The World's Largest Rose Bush

The World's Largest Rose Bush It Is a Far Cry From Old Tombstone to Roses, but an Unique Claim Still Stands By A. H. GARDNER

IT'S a far cry from “two gun” men to rosebushes; and while it is true that Tombstone has been featured chiefly because of its gunmen, its gold and silver mining, its unique name, its climate, its Helldorado and many other out-of-the-ordinary performances, it remained for the Tombstone Chamber of Commerce to crash the publicity field with the “Largest Rosebush in Arizona.” Having made sure of their ground this was followed by the announcement that Tombstone had the “Largest Rosebush in America”; and, no challenges appearing, the local Chamber of Commerce, aided and abetted by two men from the U. S. Department of Agriculture, swung this challenge: That Tombstone, Arizona, has the largest rosebush in captivity in all the world. And to this day that challenge has not been called.

A lady journeyed all the way from Germany to check up on this challenge. After viewing this thing of beauty she marveled and said, “You win.” Every day in the year people wind their way to the patio of the Arcade Hotel, which is just one block off Broadway of America (U. S. 80) and there, weather permitting, they may dine or lunch under the spreading branches and listen to the story of the rosebush as told by “Maw” Macia, its proud owner. Her manner of presenting the story is interesting, because Mrs. Macia was born in Tombstone and in her is embodied the spirit of history and romance. Around the old style lobby of her little hotel almost any night in winter one may find writers for the press, writers of history, authors of fact and fiction and tourists interested in the early days.

The monster rosebush is a white Banksia, about fifty years old. Grown from one trunk over 40 inches in circumference to a height of eight feet spreading over a trellis 30 by 40 feet, last Easter it was in full bloom, and three disinterested engineers cold-bloodedly estimated that it had over 150,000 roses on it. That day the bush was visited by hundreds of people. Thirtytwo posts are required to support it's branches and 100 persons could dine in the shade of this great bush at one time.

The good roads of Arizona, state, county and federal, have brought this thing of beauty, delight and amazement into the reach of not only all Arizona but of motorists from anywhere.

This coming Easter Sunday will undoubtedly see the great bush in full bloom. Yes, it's a trip worth taking. There are many things to see in Tombstonethe Rosebush is one of many.

Abnormal rainfall in the Tombstone district this year has brought new life to all vegetation and Mrs. Macia anticipates that the old rose bush will soon outdo itself in a splash of variant color unparalleled in a thing growing from just a single trunk.

Tombstone's rose bush is one of the old town's greatest attractions but by far not its only claim to fame. While you are in Tombstone Easter Sunday inhaling the fragrance of this botanical wonder, you must visit the O K corral where men once smelled gunpowder and felt lead. Don't miss Boothill cemetery, the Birdcage theater, the Million Dollar Stope, Crystal Palace bar and a score of other historical places where the ghosts of the Earps and the Clantons and their hardy kin march today.

Tombstone is proud of its great roses, its brilliant history and the part it played in the early days of Arizona, but the Tombstone of today is just as up and coming, just as Chamber of Commerish as Pahtucket. If you haven't seen Tombstone, you haven't seen Arizona.

MARCH, 1935 ARIZONA HIGHWAYS

STEAM NAVIGATION OF THE COLORADO (Continued from Page 7) At the bank and tied up for the night. Stops also had to be made quite regularly to take on fuel, the vessels all being wood burners.

As most of that part of the river lying between the fort and the gulf is in Mexican territory, it was subject to the laws of that country. No customhouse or port of entry, however, was ever maintained by the Mexican government on either the gulf or the river to interfere in any way with movements of freight to and from points in the United States, a matter that seems to have been provided for in the treaty of Guadaloupe-Hidalgo. Efforts to place the international boundary line between this country and our neighbor on the south as far down as Guaymas were made by James Gadsden, but he seems not to have been sustained in the matter by Congress, the United States being thus deprived of the most valuable concession in the treaty, a port on the Gulf of California.

The establishment of military posts in the middle 50s in Utah and New Mexico, Arizona still being a part of the latter, brought up the question as to how far the Colorado was navigable above Fort Yuma, and whether or not it could be used in transporting supplies to the new stations.

