TITLE: Yuma Water Users Association Collection
DATE RANGE: 1903 - 1987
CALL NUMBER: Y- MS10
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 6 boxes (3 linear feet)
PROVENANCE: Unknown
COPYRIGHT: Unknown
RESTRICTIONS: This collection is unrestricted.
CREDIT LINE: Yuma Water Users Association, Y-MS10, Yuma County Library District
PROCESSED BY: Benjamin Findley, July 2013
HISTORICAL NOTE:
The Yuma Water Users Association is an organization dealing with water issues in the Yuma area. It was originally organized in 1903 shortly after the Reclamation Act was passed by the United States Congress. The Association was originally created as a non- profit to represent its members in negotiations with the Bureau of Reclamation. In 1904 Congress created the Yuma Project under the Bureau of Reclamation with the intention of making the Yuma area more agriculturally profitable. Towards this end, construction was begun on Laguna Dam in 1905. Water diversion to the Yuma area was handled by Laguna Dam until 1941, when the diversion point for Yuma was switched to Imperial Dam. Through a contract with the Bureau of Reclamation in 1951, the Yuma Water Users Association assumed control of the works and facilities of the Yuma Project including both irrigation and power generating facilities. In 1962, a supplemental contract was signed giving the Association control of the Siphon Drop Power Plant and its various facilities such as transmission lines and irrigation works in California.
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE:
Comprised of seven series.
Series I: Correspondence
Includes correspondence not only between the Association and various federal officials, but also letters between the Association and U. S. Senator Carl Hayden and Mulford Winsor II the Arizona State Senate President, 1920-1928. Winsor represented Yuma County and was a leader in Colorado River water policy and legislation of that era. The original file headings and filing order were retained.
Series II: Documents
Contains an inventory of documents held by the Yuma Water Users Association. Includes copies of the Articles of Incorporation from several different years as well as early trust deeds.
Series III: Finance
Contains checking register books covering the Association’s expenditures from 1932 to 1950. Also includes stock share certificates from the Yuma Water Users Association and a private irrigation company.
Series IV: News Clippings
Contains news clippings about the Association and its various activities.
Series V: Photographs
Includes photos of various irrigation works and related that the Association controlled
Series VI: Publications
Contains Annual Reports published by the Yuma Water Users Association from the time they assumed control of the Yuma Project works in 1951, to the 75th anniversary of the completion of the Laguna Dam in 1987. Also includes informational booklets from several sources covering a variety of water issues and a number of pamphlets and newsletters involving water concerns of both Arizona and California.
Series VII: Wage Stabilization Board
This series contains newsletters and informational missives issued by the United States Wage Stabilization board in the early 1950s.
CONTAINER LIST:
| Box | Folder | Title | Dates |
| 1 | 1 | Correspondence: Federal Reclamation Projects | 1932 – 1949 |
| 2 | Correspondence: General (Miscellaneous business and personal letters) | 1951 – 1981, N.D. | |
| 3 | Correspondence: Geological Survey | 1923 – 1925 | |
| 4 | Correspondence: Homesteading | 1909 | |
| 5 | Correspondence: Imperial Irrigation District | 1919 – 1948 | |
| 6 | Correspondence: Inter-State Colorado River Agreement | 1921 – 1925 | |
| 7 | Correspondence: Inter-State Colorado River Agreement | 1925 – 1929, n.d. | |
| 2 | 1 | Correspondence: Levee Legislation | 1941 – 1950 |
| 2 | Correspondence: National Reclamation Association | 1920 – 1960 | |
| 3 | Correspondence: Reclamation Fund Reimbursement | 1932 – 1955 | |
| 4 | Correspondence: War Time Operations | 1940 – 1943 | |
| 5 | Documents: General (Certificates and Excerpts from contracts and books) | 1904 – 1933, n.d. | |
| 6 | Documents: Inventory of YWUA records at the Association Office | n.d. | |
| 7 | Documents: Salt River Valley Water Users Association Articles of Incorporation and By-laws | 1930 – 1947 | |
| 8 | Documents: Trust Deeds | 1903 – 1905 | |
| 9 | Documents: Yuma Valley Reclamation Project | 1913, n.d. | |
| 10 | Documents: Yuma Water Users Association Articles of Incorporation and By-laws | 1904 – 1919 | |
| 10a | Documents: Yums County Water Users’ Association Golden Anniversary | 1962 | |
| 11 | Finance: Bills (Personal) | 1956 | |
| 12 | Finance: Check register | 1925 – 1934 | |
| 13 | Finance: Check register | 1933 – 1936 | |
| 14 | Finance: Checks register | 1936 – 1938 | |
| 3 | 1 | Finance: Check register | 1938 – 1940 |
| 2 | Finance: Check register | 1941 – 1943 | |
| 3 | Finance: Check register | 1943 – 1945 | |
| 4 | 1 | Finance: Check register | 1945 – 1947 |
| 2 | Finance: Check register | 1947 – 1949 | |
| 3 | Finance: Check register | 1949 | |
| 5 | 1 | Finance: Check register | 1950 |
| 2 | Finance: Stock shares | 1901 – 1913 | |
| 3 | News Clippings | 1931 – 1986 | |
| 4 | Photos: General (Unidentified Irrigation works and various images of people) | n.d. | |
| 5 | Photos: Yuma Mesa | n.d. | |
| 6 | Photos: “Westover and Mansfield” (not portraits) | 1955 | |
| 7 | Publications: Annual Reports | 1951 – 1962 | |
| 8 | Publications: Annual Reports | 1962 – 1987 | |
| 9 | Publications: Bureau of Reclamation booklets | 1963 – 1966 | |
| 6 | 1 | Publications: Metropolitan Water District of Southern California | 1966 |
| 2 | Publications: Yuma Water Users Association | 1960 | |
| 3 | Publications: Newsletters, Pamphlets | 1948 – 1959, n.d. | |
| 4 | U.S. Wage Stabilization Board Documents (1 of 3) | 1950 – 1952 | |
| 5 | U.S. Wage Stabilization Board Documents (2 of 3) | 1952 | |
| 6 | U.S. Wage Stabilization Board Documents (3 of 3) | 1952 – 1953, n.d. |
