La Laguna

La Laguna was a short-lived gold mining town that existed from 1860 to 1862, situated along the Colorado River roughly 20 miles north of Yuma, in what is now Yuma County, Arizona — territory that was then part of New Mexico Territory. The settlement functioned as a steamboat landing and supported a small merchant community along with a ferry crossing that connected placer miners working claims in the surrounding area.

The town's decline came quickly once the La Paz gold rush drew attention and population away from the area. La Laguna was ultimately supplanted by Castle Dome Landing, a competing site 15 miles to the north that emerged following a nearby gold discovery. By 1862 the town had effectively ceased to exist.

Visitors today will find little evidence of the original settlement. The site sits in a remote stretch of the lower Colorado River corridor, and nothing standing remains from the town's brief two-year life. Access to the general area requires planning, and the desert heat of this region makes visits far more practical in the cooler months from late fall through early spring.