With this end in view, Lieut. Joseph C. Ives, topographical engineer, in the summer of 1857 was directed by John B. Floyd, Secretary of War, to find out how far the upper reaches of the river was navigable for steamboats. As it did not seem practical to charter one of the boats then on the river for the purpose, one suited for exploratory purposes had to be built on the Atlantic Coast and shipped in sections by boat and rail via the Isthmus of Panama, San Francisco and the Gulf of California to the mouth of the Colorado.

An iron steamer was accordingly constructed for the purpose in Philadelphia, tried out on the Delaware and after a few changes pronounced satisfactory. She was then taken apart and shipped to her destination in sections where she arrived November 28, 1857. After being re-assembled started on her journey up the Colorado, December 21, 1857. This sturdy little vessel, a stern wheeler called the "Explorer", was 54 feet long, of 14 feet beam and drew 2 feet and 6 inches of water. She arrived at Fort Yuma January 9, 1858. Two days later she left the fort with twenty-four men and six weeks provisions on board with the purpose in view of exploring the river to the extreme limit of navigation for steam boats. In addition to Lieut. Joseph C. Ives, the leader of the expedition, the party consisted of Capt. D. C. Robinson, pilot and commander of the vessel, an engineer, six scientists, soldiers from the fort, deck hands and two Yuma Indians to serve as interpreters with the other tribes higher up along the river. A land party of twenty-five soldiers with a pack train commanded by Lieut. Tipton followed as escort on the east bank of the river.

Above Fort Yuma the Colorado River at that time was terra incognita. Reports concerning its navigability made by Capt. Sitgreaves and Lieut. Whipple, who crossed it in 1851 and 1854 respectively, but made no attempts to navigate it, were conflicting and inconclusive.

Since she had to charter her own way, the Explorer proceeded up stream feeling her way slowly. Usually a deck hand was kept standing at the prow with a sounding pole, signalling the depth of the current to Capt. Robinson, the pilot, who directed the movements of the vessel from the deck of the cabin. Despite all precautions, however, grounding on sand-bars was of frequent occurrence, often happening several times a day. With good luck at such times the boat would be gotten off within an hour, otherwise it would take a day or even longer. These troubles together with stops made to take on wood, the delays incident to making camp at Night and the difficulties encountered at times in breasting rapids, retarded the progress of the expedition to a snail's pace. The advance of the Explorer up stream was closely watched by the In-dian tribes along the river, who were suspicions of the intentions of the ex-pedition, believing it was a design on the part of the whites to dispossess them of their lands. Signal smokes thrown up from the summits of near-by elevations were used in telegraphing the news ahead from one Indian settle-ment to another concerning the progress being made by the party. In most in-stances, however, the Indians were friendly, coming into camp at night to see the Explorer, whose cabin and wheel house were painted a bright red, a color pleasing to the aboriginal eye, and to visit and trade with the members of the expedition.

Due to the slow progress made by the Explorer, the stock of provisions taken on at Fort Yuma ran out before the trip was completed. The specter of starvation, however, was staved off by a supply of corn and beans purchased from the Mohave Indians, which suf-ficed for a time but was unsatisfactory as a regular diet. The want of meat, coffee and finally of salt, the sack of which had rather strangely disappeared, were privations hard to endure by men engaged at hard labor and exposed daily to the cold waters of the tawny Colorado. Finally after two months of breasting the treacherous currents the river chan-nel narrowed into gloomy canyons and strong rapids were encountered. On March 8, while entering Black Canyon under a full head of steam, the Explorer struck a submerged rock and was sud-denly brought up with a stunning crash. It was thought for a time that she would go to the bottom, but her iron hull saved her. Considerable damage was done, however, to her machinery which required several days to repair. Pro-ceeding up the river thirty miles far-ther in a skiff, Ives decided that the foot of Black Canyon was the limit of navigation for steamboats. This was 500 miles from the mouth of the river and 350 miles from Fort Yuma. It had taken 77 days to make the trip. Turn-ing back down the river a few miles, Ives met his supporting party com-manded by Lieut. Tipton. Reprovision-ing, he then made an overland trip to Fort Defiance, New Mexico, sending the Explorer back to Yuma in the charge of Capt. Robinson.

Upon being sold by the government to private parties shortly afterwards, the Explorer, for a time, was used for hauling wood on the Gila and Colorado rivers at Yuma.

