Remnants of a Tropical Frontier.

Remnants of a Tropical

High in a narrow cleft of a can-yon in the Kofa mountains of central Yuma County, Arizona, is a small grove of palms bear-ing the name of Washingtonia arizonica. Isolated far from lanes of travel and made inaccessible by natural barriers, these unique palms were known to only a few prospectors and wanderers until a few years ago, when they were "discovered" by scien tists.

According to R. S. Stitt, formerly nat-uralist at the United States Department of Agriculture experiment station at Bard, and Randall Henderson, publisher, writer, and desert lover, there are just fifty-two Washingtonia arizonica in the main canyon and a few more to be seen in inaccessible crevices and ledges. Stitt is authority for the statement that the palms were classified and named by Dr. O. F. Cook of the United States De-partment of Agriculture in 1922.

Experts in specialized branches of botany say there are more than a thous-and varieties of palm trees in the world. One of the most famous in the United States and a species peculiar only to Southern California, is the Washingtonia filifera of the Colorado desert. Few people know of the existence of the close-ly related species near the Colorado river in Arizona which rivals its sister palm in rarity and beauty.

The Washingtonia group of the Colo-rado desert is said to have been classi-fied by a French botanist who admired the United States first president and bestowed his name on the "cabbage tree" of Lt.Col .

Washingtonia ari-zonica is identical in general form but the berries are smaller and the fronds are finer and a more glossy green. It no doubt gets its species name from its location, although there is no record of another similar group of palms in Ari-zona. This isolated group of palms is found in the Kofa range twenty miles south of paved U. S. Highway No. 60 in Ari-zona-which brings us again to a discussion of names. Kofa is the contraction of King of Arizona, which was the name of a rich mine and now virtually abandoned town on the south side of the mountain. The King of Arizona gold mine was discovered by Charles Eichelberg and was sold to Col. Eugene Ives in 1899 for $250,000 after Eichelberg had already amassed more than a million dollars from the rich vein. A post-office was established at the town of Kofa, June 5, 1900. It is now practically a ghost town, relic of colorful mining booms. The range north of the town and mine bears the same name, although it is sometimes given other names,

LOWER GROUP