John R.Bartlett was appointed Boundary Commissioner, and he spent considerable time along the Gila and southwards and on the lower Colorado in 1852 to 1854.* A few weeks before he arrived at Fort Yuma eight of the soldiers there had a battle with the Yumas and the eight were all killed.

After this Heintzelman fought them with so much vigour that they finally came in, begging for peace.

Bartlett's first view of the Colorado was in the early morning at a point twelve miles below the fort.

"It was much swollen, and rushed by with great velocity, washing away the banks and carrying with it numberless snags and trees." Never is the Colorado tranquil.

As they followed up the stream they suddenly found the road washed away, and were obliged to cut a new path through the underbrush.