L.J.F. Jaeger History of Arizona, Vol II, Thomas E. Farish, 1915, pg 188 Note: This sketch was furnished to Thomas E. Farish by the son of L.J.F. Jaeger. My father, L.J.F. Jaeger was born in Bucks County Pennsylvania. He worked as a mechanic in the Baldwin shops, Philadelphia and was later appointed mechanic in the arsenal at Washington D.C. In the latter part of 1848 he took the first sailing vessel out of Philadelphia bound for San Francisco, The Mason. On reaching San Francisco he worked for a while as a carpenter. At that time the Bay extended to Montgomery Street. He was afterward employed as engineer on the boats running between San Francisco and Oakland at $25.00 per day. Giving up this position he joined a party formed to go down to the Colorado River. They had heard of a big influx of people coming into California from New Mexico and Mexico. The party landed at a point about 9 miles below the present site of Yuma at Fort Yuma. They had to saw their own boards out of cottonwood trees to make flatboats to ferry the traffic over the river. The was the beginning of the ferry they established. Later on my father bought out the other parties and operated the ferry on his own account. During the years 1851-54 Fort Yuma was established and my father was at this time carrying passengers across the river, also large droves of cattle and sheep being driven into California by the Luna and Baca families from New Mexico. He was one of the stockholders in the first canal in the Salt River Valley. He also established the town of Sonoita, just across the line in Sonora. Mr. Jaeger died in Washington D.C. June 30, 1892. USGenWeb Project NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may not be reproduced in any format for profit, nor for commercial presentation by any other organization. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than as stated above, must obtain express written permission from the author, or the submitter and from the listed USGenWeb Project archivist.