Incorporated in Arizona in July 1887. The Company’s president, Oscar Fitzallen Thornton, a retired newspaper editor and former Tombstone Ranger, projected that 18,000 acres of river bottom and 162,000 acres of land would be irrigated and was the first stage in a more ambitious project that hoped to attract settlers to Yuma County. Bonds were issued to finance the building of a 1,400 foot long dam to divert water to the canal’s headgate, and provide an enormous reservoir. Plans were also in place to build a companion canal on the north side of the river that would reclaim another 320,000 acres but this was never started. The dam was not completed and by 1894 the company was in financial difficulty and was in liquidation along with it’s sister company, the South Gila Improvement Company.
Capital $1,000,000