TAKING THE OFF-RAMP

Worse Than Throwing It Out With the Bathwater FROM AN ADVERTISEMENT in The Arizona Daily Star, July 29, 1897, praising the virtues of a new type of infant's feeding bottle: "When the baby is done drinking, it must be unscrewed and put in a cold place under a tap. If the baby does not thrive on fresh milk, it should be boiled."

Kangaroos in Arizona?

Preposterous, you say. But a letter found in the Gatewood Collection at the Arizona Historical Society's Tucson library raises that intriguing possibility. The collection contains the papers of Charles Gatewood, the brave lieutenant who rode into Geronimo's camp in 1886 and convinced him he should surrender.

The files also contain a letter written in 1927 by Gatewood's wife to her son, Charles Jr. She describes spotting a kangaroo as she drove among the low hills west of Fort Apache: "Going down one little valley, a black kangaroo thing emerged ahead of us and hopped at right angles across in front of us, in a leisurely way, never noticing us. It was small-four or five feet at most-jet black all over, with all the kangaroo characteristics, pouch, long strong hind legs, short arms held in front and [it] hopped just like the real thing." of them, except the Indians, who said they saw one now and then, very few, and didn't know what they were."

of them, except the Indians, who said they saw one now and then, very few, and didn't know what they were."

The Gem From Outer Space or Middle Earth Peridot, known as the extraterrestrial gem because some peridot has hitched flights to Earth within meteorites, is more commonly found in volcanic rock. The gem form of the mineral olivine, it is mined on the San Carlos Apache Reservation, which produces most of the world's peridot. Iron creates the stone's color, which ranges from light yellowish green to vivid green.

LAST OF THE TUCSON OWLS Asolitary owl adorns the ornate facade of the old mansion in downtown Tucson. This symbolic feathered fellow of the night had once been the icon of a group of Tucson gentlemen. Bachelors, every one of them, they also ran the town-politics, business, real estate. In 1886, they formed a brotherhood that became the Owls Club.

Members, given to fine dining, good parties and the single life, lived in a number of houses before the final nest with the owl in front. By 1902, death and marriage started a decline in the club's population. One gentleman, Leo Goldschmidt, became sole proprietor and resident in 1912. To keep him company, he invited in family, including GASP... female relatives. He died in 1944 at 91, being the last Owls Club member. The clubhouse became a business office, but one old plaster owl still stands guard.

To take a look, drive past 378 N. Main St., a few blocks north of Tucson Museum of Art and Historic Block.

Live the Apache Way for Two Days

You sit on the ground, a rough spun blanket padding the earth. Smoke from a fire billows into your face and blocks the crisp starlight. Drums start to thump as you take a bite of frybread. A dance begins. A primal ballet, steeped in ritual, takes you back to the preEuropean era of the land. The beat quickens, feet shuffle in broken steps and the Apache Crown Dance takes flight. Apache blood doesn't have to lace

Pick a Piece of Pie at Palominas Post

After a hard day of bird-watching, horseback riding or hiking in the Huachuca Mountains near Sierra Vista, head to the Palominas Trading Post and Country Diner on State Route 92. It's a casual, comfortable place, with rusted antique tools on display and an ancient philodendron whose 15-foot tendrils wrap around the walls. Regular customers bring their newspapers and think nothing of getting their own coffee refills. Burgers and breakfasts both come highly recommended, as does the pan-fried cod special on Fridays and Saturdays. But here's the real attraction: Be sure to save room, a lot of room, for dessert, and allow plenty of time for difficult decisions. Fifteen varieties of homemade pies are served every week. Information: (520) 366-5529.

your veins to enjoy this experience. Dennis Bregar, owner of Trail Blazers Adventures, offers wilderness trailrides in Greer from April through September. The rides end at the stretched-andtanned hides of wickiups, your lodging for the night. Once there, White Mountain

Catch Bisbee by Bus Tour

On March 12, 1908, the "Copper Capital of the World" opened the rails of the new Warren-Bisbee Railway, becoming Arizona's only true interurban railway. Designed and operated by the Calumet and Arizona Mining Company, the electric trolley transported miners the 4 miles from the state's first planned community of Warren to the mines in Bisbee. "For five cents a day, you could ride the rails," says Boyd Nicholl, curator at the Bisbee Mining and Historical Museum. "Before the railway, there was little transportation available, so people tended to live where they worked. The trolley changed all that." In 1928, the trolley was discontinued to make way for a bus line. Warren has long since been gobbled up by Bisbee's growth. Only a few pieces of track remain embedded in the dusty streets, but visitors still can discover Bisbee's raucous past on Apaches will lead visitors through an evening of traditional native life. You'll learn how to make arrowheads and arrows, participate in ring-tossing, eat a traditional meal of frybread, venison and corn, and witness the ancient Apache Crown Dance. In the morning, you'll mount up and head back to town. "These people [the Apaches] are who they say they are," Bregar declares. "They're fourthand fifthgeneration seers and storytellers." Information: (866) 615-1900, or trailblazersadventures.com.

taking the off-ramp Question of the Month

Who first referred to U.S. Route 66, which cut across Arizona, as "The Mother Road?"

John Steinbeck popularized Route 66 in his 1939 novel The Grapes of Wrath, set during the Great Depression. "66 is the path of a people in flight, refugees from dust and shrinking land, from the thunder of tractors and... from the twisting winds that howl up out of Texas, from the floods that bring no richness to the land and steal what little richness is there. 66 is the mother road, the road of flight."

The historic tours offered by the Bisbee Trolley Car Company. The modern versions of Bisbee's trolley cars, comfortable buses reminiscently painted, leave five times daily, Friday through Monday, and follow much of the original trolley's tracks. Some of the historic places seen on the narrated tours include Brewery Gulch, the town's oncenotorious row of bars and brothels; the Bisbee Mining and Historical Museum, America's first rural affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution; the Copper Queen Hotel, built in 1902 by the Copper Queen Mining Company; Warren Ballpark, the oldest ballpark in Arizona; and Lavender Pit, a yawning 900-foot open-pit mine. Information: (520) 940-7212 or online, www.bisbeetrolley.com.

BUENOS AIRES NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE SURVIVING AGAINST THE ODDS