The 1937 License Plate

Long Before Columbus Beauty and the Plate

(Continued From Page 6) only entrance to the room is a small, square opening in the thick ceiling, through which the ladder, drawn up after the person ascending to the roof, is lowered. The small, square room, lighted and ventilated by the aperture in the ceiling, lends, in spite of its bareness, an eerie atmosphere. Its walls, of adobe clay and rock, are finished with an adobe plaster, only part of which has had to be replaced. New rough hewn beams, braced by forked uprights, support the thatch of willow branches over which the heavy adobe roof is laid. In the center of the room is the tiny, round firepit, hardly more than six inches in diameter, lined with adobe plaster and still containing its bed of ashes.

With its thick walls and roof, the little room is, in spite of the simple method of ventilation, a remarkably cool place during the warmest summer days, and yet is snug and warm during the coldest winter weather.

This was the home of a family of perhaps four persons, and is typical of the approximately 120 rooms of the rambling pueblo. Only a little more than half the rooms have been excavated; three other are partly reconstructed.

Corridors are built between the groups of rooms, and lead to several large patios, or courts, in the central part of the pueblo.

Most of the burials are found in the patios, although the graves of children are the exception, probably, according to authorities, because of a belief that children, not yet independent of parental care, needed to be near their mothers even in death. In one grave was found the burial of twin children, probably eight to ten years of age, with a single undamaged piece of pottery between the two skeletons. One cremation has been discovered. Adult skeletons are to a great extent those of men and women between the ages of 60 and 70 years, according to authorities. The infant mortality rate of the village of perhaps 600 was high; however, indications are that once having survived past the adolescent period, the inhabitants of the village generally lived a relatively long life span. This fact leads to the belief that warfare was not an important factor in the pueblo dweller's existence. Since the pueblo ruins are situated in the country over which the nomadic warmaking and plundering Apache people roamed, authorities reason that the reign of the Apaches has been only during comparatively recent years, after the departure of sedentary pueblo people.

NOVEMBER, 1936 ARIZONA HIGHWAYS

The pueblos, believed to have been built about 1225 A. D., were inhabited until about 1375, according to data secured from the study of pottery found in the ruin. Since no evidence of war has been found, it is deduced by archaeologists that the prehistoric tribe voluntarily left their homes to migrate to a new country, possibly to northern Arizona, where the Zuni and Hopi tribes today dwell in similar pueblos. Indications of a close relationship between the modern pueblo tribes and the people who inhabited Pesh-ba-gowah and other prehistoric pueblo ruins are still abundant. The high infant mortality rate of the inhabitants of Pesh-ba-gowah indicates that it is probable that they sought a new home to escape disease and physical degeneracy brought upon them by inbreeding and a complete lack of sanitation.

The dates of habitation of the pueblo are estimated from a study of pottery design, in comparison with pottery found in other ruins which could be dated by study of tree rings or by other methods.

A relatively high type of culture was developed by the pueblo people. Irrigation of crops was no problem to the people of Pesh-ba-gowah; however, in the vicin-ity of other ruins found in the irrigated farming districts of Arizona are canals built by the pueblo dwellers, some of them larger than the canals which today irri-gate crops of the white man.

Development and reconstruction of the ruin is under the direction of Mrs. Irene Vickery, an experienced student in the field of archaeology. She is collaborating with other authorities in the effort to discover as much knowledge as possible from the materials being recovered. Specimens are occasionally sent to various institutions where experts on archaeology may act as consultants in the task of gathering data. Authorities connected with the Gila Pueblo Foundation, a private group under whose direction the Gila pueblo ruin, only two miles south of Pesh-ba-gowah, has been developed and re-stored, and Dr. Byron Cummings, dean of archaeology of the southwest, are coop-erating in many instances, Mrs. Vickery said.

The ruin is one of the chief interests of Mrs. Vickery. She has been perhaps the most enthusiastic a m o n g promoters of the development of Arizona points of archaeological interest. The hope of the archaeological society is to construct a museum, patterned architecturally after the pueblo itself, large enough to permit the proper display of the materials being recovered. A suggested site for the mu-seum is beside the r u i n, on city property. Restoration and preservation of the ruin, as well as others among the many undeveloped ruins in Arizona and particu-larly in Gila county, are included in the aims of the society.

