Rough History and Smooth Highways

Rough History and Smooth

RICH velvets embroidered with threads of gold and silver. saddle trappings heavily embossed with precious metals, spirited horses and daring men characterized the caravan which headed north from Mexico City nearly four centuries ago and first explored that territory which has since become the State of Arizona.

These men were answering the siren call of gold. They were searching for the Seven Cities of Cibola, mythical towns of boundless wealth.

Another century was rounding out its hundred years when a small group of Englishmen accompanied by their families set sail from Plymouth, England, and landed on the eastern coast of the North American continent. Two centuries more were becoming history before the ears of the English descendants became attuned to the siren voice which had beckoned as a mirage to the Spanish conquistadores.

Where Coronado and his followersfound only disillusionment and squalid Indian villages the American miners found wealth and a means of livelihood. But both found beauty, particularly inthat section which flanks the route which is now known as the Coronado Trail. The motorist may leave Duncan where

NOVEMBER, 1935. ARIZONA HIGHWAYS 9 Highways Route of Conquistadores Improved By Civil Works Administration.

Trigger-finger law enforcements were the order of the day not so many years ago and fortunes were lost on the turn of a wheel as the ore-encrusted hills gave generous reward to the hard rock miners who had invaded their stillness. Near Duncan is a partially explored petrified forest and abundant evidence of Indian habitation which will some day be excavated by Arizona archaeologists.

Between Clifton and Metcalf runs the Coronado railroad, a narrow gauge, which connects the mines at Metcalf with the smelter at Clifton. This road boasts the use of the first steam locomotive which was ever brought into Arizona. The engine which was made in Pittsburg, came by rail as far as La Junta, Colorado, and was hauled from there by oxen in 1878.

After leaving Metcalf the Coronado Trail passes through the Crook and Apache National Forests which contain the two largest areas of uncut timber in the United States. The road gradually climbs as it passes Pine Flat, Sheep Saddle, Burnt Corral and Rattlesnake Spring and breaks over the rim of the Blue Range at an altitude of 9,500 feet.

the trail joins Highway 180 and go north through the Apache and Crook National Forests or he may drop south from Highway No. 60 at Springerville. Tourists who like their history rough and sanguine but their highways smooth and conducive to rapid travel and maximum comfort can ill afford to miss a trip over the Coronado Trail and through Duncan, Clifton and Metcalf, the tamed bad-towns of yesterday.

As the road circles the shoulder of Rose peak before reaching Pine Flat the motorist can look across the tops of stately pines, quivering aspen and tangled underbrush down to the Campbel Blue which is a branch of the Blue River. The peak itself is entirely covered with wild rose bushes and is a never-to-be forgotten sight in the early spring. In the summer a profusion of wild flowers carpets the entire countryside and in the fall the first frost splashes the whole with great swarths of deep red, gay yellows and shimmering golds.

Winding through this maze of beauty the trail leads on through the Hannigan's Meadow, Apache and Alpine, which is the highest agricultural community in the United States. Nutrioso comes into view next then the road leads on out of the forest and into the ranching community of Springerville.

Wild life is plentiful in this region and while it is protected in both of the national forests there is much adjacent territory in which big game hunting is enjoyed in season. Cool streams abound in Rainbows and Natives that promise a thrill and a well filled creel to the experienced trout fisherman.

The Coronado Trail was sliced out of the virgin timber and was used first mainly as a forest road but during the past two years much work has been done to improve this route so that its scenic beauties might be more accessible to both state residents and visitors.

The Civil Works Administration and the Emergency Relief Administration gave 123,187 man hours of work toward the betterment of the Trail, working mainly in the vicinity of Cherry Lodge. The road between Metcalf and Clifton was widened in places, curves eased and embankments strainghtened. Eight erosion control dams were constructed and a timber traffic bridge was removed with a subsequent fill replacement.