State of Arizona honors ‘The Island’ with proclamation

'The Island's' 100-year anniversary

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - Some may call it the Island, the Gila Bend, the Yuma Island, or No-Man’s land.

It's just about three miles east of the Yuma Crossing Area.

Monday at Arizona State Capitol, the pioneering families of the Gila Valley were presented with a legislative proclamation for the 100-year anniversary of The Island.

June 8, 1920, floodwaters from the Colorado River swept the Gila Valley, suddenly isolating the land.

As a result, the Gila Valley formed its own 4,000-acre island.

After the floodwaters washed away, in came a wave of struggles for the African American farmers and families who originally occupied the land.

The federal government provided seven kegs of black powder to some local farmers that were used to blow up the entrance of a river oxbow that had been developing for 70 years.

The small farming operations of nine African-American families eventually became what we know as The Island.

The Island was deleted from the Yuma Reclamation Project in 1904, forcing the Island farmers to build their own irrigation and infrastructure without aid from governmental entities.

Representatives Tim Dunn and Joanne Osborne invited the members of the Arizona house to recognize the hard work of the group of minority pioneers

In 2020, there are six generations descending from those pioneering families.

They continue to share their families' stories of coming to Yuma 100 years ago in wagons and trains.