21

A large room formerly occupied by a grocery store in the Globe business district is at present serving as storage and display quarters. Here load after load of valuable pieces have been brought and are being made ready for exhibition.

Among them is earthenware pottery . . . bowls, jars, ollas, pitchers, ladles, and effigy forms of humans, birds and animals, of various sizes. One, two and three color combinations were used. The coloring is unfaded.

Green coloring was made from copper ore, and red from iron ore and other pigment combinations. Globe, a copper mining center, is situated in a district rich in materials.

Pieces of the green copper bearing rock, which was ground fine with stone mortars and pestles to be used as a coloring material, are plentiful in the ruin. Two small copper bells found in the ruin, however, are believed to have been brought to the pueblo by traders with the tribes of Mexico and Central America, since metalwork, one of the arts of those tribes, was not known to the pueblo people of Arizona.

Here, again, comes a striking indication of the extent to which the civilization of the pueblo people had been developed. The two little bells, uncovered after seven centuries, seem beyond doubt to have been made by the Mayan people whose homes were hundreds of miles south of the pueblo. Since horses were first brought to America in the sixteenth century, those traders who secured what must have been to them a priceless ornament must have walked those miles acrossdry deserts. laden with pottery and other wares of their people.

Also brought to the pueblo by the traders among its inhabitants were countless seashells, undoubtedly from the coast of the Gulf of Lower California. Pieces of turquoise, native to Arizona, also used for ornaments, were found in the ruin. Objects of stone are numerous among recovered pieces metates and manos, used for grinding corn, axes, hoes, scrapers and arrowshaft-straighteners. Their weapon was the bow and arrow, and arrowpoints of many types and materials have been found. Bone objects, such as needles, awls and daggers made from deer and turkey bones, are on exhibition.

The food of the pueblo people consisted of grains, berries and meats. Charred corn and beans have been found in the ruin, and the skeleton remains of various birds and animals. The turkey and the dog were probably the only domesticated animals, authorities believe.

Woven baskets have been recovered from the ruin, some of them exceptionally rare pieces. The remnants of textiles, both of cotton and wool, again indicates the trading carried on by the tribe with others a considerable distance away.

Most of the pottery recovered from the ruin requires careful work of accumulation of corresponding pieces, and repair and restoration. A great part of the pottery has been found in storage rooms, and other pieces in family dwelling rooms. Few of these pieces are intact, most of them crushed by the eventual caving of the heavy adobe roof of the room. Some have been protected and remained unbroken. Most of the undamaged pieces, however, have been recovered from burials, where they were placed beside the corpse. One such piece of extraordinarily intricate design is a small earthen canteen, through the neck of which was

ARIZONA HIGHWAYS NOVEMBER, 1936

Molded a tiny tube, through which a thong was passed.

A curious discovery which Mrs. Vickery pointed out was the evident disregard the pueblo people held for bodies of their dead after the spirit had left, and for the graves in which they were placed. Despite the ceremony with which the deceased member of the tribe was buried, with pottery and other of his belongings beside him, the disturbance of the grave was a matter of little concern. Three burials, between each of which, according to indications, some time had elapsed, were found in a single grave. During the second burial, excavation of the shallow grave had uncovered a part of the skeleton first buried. The uncovered bones of one entire side of the skeleton, together with the pottery and belongings which were disturbed, were tossed at the foot of the new grave, and again buried. Later, a third body was buried, in the same grave with the second.

Mrs. Vickery, enthusiastic about the progress made under the project, is quick to commend the work of the crew of approximately 20 assistants furnished her under the federal work program. Although work proposed under the project is nearly completed, she has hopes of being able to continue for at least another year. Much of the ruin, she pointed out, is yet untouched. Countless discoveries, any one of which may bring invaluable knowledge to the field of archaeology, remain to be made.

She sees in her mind the eventual reconstruction of the pueblo, with some of the excavated museum pieces on display in the restored rooms themselves, and the construction of the museum and accumulation of a knowledge, as nearly as possible complete, of the culture of the forgotten people.

Of the Arizona Highway Department, the project became a reality under direction of the Arizona Highway Commission and the bureau of public roads. It is 96 feet long and 25 feet wide. Clearance of 14 feet is allowed and an elaborate system of illumination creates a thing of beauty at night. A unique engineering feature is the absence of drainage pumps, the elevation of the floor being of sufficient height to allow drainage to a nearby ditch.