17

While tied to her landing at Pilot Knob one night, during a period of high water, the rope parted and she drifted into a slough eight miles below. Before she could be recovered the capricious Colorado changed its course leaving her to rust and rot out miles inland.

Considerable animosity was aroused among rivermen in the appointment of Ives to explore the upper reaches of the Colorado. Capt. George A. Johnson, president of the Colorado Steam Navigation Company, who had but recently visited the National Capital, averred that he had been promised the leadership of the expedition. Upon hearing that Ives had arrived at the mouth of the river with a new iron steamer for the purpose, Johnson, smarting under the treatment accorded him, determined to rob Ives of the glory of being the first to navigate the Colorado above Fort Yuma in a steamboat.

Taking his own powerful vessel, the General Jesup, and at his own expense, he left the fort January 2, nine days ahead of Ives, and succeeded in reaching the head of Black Canyon, passing over the site where the Boulder Dam is now being constructed, said to be the highest point on the river ever reached by a steamboat, an honor also claimed by Capt. J. A. Mellon in the Gila and Capt. Trueworthy in the Esmeralda.

On his return trip to Fort Yuma Johnson met on January 23, 1858, in the Mohave Valley on the river's bank, just preparing to cross to the opposite side, Lieut. Edward F. Beale with his camel train; returning to Fort Defiance, New Mexico, after surveying a wagon road from that place to the Colorado River under orders from the Secretary of War. As it emerged from the desert with its wagons, its mounted military escort and its camel train in the charge of its Turkish and Greek attendents, surrounded by hundreds of Indians adorned in their best bib and tucker who had gone out to meet them, the Beale party is said to have presented on that winter morning, a most striking spectacle, the desert with its mountain background and the camels giving it an Oriental setting. After transferring the Beale expedition across the river, Johnson proceeded down stream to Yuma, passing while thus en route, Ives and his party in the Explorer on the way up.

Beale in his official report alludes to the meeting with Johnson, who it seems had with him Lieut. James White, 3rd U. S. Artillery, fifteen soldiers and “as many rugged mountain men” as escort.

In his report on the exploration of the Colorado, a most noteworthy production, Ives states that he found the river to be navigable for steamers of light draught from its mouth to the foot of Black Canyon, a distance of something more than 500 miles, and that it was the most economical means available for transporting troops and supplies to the various military posts in Utah and New Mexico.

ARIZONA HIGHWAYS

Following important discoveries of the precious metals in Arizona in the 60's and 70's riverine traffic on the Colorado grew in volume. Practically all supplies, machinery and arms for the citizens and military of the territory came in through this medium.

From San Francisco to Fort Mohave, the limit of river navigation, both freight and passengers were transported by the Colorado Steam Navigation Company, a change from ocean to river steamers being made at Port Isabella at the mouth of the Colorado.

The freight rate from San Francisco to Fort Mohave, a distance of 2,500 miles, was $75.00 per ton. To such points as La Paz, Eherenberg and Fort Yuma it was considerably less. The passenger fare for the full distance was $125.00. About 40 days were required to make the complete trip.

Life on these river steamers was hard. During most of the year the stuffy state rooms were veritable ovens, the temperature in the shade often reaching 120 or higher. Ice was not to be had and the climate too hot for perishables. Potatoes even were a rarity. Bread without butter, corned beef or salt pork, beans, canned vegetables and now and then a pie made from dried fruit, all prepared by a Chinese cook, composed the daily bill of fare, a gastronomic shock indeed to such as relish dainty living.

Experienced rivermen, men of sterling worth who had received their training on the Mississippi and the Hudson, manned the boats. To them steamboating was life and sandbars a mere pastime. The swift turbid waters of the Colorado, in places flowing like a mill race and carrying large quantities of silt and debris, were hard to breast.

Following the organization of Arizona Territory in 1863, efforts were made to get Congress to appropriate funds for use in keeping the channel clear of snags and sandbars such as was done in the Mississippi and other streams. But while the navigability of the Colorado was acknowledged by the federal gov-ernment never a picayune was alloted for the purpose until 1884, after river navigation had practically ceased, when $25,000.00 was appropriated for the purpose, which was used to good effect between Needles and the mouth of the Virgin River.

