YOURS SINCERELY

May I make one slight criticism? I miss very much the semi-relief map you used to print on the last page. That map was always a help in locating places mentioned in the magazine. Louis Morey, 80 Garfield Ave., Easthampton, Mass.

If suggestions are in order, I would like to make one. How about an illustrated article on Phoenix Union High School. I attended P. U. H. S. one year and have never seen a school to compare with it anywhere. John Y. Helm, Strater Hotel, Durango, Colorado.

Charles R. Jones, President, Arizona Temple, Church of Jesus Christ of LatterDay Saints, Mesa, Arizona. BLIZZARDThe February issue of Arizona Highways arrived at the peak of time. Plowing ourselves out of a blizzard and snow storm, the refreshing views and historical knowledge were an impetus to go on. I'm more than pleased that you are picturing trees. Desert has been quite overdone.

Stella M. Adelman, Adelman Motor Sales and Service Company, Lockport, Illinois.

Mable A. Genung, M. D., Yarnell, Arizona.

The splendid appearance of your magazine and the many fine pictures it carries make it very helpful to us in familiarizing people in the east with what there is to see in Arizona, and we certainly appreciate the fine cooperation you are rendering in sending us these magazines for distribution.

Jack Roberts, Advertising Manager, Transcontinental & Western Air, Inc. Kansas City, Mo.

BESH-BA-GOWAHNearly a year ago we visited Besh-ba-gowah under the guidance of Mrs. Vickery, who very splendidly described and pointed out the old patios, walls, the burials, the charred roof timbers and supports, the various stone utensils, bits of pottery, beads and other relics of the long ago people who dwelt in Besh-ba-gowah. To visit the ruins under Mrs. Vickery's delightful instructions was one of great interest and it was one of the outstanding events in our Arizona experience.

Mrs. Mary H. Chamberlain, Newberry, Michigan.

May I as a gesture of good wishes to your magazine offer a suggestion to get a wider circulation and support for the magazine, based on observations of a similar experince which proved priceless and 100% successful. The idea is this: There are a number of fine artists of reputation who would be glad to visit Arizona and paint a fine painting of some outstanding Arizona beauty spot. There need not be more than six or more if you desire. These paintings to be produced as an art supplement. the original paintings then to be exhibited throughout the United States, Canada and Europe all to the glory of Arizona.

August William Hutaf, Weehawken, N. J.

FRIENDSThe February issue of Arizona Highways came this morning. Within fifteen minutes four of our friends in this end of the hall had dropped in for their copies. These friends represent four states, Delaware, Ohio, Kansas and Texas.

You will be pleased to know that your magazine is the best Arizona advertising medium that one could possibly have.

Lloyd Allyn, Assistant Secretary to Rep. Murdock, Washington, D. C.

Superintendent Tillotson has just forwarded to me a copy of "Scenic Arizona" recently published by your commission for free distribution to tourists entering Arizona through the various highway patrol checking station This brochure, devoted almost in its entirety to areas coming under the jurisdiction of this Service, represents a splendid job of mapmaking and printing, and I wish to express to the commission our appreciation for this excellent medium of bringing the nation's pleasure grounds to the attention of the traveling public..

Arno B. Cammerer, Director, National Park Service, Washington, D. C.

Your publication is doing much to acquaint Arizonans with the beauties of their state; also to advertise to the motoring public that our state is worthy of a visit.

Mrs. D. R. Williamson, Globe, Arizona.

NEWS STANDSI am wondering if it wouldn't be a good idea to put your magazine on the news stands out here. Everyone who sees mine asks, "Where can I buy them?"

Mrs. D. Eyman Huff, Orange, California.

On several occasions I have had opportunity to recommend the Arizona climate to certain young people who are not really sick but who have a nervous irritability of the skin which is remarkably benefitted by a year's or two year's residence in the sunny dry climate of Arizona. Any additional information that you can give me by which I can put these people in line with places to reside will be appreciated. Louis A. Brunsting, M. D. Mayo Clinic Rochester, Minnesota.

We have many calls for Arizona Highways in our library, both as a source of information in answering questions pertaining to Arizona and as a magazine to be read for the sheer pleasure of reading.

Gertrude Hill, Librarian, Flagstaff Public Library, Flagstaff, Arizona.

ARIZONIQUES

Coal exists in large quantities on Indian reservations in northern Arizona, and at several places some coal is being mined for local consumption.

The shortest national highway in Arizona, U. S. 91, extending from the Utah border to that of Nevada, is only 17 miles long, while the longest, U. S. 89, extending from the Utah line to Mexico, is 618 miles in length.

Arizona, with annual sales averaging approximately 35 million dollars, leads the nation in actual per capita retail sales.

The Gila Monster, more common in Arizona than elsewhere, is a unique and interesting animal. Its body is beautiful in coloring and highly varied in pattern of its bead-like skin. Like the Indian blanket or basket, there are no two alike. Contrary to general belief, though the Gila Monster is one of the only two poisonous lizards in the world, it is far from dangerous for the sensible person who passes by.

There are upwards of 46,000 Indians in Arizona in fact, the state is roughly bounded by Indian tribes. On the south, the Papago; on the west, the Yuman tribes and the Chemehuevi; on the north, the southern Paiute and Navajo; on the east, the Apache.

There is a tradition that $60,000 worth of silver utensils once decorated the altar of San Xavier mission, nine miles to the south of Tucson, and that this metal was mined in the Santa Rita mountains nearby.

At the outbreak of the Civil War all of the federal troops were withdrawn from the territory of Arizona and the people were left to the mercy of the Apaches and the outlaws. After the close of the war new military posts were established and the Apache menace gradually abated with the surrender of Geronimo in 1882.

Due to the state's wide range of elevations and a climate range from the sub-tropical to the arctic of the eighteen great world types of vegetation, Arizona has nine, while of the twenty-two types distinguished in the United States, Arizona has twelve.

In 1872, the alleged discovery of diamond fields in Arizona created a great excitement throughout the nation when a New York company, with a capital of $10,000,000 exploited the fake deal. A United States geologist finally visited the fields and discovered the claim had been artfully "salted" with rough diamonds and that the area was in another state hundreds of miles from the Arizona line.

Hotevilla is one of the Hopi Indian villages founded by the "hostiles" who wanted to retain old tribal ways, and separated from the "friendlies" who were willing to accept rulings and assistance from Washington, D. C.

Lee's Ferry, near Arizona's northern border was named after John D. Lee, explorer and miner in Grand Canyon, leader of the Mountain Meadow Massacre in Southern Utah, in 1857. He hid in Grand Canyon, was captured and executed 20 years later.

In 1900, Prescott's business section, around the Courthouse plaza, was almost totally swept by flames, demolishing "Whiskey Row," and left only two of the town's 35 saloons standing.

The great Yuma flood of 1891 left but 50 of the 350 buildings in the town, a fringe of houses along the railroad track being all there was left.

Part of the grounds surrounding the old log house in Prescott, known as the "Governor's Mansion," where the first territorial governors made their homes, has been designated as the state historical garden by the Arizona Federation of Garden clubs. It is hoped to have many early plantings and native shrubs placed in this area.

You are invited to join the citizens of Arizona in celebrating the 400th anniversary of the arrival of Fray Marcos de Niza, first white man to set foot on Arizona's soil.