Tunneling the Railroad

The Douglas grade-elimination project is one of six completed this year. Five other dangerous rail crossings have been eliminated by relocation. Two crossings, for which money has been appropriated, remain on the waiting list.

History of Transportation

Continued From Page 11) riages, the chair was slow to lose favor but was used by those who disliked or could not afford to change to other means of conveyance. In fact, if one wanted an occasional short ride, it was cheaper to use a couple of strong servants, which one had to have anyway, than to keep a horse.

1610 A. D. Henry IV wrote to a friend that he was unable to visit him that day as his wife was using the coach.

1650 A. D. Competition had become keen between French royalty and nobility as to who could sport the finest coach. Some of these coaches cost as much as $10,000, at that time truly an extravagant sum.

This section of vehicles will be concluded in next month's issue).

Tribute to a Visionary

(Continued From Page 17) in awakening public interest in many propositions, among them, in 1909, was the founding of the Easter sunrise services on Mt. Rubidoux, the original of many such services now held in the United States.At the time of the Riverside gathering, the biggest obstacle to meet in the good roads movement was the burden of financing. In those days, there was no gasoline tax to carry the burden of highways through all of our country areas and into the remote resorts of the mountains. There were many people in different cities who felt that paved highways were against their own self-interest. The practical and engineering phases of the problem had not then been demonstrated. The heavy traffic situation had not been developed, nor was it known how substantial it would be necessary to build the roads.

There was no one so hardy as to predict in 1906 that in 30 years almost everyone would be on wheels; that families with the most modest incomes and residences would have automobiles; and that paved roads would become of service to the common man, even to a greater extent than to the rich. All of these things are developments of the last third of a century, and only a few men, like Frank Miller, had sufficient vision to predict them. Only one man of his fire and vision could see what was coming, and only a genius could persuade others that the vision was real.

This meeting in Riverside resulted in an impetus toward the development of highways in Southern California, the railroads, financial and civic leaders coming to the support of local highway projects.

In the City of Riverside, one of the most famous driveways of early California had been built on Magnolia Avenue, and is still a well-known thoroughfare of the beautiful city. It was a double driveway, with a hard surface and made River-

NOVEMBER, 1936 ARIZONA HIGHWAYS 23

side conspicuous as a city that believed in adequate boulevards. Then, through the influence of Mr. Mil ler and other leaders, came the arrange ment of oiled roads throughout Southern California, in which petroleum was used on the surface to bring about a semi paved condition, supplementing the main paved streets of the municipalities.

California was a leader in voting state wide bond issues for paved highways, the first was voted in 1910, amounting to $12,000,000 . . . looked upon at that time as a stupendous sum to spend for such a pur pose . . . and calling for two main high ways the length of the state, one in the central valleys, and the other as nearly along the coast as practical. Frank А. Miller was one of the sponsors of this bond issue, and assisted mightily in secur ing a favorable vote in Southern Cali fornia.

In 1914 he, with other leaders of Riv erside county, sponsored the largest single bond issue that had been voted in the his tory of the county amounting to $1,125,000 for a complete highway system, resulting in construction of first class concrete highways extending into all im portant portions of Riverside county.

A few years later, he was one of the leaders to secure another $18,000,000 state highway bond issue to supplement the first $12,000,000 issue, which had been found to be entirely inadequate.

In the city of Riverside, Mr. Miller and associates, in the early days of the com munity, purchased beautiful Mt. Rubi doux and built a road with their own funds to the summit of the mountain (where are held many interesting public events each year, and which is visited by thou sands of tourists. Some assistance has been given by the city of Riverside and the county of Riverside in the improve ment and maintenance of this road, but on account of the fact that it is privately owned little or this sort of thing can be done.

The road to the summit, at the time of its construction was considered to be an amazing engineering feat, and is so constructed that there is no traffic men ace, as one road leads to the top and an other is used for the traffic down the hill.

With the rapid growth of the use of automobiles, Mr. Miller was one of the first to envision the improvement of transcontinental automobile and bus traf fic, and had a national influence in the matter of developing the famous trans continental U. S. Highway 60, which is rapidly becoming the most important of its kind in the United States, and is the shortest route between Phoenix and Los Angeles, transversing the full length of Riverside County, from Blythe on the Colorado River over the Chucka Walla Mesa to Coachella Valley, San Gorgoino Pass, and over a new cut-off to River side, by-passing the well-known Jack Rabbit Trail route.

