large forge. This shop did the work for all the mines in the nearby area.
Nice cactus. That's not Castle Dome in the back.
There is Castle Dome.
The City is just at the base of the Mountains.
Saguaro post fence out behind the Blacksmith's shop.
Katie and Jim in Church........Practicing again. :-)
One of the stained glass windows in the chruch.
Wooden pipes. Katie noticed these first and pointed them out to us.
Looking out the window behind the Pulpit. Not good planning, it would be easy to day dream during the church service!
Very nice cactus. This big old guy is probably about 400 years old! (if my information is correct)
One BIG drill press
Don't remember what this piece of machinery is, but Bob will know.
Katie is playing Hide and Seek to avoid getting her picture taken.
Tools. ALL the tools on display were used and found right here in the shops
Old metal tool box full of machine tools
Clamps and shapers behind the forge.
Anvil and an old vise. We had a vise exactly like this on a farm we had for awhile when I was 16 years old.
Jim put a VERY good edge on his little Swiss Army knife
This little Gecko was good at dodging the camera. He (or she) was out enjoying the warm sunshine.
Nice old Lathe. Most of the larger machinery was belt driven, using water power. Later, they did have a generator for awhile, but it wasn't used much. There is no power generator now in use. Their power come from a small wind generator and solar power.
More machine shop parts
Smaller lathe
Small saw. Looks like this one is almost in good enough condition to work without a lot of overhauling
There were 2 or 3 old cars on the property
The bank is a reproduction, but he used original stones, tin, and lumber from the original.
Nice desk inside the bank
Another safe that was used in the city, they don't know if it was actually in the bank or not.
Original tin ceilings. In several buildings.
One of Katies College class picture assignments was, "A picture of whatever". Well. how can you beat this! Jim spotted it, and it should get her a good grade. Of course, their pictures will be better than this from my little pocket camera.
A dusty T-Dub. We're getting ready to head home. Jim put on a windshield I had, and bought a nice Walmart tool box. It's 19" wide, just right to carry sandwiches and pop. But, they fill it with camera equipment :-(
The banks of the Mighty Gila (pronounced Heela) River. We rode down here to see if we could get a picture of the bikes in the water for a photo contest, but..too much soft mud from here to the water. Hard to believe that before irrigation dams, and flood control re-routing of the river, this used to be a huge river.
It was nice down here anyway
Looking for aligators
Jim was a little Leary of following me down to the River :-) They went for it! No problems. I think Jim and Katie are going to be great dirt riders as time goes on.
Jim with a limp wrist as he buys his "purse". Actually, it's a Bell bicycle bag that works perfect on the T-dub.
Winterhaven, CA. Jim goes to the Post Office on out way out of town. This will be a "2 State" ride today.
Out by the Proving ground. Because of riding 2 up, and Kate being restricted by the lunch box, Jim is adjusting the mirrors on the T-dub.
Guns in the Desert. LOTS of history happened right here. And, history is still being make at the Yuma Proving Grounds. Most of the famous Army Generals have trained troops here for desert fighting.
Katie....a famous correspondent, on assignment to take pictures to be used for VROC entertainment.
Early blooms on this Ocotillo. Later on, the desert will be in full bloom with a LOT of colors.
Ocotillo leaves. I wouldn't have thought to take pictures of these, but saw Jim doing it:-)
Nasty thorns!
The pointy end. Actually, these pictures are backwards, and mixed up, since I used two cameras. I don't have a spare battery for the Panasonic, so just grabbed the little Canon, which did come in handy.
Redd is just starting to lay out things for his weekly yard sale tomorrow. He did good last week.
5 PM, already had cooled off some. Wasn't home, but think it probably hit 90 for the first time this year today. It's absolutely lovely!
Katie took this from over her shoulder last sunday when we were on the way to the dirt road that led up to Castle Dome City. Looks like "Speed Racer" :-)
16 January 2011. Spring has come to Yuma! This is in the shade on our porch.
Looks like I may have another T-dub. I need one so I can keep entering the photo contests on their forum :-)
These 1st 7 pictures came from Jim's camera. Here, we're deciding if we should go down to the lake for a pic for the T-dub forum. I went down first, and offered to ride Jim's bike. He thought about it, then decided to go for it himself! He did good.
Pretty soft mud, and very steep getting back out. Had to have one wheel in the water.
He's on the way up!
Another place near the lake. I was going to try this, but there was a drop off. Was in the water clear over the license plate, with the engine bottom in the mud. Front wheel just off the ground. With Jim pulling, and the help of a guy that stopped in a pickup truck, and my rear wheel throwing mud and water, we got 'er out. :-)
Oasis in the desert.
I'm on the way up. You can't tell how steep it is. Should have had Katie fix the exposure on these last two!
Got into the water, then it was throw some mud to power up the hill.
Harvesting Romain here. We passed about a dozen or more harvesting rigs so far today, different kinds of lettuce.
The shoot takes it off the conveyor belt, it's placed right in boxes for shipping.
There are hundreds of these harvest rigs in Yuma County. Right after I took this picture, and Mexican that spoke very limited English came over and told me not to take pictures. Always in the past, it seems to have been welcomed, with posing and smiles. Don't know why this rig was different, but do have an opinion :-)
This one is going out to be set up. As we went by, the tractor pulling it was jack knived in the entry way. By the time we got by it and had the camera out, he had made it this far. it's so long the front wheels are of the ground while the rear end is still up on the highway.
Jungle Jim.
Taking a little spin in Mittry Lake! This was at the bottom of a pretty steep and soft muddy bank.
After getting out of the first mud. :-)
Hard to get closer to the lake, but we saw a flock of big Coots in here.
Not sure what this waterway is, but it's pretty up here.
Looking West from the top of a little hill, Mittry Lake is back water from Laguna Dam. Border between Arizona and California.
The little XT did fine today.
Jim's T-dub. Love that fat wheel.
Burn calories, and if you overdose, you can trigger the SPOT for some help.
This is an ancient Indian marker..it means..............
Jump here!
Big bad biker..........
Or....Just an "Old Hippy" :-)
