LETTERS AND E-MAIL

taking the off-ramp Arizona oddities, attractions and pleasures The Kolbs' Canyon

Emery and Ellsworth Kolb's Grand Canyon photographs in the August 1914 National Geographic were among its earliest published Canyon pictures. They hauled water for 7 miles to develop their photographs in an abandoned mine shaft. For almost a century, their 23-room studio has clung to the South Rim. The studio, five stories high, is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Shortly after arriving at the Grand Canyon in the early 1900s, Ellsworth was joined by his younger brother Emery. In their first studio, a cave with a blanket over the entrance, they processed pictures of people astride the Grand Canyon mules as they maneuvered their way along the Bright Angel Trail.

Effie's Gardens

In a corner of Heritage Square in downtown Flagstaff lies a very magical place. There, in a lush lakeside wood of vibrant acrylic color, curious creatures with large eyes and round faces peer from silent breakfast tables. They dip coffeepots into serene pools and glance through worn pages of Kerouac and the Sunday paper. It is The Veridic Gardens of Effie Leroux, Flagstaff artist Joe Sorren's latest mural. The surreal spectacle fills a 15-by-45foot curving wall at the backside of Heritage Square between Aspen and Birch streets. On a summer afternoon, the mural's characters blend seamlessly with the lunch crowd on the cafe's patio.

Sorren, whose paintings have been featured in The New Yorker and Time magazine, didn't know what would emerge in 1912, the brothers became the first to use a movie camera to document riding the rapids on the Colorado River. Emery presented their river movie in the studio's small auditorium from 1915 until his death in 1976 at the age of 95.

Ellsworth was joined by his younger brother Emery. In their first studio, a cave with a blanket over the entrance, they processed pictures of people astride the Grand Canyon mules as they maneuvered their way along the Bright Angel Trail.

In 1912, the brothers became the first to use a movie camera to document riding the rapids on the Colorado River. Emery presented their river movie in the studio's small auditorium from 1915 until his death in 1976 at the age of 95.

Today the Grand Canyon National Parks Foundation operates a bookstore in the Kolb Studio, and all gallery proceeds go directly to studio restoration costs.

When he first put paintbrush to wall in the summer of 1999. For 17 months he arrived at daybreak and painted in accordance with the shifting light, often for 10 hours straight.

"I wanted a story that would play out through multiple viewings," he says.

Details give the painting life. Close observation reveals everything from an homage to Picasso's

Mineral-rich Arizona

Everyone knows that Arizona leads the country in copper production, but few realize that the state also leads the nation in molybdenum output. This unusual mineral looks similar to graphite, but is a bluer grey. When used as an alloy, it gives steel its hardness and durability.

Arizona also ranks second in the nation in production of gemstones; third in perlite; fourth in construction sand and gravel, silver and zeolites; fifth in pumice; and sixth in iron oxide pigments.

Gemstones are created from blue azurite and green malachite. LES AND PAULA PRESMYK COLLECTION Guernica to the likeness of a small bird that had the misfortune of flying headfirst into the work-inprogress. Sorren is not about to give away all of the mural's secretsthere has to be something left to the viewer's imagination. Prints of Sorren's work can be found at the Black Hound Gallerie or at Sorren's studio in Flagstaff. Information: (928) 214-9980; www.joesorren.com.

THIS MONTH IN ARIZONA

1860 U.S. census reports Arizona's population as 6,482.

1867 Fort Crittenden, between the Sonoita and Patagonia settlements, is established by the U.S. Army to protect settlers from the Indians.

1870 Ten settlers near Tucson are killed by Indians in 11 days.

1873 The Law and Order Society of Tucson lynches four murderers from gallows in Court Plaza on Pennington Street.

1877 John Dunn, a government scout, finds the first copper ore in the Bisbee area.

Billy the Kid kills blacksmith Frank Cahill at Fort Grant.

1904 A downpour deposits 2 inches of rain into the streets of Globe in less than one hour. Six citizens drown, 20 businesses are destroyed and numerous railway bridges wash away.