Unfortunately, he did not live to see the final completion of all the improve ments for this highway, some of which are now under construction in the Mor eno Valley north of the famous United States Army Flying Field at March Field in Riverside county. Mr. Miller was one of the earliest mem bers of the Automobile Club of Southern California, and a director during its entire existence until the time of his death. Through that organization, his influence was felt in the erection of adequate road signs, for which Automobile Clubs is famous, and in support of the gasoline tax for highway purposes, and many other activities incident to the promo tion, survey, and final completion of scenic and utility highways.

If the complete history of Arizona and California highways and transcontinent al routes leading to the Pacific coast is ever written, a place of honor must be accorded to the name of Frank A. Miller, one of the great community builders of America.

(Continued From Page 9) falls to the women and children. The wool is sorted according to color and carefully washed in a heavy, rich lather of “amole” pulp. The amole roots (a specie of yucca) is the Navajo’s natural soap and made simply by beating and mascerating the roots to a pulp. When added to water it forms a peculiarly thick suds which leaves the wool softer and fluffier than any amount of lye soap. After a thorough drying and bleaching some of it is dyed usually a clear, fadeless red . . . and then begins the carding which is done on old-fashioned hand cards. Next comes the spinning. The spindle is merely a stick put through a round board and the yarn is spun over and over to the desired thickness, rolled into neat balls and put aside ready for rug weaving.The loom itself is of the simplest struc ture. Upright poles are driven solidly into the ground holding at the top a cross bar to which the loom proper (a horizont al top and bottom pole holding the warp threads taut) is lashed. In this manner the bottom of the rug, as it is finished, can be rolled up allowing the weaver to always sit or kneel at her work. The weave is simply the “over, under,” “over, under” familiar to every kinder gartner. If a thick, heavy rug is desired coarse yarns are used which naturally take less time to weave, but in the better rugs closer-spaced warp threads and fine, tightly twisted yarns give a much more supple texture. No shuttle is used. The weaver takes her balls of yarn as wound The “electric eye” automatic traffic counter recently installed near Tempe. An invisible beam crosses the right-of-way. When it is broken by a passing car, a delicate instrument records the traffic.

LEE MOOR CONTRACTING COMPANY 807 BASSETT TOWER EL PASO, TEXAS

24

from the spindle and with an endless "over, under" introduces her designs with an amazing sense of balance and spacing. Except in the ceremonial rugs, which are copied from sacred sandpaintings, the designs are seldom preconceived. As a weaver slowly progresses with her work her thoughts vary. An unusual storm may have inspired a zig-zag motif of lighten ing which she follows with other symbolic designs perhaps incidents in her own life, or her dreams and hopes of the fu ture. The finished rug might have in each corner the design of a cross. Its meaning signifies paths crossing and she uses them to illustrate the four major past events of her life her birth; the day of her marriage; her long illness when even the medicine-men shook their heads without hope; and the birth of her first baby. Because the gods have been kind (blessing her with healthy babies and increasing their band of sheep each year) she has bordered the rug with the sky band symbolic of happiness. The swastika is another design often used to indicate either good luck or the four corners of the earth while time is depicted as a band of alternating light and dark diamonds or circles (days and nights). A greatly conventionalized butterfly motif denotes everlasting life or constancy as do the short, straight lines which are symbolic of running water. A small circle or diamond within two larger diamonds is the medicine man's eye typifying wisdom and watchfulness, a design much favored by the Navajos. Arrows and arrow heads mean friendship, alertness, swiftness, protection, etc. So many variations of this design are used in weaving it would take a good arrow, indeed, to recognize itself. Colors, too, have symbolic significance although not necessarily used with such intent in all rug weaving. Red, rather than yellow, is representative of their idolized sun symbol of happiness. White (to us a symbol of purity) represents the east whence breaks each day the pale, white light of dawn denoting fresh hopes and ambitions. Blue is their color for the gentle, feminine south whose cloudless skies symbolize good fortune, content and fertility while yellow typifies the west with its golden sunsets. In the north brew rain and thunder clouds dark and sternly masculine symbolic, indeed, of the blackest black, and strength and power. With such an interpretive source of color and design does the Navajo weaver find a subconscious emotional outlet. With what satisfaction she must weave into designs her moments of romance and happiness, heartbreaks and grief, creating of the rug a personal saga. A verydiscreet sort of saga, too the rare kind that depicts much yet tells little. Strangely enough, the weaver's gratification seems to end when a rug is completed. Eager to transcribe other memories and keener desires to a new rug, she is content to dispose of the one finished to some trader at so much per pound (upwards, usually, of $1.50 depending upon the quality). These passive, calm-faced Navajos sell rugs, not dreams. Dreams are of one's soul and not to be held captive by any weaver's art. Their tangible form displayed in lovely, symbolic design is there but though you paid its weight in gold no rug could bring you the substance of a weaver's dreams.

