APACHE TRAIL- SPECTACULAR MODERN SCENICWAY

second largest national forest in the United States, covering nearly two and one-half million acres.

Prominent is the graceful ocotillo, sometimes known as the devil's candlesticks, with its long slender wand-like stems, tipped with flame-colored blooms throughout the summer. There is considerable cholla, or as it is better known, "jumping cactus," whose many fine spines are tipped with tiny hooks that seems to reach out and grab, and incidentally, hang on to everything they touch. The stately saguaro, or giant cactus, rears its great form sometimes as high as fifty feet, in splendor, and in spring bears white blossoms of rare beauty. Numerous desert plants including greasewood, creosote bush and catclaw cover the hillsides as well as mesquite, ironwood and palo verde trees. In the spring the yellow blossoms of the palo verde Whirl Pool Rocks, an intriguing formation resembling whirling waters, caused by the erosive forces of wind and water through countless years.

The trail descends rapidly toward Canyon Lake, the first of a chain of lakes formed by the impounded waters of the series of reclamation dams-Roosevelt, Horse Mesa, Mormon Flat and Stewart Mountain dams. The latter dam, which holds Saguaro Lake, is ten miles below Mormon Flat Dam and seven miles north of the Apache Trail. It is 212 feet high above bedrock and cost $2,515,000 for the dam and a power system of 17,500 horsepower. Neither the dam nor the lake can be seen from the Apache Trail and are reached by a road leading north, eight miles east of Mesa, from the U. S. highways.

Continuing on the trail, a fork to the left leads to Mormon Flat Dam which Suggest a mass of gold and is undoubtedly the most beautiful tree of the desert. To the south is Weaver's Needle, an isolated peak of volcanic rock and a prominent landmark in the Superstition range. This sharp, insurmountable peak is named for Pauline Weaver, a noted trader, trapper, scout and guide. He was one of Arizona's first white settlers, coming here in 1830. Inscribed upon the inner wall of Casa Grande ruins National Monument is "Pauline Weaver1832."

The roadbed here is cut through red rock, then an almost white, and again red, and is an unusual and colorful sight. The trail now follows a winding mountain grade, weaving in and around through multi-colored spires and peaks that are studded with gorgeous desert flora. This broken country of colorful cliffs and palisades, as unbelievable as it may seem, was an old and favored battleground of the warring clans of Apaches. Farther on and to the left is

MAY, 1939

Tonto National Monument.

holds the waters of Canyon Lake, and which is also out of sight from the Apache Trail. Mormon Flat Dam is 350 feet long and 305 feet high above bedrock, and cost about $1,257,000, and the power plant, which develops 10,000 horsepower, an additional $500,000.

Magnificent Canyon Lake, proclaimed by many travelers to be one of the most beautiful in America, reflects the massive canyon walls which in some places (Turn to Page 28)