TAKING THE OFF-RAMP

Sign of the Times
IF YOU FIND YOURSELF if you find yourself at the crossroads outside Cibola National Wildlife Refuge, you might be overwhelmed by all the choices on the signpost. With so many options, just pick an arrow and jump back on the highway. You could take a back-road adventure to Hart Mine or a quick trip to Paradise. Inside the refuge, loop around Canada Goose Drive to see many of the birds that take sanctuary there. In fact, close to 85 percent of Arizona’s wintering goose population lives on the refuge, so you’re bound to spot a few. Of course, you could bypass it all and head straight to Miller Time. 

— Marilyn Hawkes

Shrine for a Sinner
JUAN OLIVERAS, A YOUNG SHEPHERD living in Southern Arizona in the 1870s, had the misfortune to fall in love with a married Tucson woman — some say she was his mother-in-law. Caught in a moment of passion, he was murdered by the cuckolded husband, and his body, being that of a sinner, was buried in unconsecrated ground.

Neighbors came bearing candles and prayers for Juan’s lost soul until his resting place was saturated with wax. And Tucsonans still come to Main Avenue south of Cushing Street in the Barrio District to light candles at El Tiradito (“the little castaway”), left, the only shrine in the United States dedicated to the soul of a sinner. Many versions of the El Tiradito story exist, and new ones are being created. But everyone agrees on one thing: If your candle stays lit until morning, your wish will come true.

— Joyesha Chesnick

Going for Gould’s — What a Wild Idea
DIMINISHED TURKEY POPULATIONS might seem unlikely as photos of turkey farms become ubiquitous this month, but Gould’s turkeys (below) — one of only two wild turkey subspecies in Arizona — had disappeared from the state a few decades ago. A reintroduction effort joining the Arizona Game and Fish Department, National Wild Turkey Federation, Forest Service and the Mexican government has brought them back.

Twenty-five turkeys captured in Mexico were released in the Santa Catalina Mountains, darting like feathered racehorses from cardboard boxes. The release was the first in the Santa Catalinas and part of an ongoing effort to repopulate the birds in Arizona’s sky-island habitats. 

Since 2003, 82 turkeys have been transferred from Mexico to the Chiricahua, Huachuca and Pinaleno mountains of Southern Arizona. Some of the birds sport radio telemetry devices, and biologists have watched their numbers and range grow dramatically. A 2005 survey of the Huachuca Mountains showed 321 turkeys, up from 90 the previous year.

— Kimberly Hosey

Wicked Hot
"IT IS SAID THAT A WICKED SOLDIER died here [Fort Yuma] and was consigned to the fiery regions below for his manifold sins; but unable to stand the rigors of the climate, sent back for his blankets."

— J. Ross Browne, 1869

Hummingbird Fun
RECIPE FOR FUN: Before heading out on a family camping trip, pack some sugar-water and a hummingbird feeder. After setting up camp, hang the feeder from a low branch, and before you know it, you’ll have a host of hummers swooping in for a visit.

—Nikki Kimbel 

TRIMBLE'S TALL TALES
ARIZONA'S FIRST AUTOMOBILE arrived in 1899, and was appropriately named Locomobile. It was shipped in by train from Boston to Tucson for Dr. Hiram Fenner (above). Six years later, the city required that all horseless carriages be licensed, and the doctor was given license number 1. Dr. Fenner also has the distinction of having Arizona’s first fender-bender when he crashed the steam-powered vehicle into a saguaro cactus.

—Marshall Trimble, Arizona State Historian