MARCH, 1935

Upon the completion of the Southern Pacific railroad to Yuma, Arizona, from the west in 1878 traffic on the Colorado River gradually came to an end, the steamers being purchased by the rail-road company, gradually passed out of service.

DEBUNKING AND RE-LOCATING HOUSEROCK

(Continued from Page 9)

at the House Rock on December 4, 1871.”

This, therefore, is the real history of the naming of these three features; the House Rock, the House Rock spring, and the House Rock valley. As to its exact location, especially the Rock itself, which gave the name, the early maps have them properly located. But in recent years the place where the House Rock, under which the party with Dellenbaugh took shelter while working in the valley around it, seems to have been shuffled about by modern map makers until, as a matter of keep-ing the maps correct, it seems necessary that its actual proper location on the maps should be definitely established.

Several years ago, the writer of an article on the “Buffalo of House Rock valley” in an eastern magazine, wrote (Continued on Page 20)

Blossom time is here again

Plan a trip soon-the whole countryside is magically attired SPRING is here again. Forget your work-a-day cares-and be off. Take the whole family. Enjoy with them the new beauties all around you. Spend as much time as you can in the open airMother Nature is especially lovely this year. She has created a vast floral paradise for your enjoyment.

STANDARD OIL COMPANY OF CALIFORNIA

STANDARD GASOLINE Unsurpassed

AT STANDARD STATIONS, INC., AND STANDARD OIL DEALERS

MARCH, 1935

Glass probably to protect it from the elements. Later we learned the identity of the young woman who died in this far away place so many years ago. The published picture of the grave brought her death back to a large number of her relatives living today in Holbrook and St. Johns, Arizona.

With these two spots for a beginning, we commenced a regular search for the actual "House Rock" as described by Dellenbaugh of Powells party. The open slope from the spring down was covered with hundreds of huge rocks some as large as box cars, which had been split off from the cliffs and rolled down the side of the valley.

Remembering Dellenbaugh's description of the place as "Two large rocks near the spring had fallen together in such a way that one could crawl under them for shelter" we sought for such a feature.

About a thousand feet down the slope and directly west from the mouth of the tunnel of the spring we found the place. It was easily identified by the many names carved on the rocks about it as well as on the two rocks forming the so-called "House".

It was merely an opening beneath two great blocks of red sandstone which in rolling down from the cliff above, had managed to so land as to lean one against the other like a small "A" tent, perhaps four feet from side to side and some twenty feet in length. That the place had been a favorite camping ground in the past was easily seen from the hundreds of names of visitors cut or scratched on the smooth faces of the sandstone fragments that littered the slope in every direction. One of the oldest as to date was as follows; "Joseph Adams from Kaysville to Arizona. And Busted on June 6, A. D. 1873."

A large number were dated in the year 1876 which the Church Historian wrote was a year of unusually heavy migration from Utah down to the valley of the Little Colorado river and on south from there.

Many of these names were copied and sent to the Church Historian who identified most of them as "Mormon colonists making their way south into Arizona."

Mr. Anthony Ivins, the Church Historian at Salt Lake City, who by the way was a member of the Powell party, and Mr. Dellenbaugh, now living in New York state, to whom copies of these photographs were sent, each recognized the spot as the House Rock under which they camped that fall and winter of 1871-72.

Mr. Dellenbaugh thought that the space under the rocks was smaller than he recalled it and wondered "if the rock to the right of the photographs had not broken and allowed the larger rock to settle down, thus reducing the space underneath."

This of course is very possible; in fact a close scanning of the two rocks seems to prove Mr. Dellenbaugh's suspicions. At any rate it is felt that the picture shows the exact House Rock in which the members of the Powell party slept in 1871 and which, according to Mr. Dellenbaugh, they named "House Rock".

For those who may wish to locate this Rock, the Spring and the grave of May Whiting on their maps, they lie in

ARIZONA HIGHWAYS

Township 39 North, Range 3 East; about six miles south of the northeast corner of the Kaibab National Forest.

The Historian of the Mormon Church at Salt Lake wrote; "Nearly all the names you mention as being carved on the rocks at House Rock Springs are familiar to us. The parties thus named nearly all belonged to the Latter Day Saints Colonies who went to Arizona in 1873 and 1874 and again in 1876."

Thus, from every possible angle and beyond all question these places so located are the actual and historic House Rock, House Rock Spring, in the House Rock valley of northern Arizona.

