WONDERLAND OF ROCKS

THE Indians are coming down the rocks, screamed Mary Fife as she rushed into the Stafford home in what is now the Chiricahua National Monument. The family hurriedly gathered together the "shooting irons" and ammunition and rushed to the house of their neighbors, the Ericksons. Sergeant Neil Erickson had served in the United States army in southeastern Arizona. He liked the country so much that when he retired he staked out a homestead in the mouth of Bonita Canyon where Faraway Ranch now stands. Near neighbors to the Ericksons were the Staffords. Colonel J. Huges Stafford owned good horses and had a magnificent stallion which was his favorite personal mount. He also had a "glass eyed" mare. The Colonel was the only one who could catch this mare in the open corral. In the Stafford house there was an adobe room with thick walls which was used as a fort by the two families. To this they all went. A supply of food and water was brought in together with the guns and powder. By evening the Indians had not put in an appearance. Colonel Stafford went out to reconnoiter. He found tracks showing that two Indians, a buck and a squaw, had passed without being observed. He also found that they had taken his stallion and headed up the canyon into the rocks.

Agency. The buck, Massai, who was also known to the whites as Big Foot, and his squaw had been down in Mexico. The woman was about to become a mother and they were anxious to get back to the Agency. Because of the squaw's condition they stole the horse. They had hoped to secure two horses but were unable to catch the mare, so they turned her out. After leaving the squaw at the Agency, Big Foot rode through Stockton Pass into New Mexico. There he traded the horse to a man from whom Colonel Stafford subsequently recovered him. John Hand in the 1890's started exploring the Rocks and he and Ed Riggs, owner of Faraway Ranch, built the first trails and guided parties into the Wonderland. The beauties of the present National Monument are the result of millions of years of building up and tearing down by the forces of nature. Some of the world's oldest rocks are visible on the Monument, the same kinds seen in the inner gorge of the Grand Canyon. Then we find limestone formations showing that this area was, at one time, the bottom of a sea. The lava seems to have been laid down in plates by numerous successive flows of different degrees of hardness. As the molten rock cooled, it cracked, opening up great fissures. Into these cracks the water flowed and started the last stage erosion. The unusual forms now visible are the result of the varying degrees of hardness of the different layers of rock, some of these layers wearing away much more rapidly than others.

On April 18, 1924, President Coolidge, by proclamation, set aside the Chiricahua National Monument and this spring President Roosevelt increased the area of the Monument to about twenty thousand acres. The total area covered by the rock formation is about twelve square miles.

On Labor Day, 1934, five thousand people attended the dedication of the new highway through the Monument to the summit of the Chiricahua Mountains, the terminus of the road being at Massai Point (named for the Indian horse thief) at the head of Rhyolite Canyon. The road is wide and easily driven.

More than twelve miles of fine trails have been built on the Monument by the C. C. C. boys so that the visitor may comfortably see the beauties either on foot or horseback.

An outstanding feature of the Wonderland of Rocks is that one does not have to stretch his imagination to see the various forms that have been named. There are many balanced rocks, the largest of which is "The Big Balanced Rock" weighing six hundred and eighty two tons and resting on a base only four and one third-feet in diameter; "Thor's Hammer," "The Bottle," "The Totem Pole," are some of the larger formations; "Punch and Judy' are so realistic that one can imagine that they are ready to speak; "The Duck," "The Chicken," "The Anvil," "The Mushroom," "The Old Maid" and "The African Lady" are all extremely true to life; "The Praying Friar" kneels with face lifted to heaven on the skyline just beyond the Checking Station; farther on the trail and across the canyon is "The Chinaman." There is a natural bridge with a forty foot span. Thirty miles away is "Cochise Head," great rock mass on the skyline that resembles the profile of that famous Indian in a reclining position. Ed Riggs has very aptly described the area as "One place where the law of gravitation doesn't seem to work." Several days can be profitably and enjoyably spent in this beautiful section although one may see the greater portion hurriedly in a single day.

There is an excellent camp ground where every convenience has been supplied by the National Park Service. Stone fireplaces, wood, pure running water, modern toilet facilities, garbage pits, tables with benches, plenty of shade, shower baths and even a laundry are available. The custodian is Frank L. Fish, who, with his assistants, will help visitors to plan trips and in many cases will guide them. Horses are secured at reasonable rates for those who wish to ride. Faraway Ranch is located at the edge of the Monument and provides comfortable homelike accommodations for any who wish to stop there.

Greater numbers of tourists are visiting the Monument each year. Before very long it is expected that the number of visitors will exceed that going to any other National Monument in Arizona and second in number only to the Grand Canyon National Park.