ARIZONA HIGHWAYS Guardians of Irrigation

(Continued From Page 19) The feasibility of the project are given consideration. Design, plans and specifications on any new project must be checked. A mathematical analysis of some type of structure is a very tedious operation and involves many mathematical calculations. In addition to making original investigations and checking preliminary plans, the department provides for inspection and supervision of projects during construction. It maintains its own staff of inspectors during the process of the work and makes its own tests of materials going into the project. Even after a project has been completed this office must make periodic inspections. Dams and similar structures cannot be allowed to deteriorate to such a point that they become a menace to life and a danger to property owners. Many of the existing irrigation districts have suffered financially in the past few years and have found it necessary to seek the aid of the federal government, principally through the reconstruction finance corporation and the public works administration. By loans from these sources the districts have established themselves on a more firm foundation, financially, and have been able to carry out improvements needed at this time.

Since January 1, 1934, the state certification board has approved bond issues in the approximate amount of $7,617,000; $5,987,000 being refunding bonds and the balance representing new issues. New construction since the above date comprises dams, irrigation canals and other structures in the approximate amount of $2,660,000.

Awaiting the approval of the state certification board, there is now pending applications amounting to approximately $1,490,000 in refunding bonds. There is

NOVEMBER, 1936

also $6,000,000 in new construction under way. Studies are being made at the present time on a flood control program for Arizona. There are several projects that have been recommended to the national flood control committee for their consideration. Additional projects are being recommended as quickly as preliminary data is obtained to establish their feasibility. Several years ago this office made a general study of projects within the state and placed them before the national planning board. This office has been interested in works of this nature, and has endeavored to render every assistance possible. These projects have been coordinated with the national flood control and water conservation program.

This department also carries on research work in several allied subjects. It maintains a file on stream-gaging, weather reports, construction materials, and new theories of design. These files are of benefit to those endeavoring to estimate the amount and continuity of water supply in order to arrive at the storage capacity and operation of the reservoir. A fair estimate of the probable runoff can be made from rainfall records, length of storm, intensity over a period of time, and the areas over which it falls.

In order to facilitate matters as to supervision and construction this department has endeavored to tabulate the best practices and specifications into a condensed form. There has been printed several circulars, principally our "Code Governing Design and Construction of Dams," which outlines the requirements deemed necessary to secure a structure that will not become a public menace. It is recognized that no set of specifications or regulations will apply to all projects, so an attempt has been made to govern this subject in a general way. It insists on certain conditions and is fairly lenient in others. Advances are continually being made in different types of construction and it is not desirable to hamper this progress. Additional circulars for application of approval of an irriSpecialists on Reinforced Steel Mesh Guard, Fence Stays 1534 Blake Street, Denver Plants at Denver and Pueblo

NOVEMBER. 1936 ARIZONA HIGHWAYS

Irrigation district or a dam have been printed. These circulars are a condensed summary stating the information this office needs in order to make a thorough investigation of any project.

The state certification board is composed of the state superintendent of banks, the attorney general and the state highway engineer. The state highway engineer is also directly in charge of the dam control department. He may appoint such aid or assistance deemed necessary to fulfill the necessary duties. This places him in direct charge of the department of state certification and dam control.

Tortoise and the Hare

(Continued From Page 18) crowded off the road and well nigh startled out of his wits.

About this time the Hare came to a sharp curve. On went his brakes and he did manage to get around without any mishaps. But it frightened him so that he immediately made up his mind he wouldn't do that again.

