Editor's Letter

We were still thawing out from the Great Ice Storm of 1976 when the wagon train rolled in. It was cold that day, too. Damp, with scattered showers. The high was in the low 50s. Painter’s pants were popular then. And most of us were wearing them on April 23, with some combination of red and blue sneakers and sweaters. The school released us around noon, and we made our way downtown, a choppy stream of schoolkids unaffected by the soggy weather and high on having dodged the last few classes of the day.

Terry Connors and I quietly broke from the herd, along with Tommy Fisher, Tim Stowers and a few other street urchins. Terry’s parents owned a bar on the main street in our small town. It used to be
a bank, and it still looked like a bank from the outside. Inside, it was a stereotype. We were headed to the roof of the two-story building. It was slippery up there, and there weren’t any guardrails, but we had the best seats in town for the big parade, which began at 2:30 p.m. when the Bicentennial Wagon Train crossed the bridge over the Wisconsin River.

The train was made up of prairie schooners and Conestoga wagons from all 50 states. It began its journey in Blaine, Washington, and eventually arrived in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, on the Fourth of July. Like the “Bicentennial Minutes,” a nightly dose of patriotic Kool-Aid, the wagon train was a hallmark of our nation’s yearlong bender.

Another highlight was Charles Kuralt’s On the Road to ’76 series. Throughout the year, a production crew from CBS visited each of the 50 states to film a short human interest piece. Tom Cooper was our editor at the time.
 

“In October 1975,” he said, “I got a call from somebody at CBS in New York who asked, ‘What’s happening in Arizona during the bicentennial that would make a good story for Kuralt?’ I was ready for him, because Jim Stevens, our business director, and I had decided to commission two outstanding Navajo weavers to create a U.S. and an Arizona ‘flag rug.’ Senator Barry Goldwater said he’d get the American flag flown over the U.S. Capitol. Then we’d fly the Arizona flag over the Arizona State Capitol. Afterward, we’d auction off the ‘flags’ and donate the funds to Navajo Community College to help support the preservation of the wonderful art of Navajo weaving.

“Charles Kuralt was an absolute delight to work with. But at some point, he’d heard about a local medicine man known as ʻFriday’ who rode into one of the trading posts almost every Friday morning to buy coffee. Unfortunately, it’s Thursday afternoon at this point and I can feel Charles’ wheels turning. He wants to set up on Friday morning with cameraman Izzy Bleckman and document this old guy riding into the trading post — there goes my Arizona Highways flag story.

“I lay awake that Thursday night trying to figure out how a medicine man coming to buy coffee fit into the bicentennial concept, and how it was going to scrap my flag story. But here’s the happy ending: Izzy, Charles and I were standing out in a cold wind for two hours that morning, waiting for Friday to come trotting down this dry wash to get his coffee. Well, Friday must have overslept. He didn’t show. We froze for two hours waiting for him; then, Izzy says, ‘Charles, I think we oughta finish the flag story.’ ”

The “flag” was made by Sadie Curtis, a noted weaver at Hubbell Trading Post in Ganado. In addition, Mary Lee Begay, another weaver at Hubbell, created an equally beautiful replica of the Arizona flag. On June 14, 1976 — Flag Day — the 4-by-6-foot American flag rug was raised over our nation’s Capitol. It was hoisted by Wes Holden, our associate editor, and Carolyn Hartmann.

“The day before we went on top of the Capitol,” Ms. Hartmann said, “I met Wes in Senator Goldwater’s office — I was the senator’s receptionist. I did a lot of different things in that role. When Wes came in, he was showing me the flag and telling me that we were going to go on top of the Capitol — on the roof — and fly it the next day. OK, all right … you know, I’m an Arizonan … I can do this. I was younger then. The next day, I put on my dress — a red, white and blue dress — and we raised the Navajo flag rug over the Capitol.”

Two weeks later, on July 1, Governor Raul Castro flew both rugs over the Arizona Capitol. And Ms. Curtis was featured on the cover of our July 1976 issue. Then, on December 12, the two rugs were auctioned off at the Ashton Gallery in Scottsdale by Western film star Rex Allen. The American flag rug was sold to Gerald Thomas for $4,000. John Wilson bought the other rug for $3,750. When adjusted for inflation, the auction raised $45,000 for the scholarship fund at the school, known today as Diné College.

I’ve been wondering about those rugs, and where they might be. So I started looking.

Like a golden retriever eagerly hoping a potato chip will fall to the floor, I was hoping the rugs had somehow made it back to the Navajo Nation. Turns out, one of them is in the next best place. In 2001, Mr. Thomas donated the American flag rug to Valley Presbyterian Church for its annual fundraiser. The Heard Museum bought it from the church and put it in its permanent collection. It’ll be on display until early 2028. You should go and see it. And everything else at the Heard.

Meantime, on behalf of everyone at Arizona Highways, I wish you all a safe and happy Fourth of July.