Exhibit celebrates near-century of siphon and those who built it

On June 29, 1912 the first wave of water flowed through the Yuma Siphon.

Nearly 100 years later, water still flows through the underground passageway on its way to irrigate about 50,000 acres of fertile farmland in the Yuma Valley.

The siphon is still operational because of the foresight and hard labor of those who designed and constructed it, said Jennifer McCloskey, Yuma Area Office manager for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.

“They certainly made some very good decisions and had a lot of ingenuity when they constructed all of this. We continue to benefit from that and are able to have that continual and reliable service through this infrastructure.”

To commemorate those responsible for the siphon's construction, an exhibit is now open at the Yuma Quartermaster Depot State Historic Park, 201 N. 4th Ave. Part of the siphon is located beneath its grounds.

Historical photos, murals, old newspapers and original diver suits used to inspect the siphon during its construction are on display. A short educational video continuously plays in the building.

The USBR and the Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area, which worked together to create the display, hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the park Wednesday afternoon to celebrate the exhibit's grand opening.

“With Yuma Heritage Crossing staff's tireless efforts to rescue and preserve these buildings and original artifacts, we are now able to celebrate the rich history of these historic water projects built along the lower Colorado River,” said Terry Fulp, USBR's acting Lower Colorado regional director.

“As we cut the ribbon, opening these educational exhibits to public view, Yuma residents and visitors have new insights into Reclamation's water development history in this area and our collaboration with the irrigation districts.”

The exhibit is in the U.S. Reclamation Service Historic Office building, which is highly appropriate, McCloskey said.

“One of the things that fascinates me so much about learning about our history here is that the Bureau of Reclamation was created in 1904 and two years later we opened this office right here in Yuma.”

The USBR and the Heritage Area began working together on the project about one year ago.

“We were talking with (USBR) and realized that the siphon was going to turn 100 the same year as the state of Arizona, so it made a whole lot of sense to work together on the exhibit,” said Charles Flynn, executive director of the Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area. “The (USBR) didn't have any funding for this, and our funding was limited, so we collaborated.”

The historic building had fallen into disrepair over the past few decades. But with the aid of volunteers, the partnership was able to renovate the historic building and create the exhibit for a combined total of about $25,000.

“We basically put the thing together through a lot of local efforts, and I think it really turned out to be a first-class exhibit, really, on a shoestring budget,” Flynn said.

“The basic fix-up was significant. There was some volunteer labor and a lot of people helping us out. It really is that inventiveness and creativity that I most celebrate today.”

The exhibit was designed to give a face to those who built the grand project, Flynn said.

“We really wanted to focus on the people. Reclamation has a wonderful archive of photographs and we culled through them and decided to focus on the faces of the Yuma Project and get a feel of what they were going through. I think you look at the imagery and you get a feel for what they went through to succeed.”

Chris McDaniel can be reached at cmcdaniel@yumasun.com or 539-6849.