"Perhaps the Tortoise is right," he thought, and resolved to be more careful. But by this time he was so accustomed to speed, that when he thought he had slowed down enough he was still going faster than he realized.

And, since he was just entering the outskirts of a town, his delusion played him false. Within a few blocks he found himself ordered over to the curb, and it took a great deal of explanation to avoid a fine for speeding. "What a bother," said the Hare.

By this time the Tortoise was again far ahead. Even then the Hare might have won, but every time it looked as though he might catch up, some signal or traffic condition would slow him down.

"What's the use?" he thought; "no matter how fast I drive, things over which I have no control keep me from gaining any great advantage."

As the Owl remarked when he paid the wager to the Tortoise: "The race is not always to the swift."

The lesson of this modernized version of an ancient fable is upheld by the actual experience of many drivers. One chauffeur who drives frequently from New York to Boston says that no matter how he drives fast or at moderate speed-road and traffic conditions invariably make the time for the trip practically the same. A certain newspaper in a mid-western city has conducted careful tests along these lines and has found that the difference between break-neck speed and careful driving, over the 35 miles to a neighboring city, produces a negligible saving in time.

The Canyons of Death

(Continued From Page 5) either the rim or up the river itself from Chinlee. This is advisable, as many cars have been stuck in the sand in dry and wet weather.

The canyons may be best reached from Gallup, New Mexico, via. St. Michaels and Ganado, or by way of Chambers on Highway 66, about fifty miles east of Holbrook. From Chambers in dry weather it is about eighty-five miles, via. Ganado, to Chinlee. The road from Gallup to Ganado via. St. Michaels is about fiftyeight miles and from Ganado to Chinlee it is about forty miles. It is advisable to stop at the trading posts at Ganado and inquire about the forty miles to Chinlee, especially in wet weather.

The Navajo tribe owes its existance to Canyons de Chelly and del Muerto. In these canyons they hid when the Spanish and Mexican soldiers pursued them. In 1692, when the Spanish soldiers reconquered the Indians of the southwest, the Navajos retreated to the canyons and here they isolated themselves for over one hundred years. By that time they had increased manifold and became powerful with their bands of sheep and cornfields in the canyon depths. They again took to their old habits until the American soldiers, under Kit Carson in 1863, penned them up again in Canyon de Chelly. The soldiers not only corraled them in the canyon but followed them down the canyon in mid-winter, destroyed their crops and orchards and forced them to sur-render. They were then taken to Bosque Redondo, a fort in New Mexico, and fed by the American government until they made permanent peace. Since then they have increased from a few thousand to over fifty thousand stout Indians, with large bands of sheep, horses and cattle. Their numbers are increasing rapidly and they are becoming one of the finest Indian races in North America. The Canyon de Chelly is their home and old Canyon del Muerto is gradually losing its terror for them. Once it was death to their tribe, but it also was life when they made another start from almost extinc-tion.

PHOENIX BLUE PRINT CO.

PHOENIX, ARIZONA

WRICO LETTERING GUIDES

CITY, COUNTY AND STATE MAPS U. S. G. S. TOPOGRAPHY MAPS Home Builders' Bldg. Phone 4-2407 128 N. First Ave.

COMMISSION NOTES

Continued From Page 16) or Tucson, at which time the question of ownership was brought up. It will require about $3000 to rebuild the old fort and Mrs. Kuehn has offered to convey the property on which the old fort stands to the state gratis, provided the state will restore and protect the old building. Commissioner Addams suggested that the matter might be handled through the governor's unemployment relief fund, and Commissioner Addams was instructed to contact the governor suggesting that he wire Mrs. Harris, his secretary, who is in Washington at present on similar matters.

A telegram addressed to Governor B. B. Moeur from Miss Grace M. Sparkes, Yavapai chamber of commerce, urging his cooperation and influence on U. S. forestry service for construction and completion of the forestry section of highway 79 to standard specifications was read at this time. The secretary was instructed to answer the wire.

District Engineer R. C. Perkins was informed to close down immediately the project in the Duncan area for an indefinite period. He was also instructed to continue the work of Superior streets until such time as the streets were in a safe condition for travel. Mr. Perkins' estimate was approximately $6000 for this work in addition to that already spent.

