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More on how hard it could be on the frontier

Here's the great-grandparents' headstone in the Old Yuma Cemetery. In the wider view, atop, they're the grey one to the left of the big black headstone. Also in the broader view, you can see how some families had to make do with wooden headstones. At least they survive in that harsh climate. The day I took the photos it was 122 or 124 F. in the shade, and there was no shade. The sand (which is what the soil is there) was searing hot. No room for termites there. I didn't check dates on the wooden headstones, but there were probably contemporaneous with my ancestors', which means they'd stood for around ninety years.