Most Spectacular of Wonders

Most Spectacular of

In the fall of 1928 the bridge across the Marble Canyon of the Colorado River, seven miles below historic Lee's Ferry, was completed. At that time it became possible for the first time to drive a car into the "Strip" without leaving the state of Arizona.

The "Strip" is that section of the state which is north of the Colorado River. Intervening between it and the rest of the state lies the chasm of the river, including the Grand Canyon.

Let's take our journey this month from Fredonia, principal settlement on the Strip, just a pace below the Utah state boundary. Fredonia is located in the red rock country and surrounded by colorful hills and canyons. To the west lies the Kaibab Indian Reservation, in which is Pipe Spring National Monument. Here stands an old stone fort, mute relic of the bloody days of early Arizona, when outlaws, settlers, and Indians engaged each other in sanguinary strife. Pipe Springs was the site of a Mormon settlement, and the area was once in the territorial county of Pah-Ute, which comprised the northern section of what is now Mohave county, plus a considerable portion of Nevada. When the territorial boundary was revised this county was dropped in 1871 by legislative enactment.

From Fredonia, we take U. S. Highway 89 which leads us into the Kaibab National Forest. Our road passes through great forests of pine, spruce, fir and quaking aspen to Jacob's Lake, where the road branches. To the south we continue through the forest to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

Even in midsummer this drive is one of cool pleasure, through virgin timber which is a refuge for the famous mule deer of the Kaibab Forest. These animals are plentiful, and the Kaibab is one of the best known hunting sections of the entire nation, sportsmen coming for thousands of miles each season to enjoy the sport. The Kaibab is also the home of the whitetail squirrel, to which it has given its name. This restful drive through the forest is a fitting prelude to the majestic spectacle of the North Rim.

Many who have seen the Grand Canyon of Arizona from both sides have preferred the view from the north. Here the great temples which form the background of the southern view loom clearly at our feet, while the gorge of the river is obscured and the South rim stretches in hazy blue far across the abyss. Beyond loom the sentinel peaks called San Francisco.

That is, of course, purely a matter of preference. Others prefer the shock of the great gorge of the river close at hand, with the temples, pyramids, and breathtaking formations marshalled in By LEE C. McCULLOUGH Manager State Chamber of Commerce shadowed relief across the canyon. From either point, it is undeniably the world's greatest natural spectacle.

Fully a thousand feet higher than the southern rim, the North Rim is closed each winter from about October 15 to May 15 by heavy snows. No suggestion of the desert is found in this section with its springs and its lusty forests. But because of its summer coolness, it is being visited each year by thousands of vacationists.

Retracing our steps to Jacob's Lake, we again follow U. S. 89, this time in a general easterly direction. We pass for a while through the forest, and then the road debouches unexpectedly upon a plateau, and before us lies a great valley.

To the left lies the long line of the Vermilion Cliffs, paralleling the Colorado River canyon. This fantastic and beautiful rampart of red and buff is weathered into strange piles and spires, and the long wall extends for miles along our road as we go up the valley toward the highway bridge across the river. At their west end is Houserock Valley, where each year the State Game Department stages a buffalo hunt for the purpose of thinning the herd of bison under their care.

Wind and water have played queer tricks with the colorful earth of this part of our journey. Vegetation is sparse. A draw which occasions only a slight dip in our road as we skirt the cliffs, 500 feet out, has become a size-able arroyo, and a half mile to the right is a precipitous and deeply scoured canyon joining the Colorado at water level.

We come without warning to a sharp turn in our road, and a moment later we are rolling across one of the greatest highway bridges in the country. Four hundred sixty-seven feet below roll the turgid waters of the Colorado, between the precipitous walls of the Marble Canyon. The center span of the bridge is 618 feet long, and the total length 833 feet.

In spite of the magnitude of this bridge, one of the highest highway bridges in the world, we must not forget that it crosses the mighty Colorado, that capricious sculptor which we saw less than 100 miles below placidly flowing through a channel one mile deep

MAY, 1934 ARIZONA HIGHWAYS 9 Wonders The North Rim of the Grand Canyon Where the Kaibab Squirrel Lives

and ten miles wide which it had dug from the heart of the great Colorado plateau.

When we cross the river we are in the Western Navajo Indian Reservation. The timeless hills and plains through which we travel are just the same today as they were before the coming of white men. We catch occasional glimpses of Indians, on their wiry, paint ponies, watching over flocks of goats. It is from these animals, black and brown and white, that the Navajos obtain wool for their world famous blankets and rugs. This interesting and numerically important tribe has often been alluded to as the "Bedouins of North America" because of their nomadic life. They are a stately, industrious race of surprising advancement.

Through fantastically colored rocks and along the edge of what is known as Echo Cliff on U. S. Highway 89, proceeding southward across the Navajo Reservation, we pass infrequent trading posts where the wares of the Indian artisans may be obtained, and come, sixty miles north of Flagstaff, to Dinosaur Canyon, just a short distance from the highway. This canyon is named for the huge rocks on which are found the imprints of dinosaur tracks in great numbers, evidencing that at one time this arid plain was visited by great pre-historic monsters.

At Cameron we leave the reserve as we cross the Little Colorado River. The road skirts the fringe of the world-famous Painted Desert. On all sides are curiously truncated cones of sand in many hues. Perhaps a large black mound will rise from the plain, or gleaming white, or we will see a hill cut sharply from buff to pale green. There is practically no vegetation along the highway. Nothing but rolling plain and mounds of the colorful iridescent sand. This is but a taste of the real Painted Desert which lies somewhat east and is found again north of Holbrook and Winslow.

A short distance from our road, as we approach the Coconino National Forest, is the Wupatki National Monument, comprising about eight square miles of prehistoric dwellings. These ruins have attracted much attention. The ancient individual dwellings, Casa Grande, Montezuma Castle, and many others of the pueblo and cliff dwellings are large enough to accomodate a small tribe. Wupatki ruins conform more to our modern methods of building apartments or communal family dwellings.

A few miles after we enter the Coconino National Forest we come to the privately owned road which leads to the summit of the San Francisco mountains. This toll road is kept in good condition and is one of the most thrilling mountain drives in America. It reaches the highest point of land in Arizona, the San Francisco summits, more than twelve thousand feet above the sea level. It is on the slopes of these peaks that the renowned Lowell Observatory is located, through whose farranging telescopes the planet Pluto was first seen. This location was selected because of the purity and clearness of the air.

Shortly before entering Flagstaff we reach Sunset Crater National Monument. Sunset Crater is so named because an aura seems to hover about the top of the volcanic cone which is Sunset Mountain. Produced by some curious refraction of light, this glow gives the impression of an eternal sunset. This extinct volcano is noted for the fact that its black and red cinders and lava whorls appear today as they must have thousands of years ago when they were first poured in molten cascades from the mountain side.

In this vicinity we find the Ice Caves (Continued on Page 21)