It was regularly moved, seconded, and carried, that the commission adjourn at 12:55 p. m., September 29, 1936, to convene again at the call of the chairman.

October 26, 1936 The Arizona State Highway Commission met in regular session in their offices in the highway building at 9:00 A. М., October 26, 1936. Those present were: Chairman Dowell, Vice-Chairman Angle, Commissioners Addams, and Seale, also the state engineer, the secretary, and assistant attorney general, A. I. Winsett. Commissioner Barth was absent.

State Engineer O'Connel recommended, subject to the approval of the bureau of public roads, that the contract on the Tempe-Scottsdale highway-W.P.S.O. 119 A.F.E. No. 615-(Curry Highway) be awarded to the low bidder, the W. E. Hall company, in the amount of $21,336.85. It was regularly moved by Commissioner Addams, seconded by Commissioner Seale, and unanimously carried, that the recommendation of the state engineer be accepted.

State Engineer O'Connell recommended, subject to the approval of the bureau of public roads, that the contract on the Phoenix-Glendale highway-F.A. 33 reopened (1937)-A.F.E. 6060 Phoenix, Prescott highway F.A. 48-A reopened (1937) A.F.E. 6061, be awarded to the low bidder, the Arizona Sand and Rock company in the amount of $73,521.89. It was regularly moved by Commissioner Seale, seconded by Commissioner Addams and unanimously carried, that the recommendation of the state engineer be accepted.

State Engineer O'Connell recommended, subject to the approval of the bureau of public roads, that the contract on the Wickenburg-Morristown highway-F. A. 59, 2d Reo. (1937) A.F.E. 6062, be awarded to the Tanner Construction company using road mix method, which is the low lid of all bids, in the amount of $61,603,-

ARIZONA HIGHWAYS

85. It was regularly moved by Commissioner Seale, seconded by Commissioner Addams, and unanimously carried, that the recommendation of the state engineer be accepted.

State Engineer O'Connell recommended, subject to the approval of the bureau of public roads, that the contract on the Tempe-Chandler highway (McClintock avenue overpass) W.P.G.S. 126-A. F. E. 618, be awarded to the low bidder, Vinson and Pringle, in the amount of $44,619.98. It was regularly moved by Commissioner Addams, seconded by Commissioner Angle, and unanimously carried, that the recommendation of the state engineer be accepted.

State Engineer O'Connell in discussing the grade separation on Mill avenue in the city of Tempe, said the first design made was for an overpass, however, the city of Tempe and the board of supervisors objected to it, so a design was made on an underpass. Due to the high water level, it was necessary to have a special design made of the underpass to take care of the uplift of water, which makes the cost considerably more than an overpass, but if it is possible to acquire enough savings to fulfill the request of the city of Tempe and the board of supervisors, an underpass could be built. However, in a letter acknowledging receipt of plans for both the underpass and overpass, Mr. C. H. Sweetser, district engineer of the bu reau of public roads, stated the overpass look much the cheaper and, if this is the case, he felt it should be used. Also, that the underpass plans show a sag verticalcurve 150 feet long connecting 6% grades and although this is the standard used at Tucson, Douglas and Wickenburg, those underpasses are within towns, whereas Millavenue is out of town and on a straight stretch of road and he believed the sharp, vertical curve would be uncomfortable, if not dangerous, to traffic. He recommended a longer vertical in place of the 150 foot one.

NOVEMBER, 1936

There being no further business to come before the commission, it was unanimously agreed that they adjourn at 12:45 P.M., October 26, 1936, to meet again at the call of the chair.

Editorial

Development it is necessary to select entirely new locations for the trunk lines.

Other badly needed improvements that it has been possible to supply in the current program include a general widening of road surfaces; the complete separation of lanes for opposing traffic where density of movement requires more than two lanes; the elimination of the more dangerous railroad crossings, the provision of by-pass routes around cities and the improvement of routes of direct access to the centers of cities.

Improvements of these kinds and the placing of higher types of surface necessitated by increased traffic are being carried forward on the main highways. At the same time a substantial beginning has been made in the improvement of secondary or land service roads.

Additional monthly charge now 15 cents for only 18 months.

No charge to change your present telephone to a hand set.

Order Yours Today! Just call our business office - The Mountain States Tel. & Tel. Company