PROGRESS AND DEVELOPMENT OF ARIZONA ROADS

ONE day during the Mesozoic Era a few reptiles belonging to the dinosaur group became weary of the wet, spongy earth they were traveling through. They had taken notice of some dry and stable ground nearby and were urged by divine inspiration to change their course and try this tempting section. Doing this they had by accident discovered the comfort of traveling on a solid but slightly plastic ground. Today perfectly recorded in a slab of limestone can be seen the imprints of these three-toed lizards who, on that bright but humid day, inadvertently discovered the value of a stable material to travel on and left for us to discover later definite proof that Arizona is the birth place of the modern highway. These authentic records can be seen at a place a few miles east of the Grand Canyon.

Now skipping a few geological periods we discover other evidence of early day travel in Arizona. This time we find a network of trails connecting a number of cliff dwellings scattered throughout the State. Those dwellings have long been abandoned, and perhaps it was the too frequent use of these connecting trails by war parties that caused the ultimate downfall of this primitive race of people. However, this is a matter of conjecture, since the cliff dwellers have vanished from their ancient homes, perhaps again to reestablish themselves in pueblos erected on top of our high and isolated mesas.

Leaving our Indian now safely perched on the mountain top, let us direct our attention to Old Mexico where the next step in transportation progress is about to take place. Here we find a small group of Spanish explorers and missionaries discussing the rich villages to the north, called the Seven Cities of Cibola, where silver, so the Indians told them, was used for material in their construction. Omitting the details of the ensuing expedition which ended in disaster to many, we find the beginning of civilized trail breaking that brought the first white man to Arizona. It was this expedition conducted in the year 1539 that brought Fray Marcos de Niza to Arizona in his search for the Seven Cities of Cibola. He returned immediately to Mexico minus the coveted building material. The adventure is celebrated this year in commemoration of the four-hundredth anniversary of this trip.

During the next three centuries the Spanish penetrated and conquered most of the northern territory. Their main occupation was the construction of missions and converting some of the tribes, and doing a small amount of mining and farming. We have little knowledge of the progress they made in road construction during this period, but can safely assume that a few crude roads were built, adequate perhaps for the simple needs of a small number of cannon and carts.

The early American influence in this new territory was first represented by the infrequent appearance of trappers who traveled mainly by horseback and pack train. They contributed little toward the development of early roads, since their interests were mostly in the high and rougher country where game was found in abundance.

The first authentic attempt by Americans to traverse the Territory with modern equipment occurred in the years 1846 and 1847 when a military expedition, en route from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to Yuma, on the Colorado, broke thefirst wagon road across the State. With them were 15 mule-drawn wagons.

Since the military forces were engaged at that time in protection work, they found wheeled equipment unsatisfactory for their use. They decided to try new equipment. Their difficulty was solved temporarily by importing camels from the East and using them for packing. The camels made successful cross-country trips and were given credit for being entirely satisfactory, but one day in 1877 near Gila Bend, they were turned loose on the desert to drift until exterminated by the elements and old age.

The need for roadway development by now had reached an important stage, and Congress found it necessary to appropriate $50,000 for the construction of a road from Fort Defiance, New Mexico, to the Colorado River, near the mouth of the Mohave, and $200,000 for a road from El Paso, Texas, to Yuma. The latter route was more important to transcontinental travel. Construction work started in 1857 and was completed the following year. This can be designated as the first Federal aid post road in Arizona, since it was over this route that stage lines carried the mail, express and passengers to California, or to points east.

Arizona was acquired from Mexico in the year 1848, and in 1863 was created into a territory separate from the west-ern half of New Mexico. It became an actual political entity in the 80's.

Our modern highway system actually began in 1909 when an act was approved that created the office of the Territorial Engineer, whose duty was "to aid the Board of Control in selecting and desig-nating highways and supervising their construction and maintenance." Prior to the act, road work was carried on under the direction of district road overseers who were appointed by County Super-visors, who spent annually about $200,000.

Immediately after the office of Engineer was created and an engineer appointed to fill the position, a tentative system of Territorial Highways was laid out, consisting of a north and south, and an east and west road. Upon funds becoming available from land and other property taxes, construction work on sections of these two main systems was carried on as far as possible up to the advent of Statehood in 1912. At the expiration of Territorial authority, about 145 miles of highways had been constructed.

Following Statehood a State Highway Engineer was appointed and a State Road Law approved. Highway opera-tion continued under this form of administration until 1927 when the present Commission system was established.

Here we have but briefly touched on the road progress of our State, and in a spirit of jest we modestly lay claim to the birthplace of the trail and by stages have traced a steady progress in the growth and development of our present system of high-standard roads. The cause for this progress in highway development was the demand placed upon it by present and future traffic needs. Modern road building began from taxes on property but these funds have been withdrawn and today the only assured source of financing highway im-provement is the yield of motor vehicle license fees, gasoline taxes and Federal aids. This revenue must provide the funds necessary to construct roads of greater width, improve the horizontal and vertical alignment, to resurface fail-ing pavement, revamp bridges or meet any urgent requirement demanded by the present high-speed motor population that has increased 73% during the past With this thought in mind, Arizona joined the other States and the Bureau of Public Roads in conducting a series of related, fact-finding studies designed to develop information needed as a basis for a sound program of future highway improvement. We were Number 16 to organize our State-wide Plan-ning Survey. Since all are familiar with the function of the Planning Survey, no time will be devoted to its explanation, but we will instead describe our progress and some of the connecting difficulties.

Our initial field work is complete and approximately 75 per cent of the office work is finished. Our annual average working force consisted of 42 State and 27 W.P.A. employees.