The two lone survivors of the Powell party have passed away within the last year. Mr. Anthony Ivins died at Salt Lake in the early part of 1934. Mr. Dellenbaugh died as this article is being written, on January 29th, 1935, at his home in Cragsmoor, Ulster Co., New York. He was 81 years of age at the time of his death.

He was the founder of the celebrated "Explorers Club" of New York.

(Continued from Page 13) to reconvene again at 10:00 a. m., February 1, 1935.

The Commission reconvened at 10:00 a. m., February 1, 1935. Those present were Chairman Dowell, Vice-Chairman Vyne, Commissioners Addams, Angle, and Barth, also the State Engineer, the Secretary and Assistant Attorney General Murphy.

Reorganization of the Commission was the first matter taken up. It was regularly moved by Commissioner Angle, seconded by Commissioner Vyne,

COMMISSION NOTES

ARIZONA HIGHWAYS

U. S. 66 STATE ROUTE 79 STATE ROUTE 87 STATE ROUTE 73 U. S. 260 STATE ROUTE 77 STATE ROUTE 83 STATE ROUTE 81 STATE ROUTE 67 STATE ROUTE 72 STATE ROUTE 71

STATE ROUTE 84

ARIZONA HIGHWAYS

STATE ROUTE 88 (Apache Trail)

STATE ROUTE 187

STATE ROUTE 82

STATE ROUTE 61 STATE ROUTE 75 COMMISSION NOTES

and unanimously carried, that Mr. S. G. Dowell, of Douglas, be re-elected Chairman of the Highway Commission.

It was regularly moved by Commissioner Addams, seconded by Commissioner Vyne and unanimously carried, that Mr. J. W. Angle, of Tucson, be elected Vice-Chairman of the Highway Commission.

It was regularly moved by Commissioner Vyne, seconded by Commissioner Barth and unanimously carried, that Mr. C. C. Jarrett be reappointed Secretary of the Highway Commission for two years.

It was regularly moved by Commissioner Vyne, seconded by Commissioners Addams and Barth, and unanimously carried, that State Engineer T. S. O'Connell be reappointed State Highway Engineer for two years.

It was regularly moved by Commissioners Addams and Barth, seconded by Commissioner Angle, and unanimously carried that a resolution concerning the retirement from the Highway Commission of Commissioner Mans-field, be adopted. Commissioner Vyne stating that commercial organizations carry on a very effective schooling of their employees in their shops, advised that he had made inquiry of the Arizona Tractor and Equipment Company as to whether or not they had a man available to instruct the highway personnel in connection with machinery they distribute and that has been purchased by the Highway Department. In reference to this matter, Commissioner Vyne submitted a letter signed by Mr. W. R. Wells, President of the Arizona Tractor and Equipment Company, stating they will be glad to offer the efforts of their Service Department for the benefit of the Highway personnel. It was regularly moved, seconded and carried, that a copy of the communication received from the Arizona Tractor and Equipment Company be forwarded to the Superintendent of Equipment and he be instructed to contact various other manufacturers whose equipment is used by the Highway Department, acquaint them of this proposition and ask if the can not render the same service.

The Commission recessed and reconvened again at 11:10 a. m., all members present except Commissioner Addams.

It was regularly moved, seconded, and carried, that the Commission adjourn at 11:35 a. m., February 1, 1935, to meet again at the call of the Chairman.

The folks back home, sons or daughters away at school, relatives and friends in other towns are only a minute away—by telephone. Wouldn't you like to hear their voices tonight?

From Picnic Grounds to Swimming Hole Through a Corrugated Culvert

Vacationists no longer have to dodge cars in order to cool off in the invigorating waters of a nearby stream along this heavily-traveled highway in a Western state, when walking from the picnic grounds to the swimming hole.

The State Highway Department put in a seven-foot diameter corrugated pipe Pedestrian Way under the highway at that point. Slabs of shale, grouted in, serve as stepping stones. Note the handsome native rock headwalls.

Similar structures are installed as cattle passes on other sections of this highway, the largest being eight feet in diameter.

For adaptability and economy, you can't beat corrugated culverts.

Complete details are given in the 24-page catalog "Armco Large Diameter Pipe." Ask for a Copy.

Western Metal Mfg. Co.