See the Light

28 tombstone

"You'll only find your tombstone," said Ed Schieffelin's companions. They warned him of the hostile Apaches he was sure to encounter ter while exploring the San Pedro Valley. Alone, Schieffelin set out in search of mining prospects among the Indians in late 1877. Instead of finding his tombstone, he discovered an area rich in silver that yielded millions of dollars' worth of ore in just six years.

29| tortiLLa fLat

Unfortunately for Mexican-food lovers, this isn't where you can find the delicious staple. What you will find is an abundance of rocks really flat, circular rocks. Some accounts attribute this town's name to the oddly shaped rocks, but Connie Phelps recalls a different story. Phelps, a coowner of the town in the late 1940s, said that John Cline, a cowboy, told her about being stranded there during a cattle drive. Having just purchased some land, Cline and his cowboy pals celebrated as cowboys often did, but they drank too much and forgot to stop for supplies before continuing on to Phoenix. A flash flood made the trails impassable, and the men ran out of food while waiting for the water to recede. They did, however, have some flour, which they used to make tortillas while they camped on the rocks for several days.

30| tuba city

Mormon explorer and missionary Jacob Hamblin had a hard time pronouncing Hopi Chief Tivi's (or Tuvi's) name. In the mid1800s, Hamblin and his cohorts came upon the tribe and developed a friendly relationship. They called the chief "Tuba," and named the place for him when Mormon settlers established a post office there in 1884. Less than 20 years later, they were forced to leave after the government purchased their holdings for Indian use.

31 TUCSON

Papago Indians (Tohono O'odham) not college students, used to inhabit the area near the Sentinel Mountains in Southern Arizona. They called the mountains schookson, which means "at the base of the black hill" - for obvious reason. When Spanish missionaries arrived in the area during the late 17th century, they clashed with Indians while trying to convert them. By the time the Civil War occurred, the area had been incorporated as the Arizona Territory. From 1867 until 1877, Tucson was the state capital.

32 valentine

This place near Truxton Canyon has nothing to do with Cupid. Most people there had probably never even heard of St. Valentine. That's because the land, initially designated for an Indian school, was set aside on 660 acres by the Colorado River Agency in May 1900. Because the school was on agency land, the Indian agent also became the postmaster. When the school was closed less than a decade later, the post office and the township were renamed to honor Robert G. Valentine, then-Commissioner of Indian Affairs.

33 WHY

Both stories about how this town got its name sound reasonable, although one might be more interesting than the other. According to the Arizona Office of Tourism, it comes from a practical source - the Y-shaped junction of nearby state routes 85 and 86. The other story, courtesy of original settler Peggy Kater, is that the name was inspired by a common question people asked while passing through: "Why are you living way out here?"

A PORTFOLIO BY RANDY PRENTICE See the Light

Randy Prentice is one of the top landscape photographers in the Southwest. He also plays a mean guitar. But for this month's portfolio, which features the best of Arizona in various stages of sunlight, the only instrument he needed was a camera. And maybe a tripod.

Piñon pine-covered rock formations reflect on the calm, cool Blue River in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests (preceding panel). To order a print of this photograph, call 866-962-1191 or visit www.arizonahighwaysprints.com.