The field traffic studies were conducted with the aid of loadometer and pit scales and traffic counts by manual and automatic counters. To secure a maximum representative truck and bus sample we located 36 stations on the State Highway System at points that are passable the entire year. From these locations the frequency of truck and bus movement, their origin and destination, their distribution on the different road systems, their classification by types, whether they were of rural or urban ownership, their weight, length, height and width and the nature of their loads were taken. Passenger car traffic was In the high mountain regions of the state, Arizona's modern highways lend themselves well to the needs of safety and high speed travel.

Similarly surveyed, but in less detail. With this information tabulated and de-lineated on traffic flow maps, the average daily densities can be studied at a glance for any section of roadway, whether it is an important section on the primary system or just a mediocre streak of dust on the primitive system. One tabulation has already shown that 72% of all vehicle miles traveled in Arizona by vehicles registered in incorporated areas are traveled on the State Highway System after they leave the incorporated areas. Other tables show that 93% of the trips made in Arizona are intra-state trips, that of all foreign vehicles interviewed 18% were making intra-state trips. That in trucking exchange between California and Arizona, California has a safe lead in agricultural, manufactures and miscellaneous products, but of animal and animal products we lead by a safe margin.

These are but a few of the results of our traffic studies. Their value is not in reviewing and comparing figures but in supplying the heretofore unknown factors necessary in the determination of the future needs of this increasing traffic. Our studies should and will greatly contribute to the solution of this problem, especially the financial survey. This fiscal study will contribute knowledge toward future financing, knowledge vitally necessary in the maintenance of an unbroken continuity of highway needs and improvement.

Geographically speaking Arizona ranks We have fourteen counties ranging in size from the smallest, or Santa Cruz County, which is equal in area to the State of Rhode Island, to our largest county of Coconino which is equal to the combined areas of Vermont and New Hampshire. Since mapping the State is a major feature of the Planning Survey, some of the difficulties involved in its development may be of interest. Indian names naturally provide the greatest amount of research in our endeavor to spell them correctly. In recent years the Indian Department has encouraged the tribes to be self-supporting and to rely more upon their own resources. This encourage-ment was so well taken that many of the affairs of self-government are decided by a governing body known as the tribal council, and their enthusiasm for doing things is apparently boundless. I refer to place names only, please remember.

We have fourteen counties ranging in size from the smallest, or Santa Cruz County, which is equal in area to the State of Rhode Island, to our largest county of Coconino which is equal to the combined areas of Vermont and New Hampshire. Since mapping the State is a major feature of the Planning Survey, some of the difficulties involved in its devel-opment may be of interest. Indian names naturally provide the greatest amount of research in our endeavor to spell them correctly. In recent years the Indian Department has encouraged the tribes to be self-supporting and to rely more upon their own resources. This encourage-ment was so well taken that many of the affairs of self-government are decided by a governing body known as the tribal council, and their enthusiasm for doing things is apparently boundless. I refer to place names only, please remember.

Frequently this august group of redmen will decide to change the names of a few villages, causing our map department no end of trouble. An example of this difficulty is found on the Papago Reservation, located in the southern portion of the State, where recent changes have been submitted for approval. For years the village of Santa Rosa was known by no other name; now it has been changed to Gu Achi. Covered Wells had its face lifted and now proudly calls itself Maish Vaya; Santa Cruz is Como Vo; Sweet-water will perhaps be Siovi Shuatuk, and San Juan is Hahakamuk. Our base map will reflect all changes and the new names appearing thereon will not be dif-ficult to pronounce once you master the Papago tongue. We encounter similar difficulties all over the State. Recently the Bureau called our attention to the spelling of a place on the Navajo Reservation in the Fifth in area, and our population speak several native languages in addition to the predominating English and Spanish. The other languages referred to are of course Indian. The major tribes speak different tongues, have different customs and live on different reservations set aside for them. These tribes are the Apache, the Navajo, Hopi, Mohave, Hual-pai, Piute, Havasupai, Yuma, Cocopah, Pima, Papago, Maricopa and Zuni. They represent one-tenth of our total popula-tion.

A modern highway in Arizona represents all the details that modern engineering science can design into a roadway.

Northern part of the State. We had shown this as Zihl-dush-jhini. The In-dian Service may calls the place Zihidush-jhini and the U. S. G. S. map has shown it as Zilh-tah-jini. This difficulty is yet unsolved.

Our map troubles are not all confined to reservations, however. To describe a drainage in Arizona it is proper to choose one of several terms, all meaning the same thing. These terms are: a stream, an arroyo, a wash, a gulch, a draw, and the Papagos call the lower end of these an ak-chin. The trouble starts when the same drain is shown as a draw on one sheet of the map and continued as a wash on the next sheet. Since the field work connected with our maps covers the road inventory and culture only, we depend on other sources of information to complete their construction. This information has been furnished us by State Departments, Counties, Cities, Forest, Indian and Park Services, air maps, railroads, irrigation districts, and others.

To better acquaint you with some of the work involved in the preparation of a county base map let us select Coconino County. The area of this county is 18,623 square miles. Reference maps used were Township plats, U. S. Geological Survey quadrangles numbering 8 sheets, three of them advance sheets, National Forest maps of the Kaibab, Sitgreaves, Prescott and Coconino forests. Others were Soil Conservation maps of the Navajo Country, Department of the Interior map of Arizona and of the Boulder Dam Recreational Area, Bureau of Public Roads Transportation Map, Post Office map of Arizona, Indian Service sketch map of the Kaibab Indian Reservation, National Park Service map of Bright Angel Point area and the South Rim village area, U. S. Geological Survey and University of Arizona map of Arizona, U. S. G. S. River Survey of the Little Colorado River from mouth to Tolchico damsite, Santa Fe Railroad right of way maps, Coconino County map, Townsite plats, Department of Commerce Aeronautical quadrangles and other information. The completed base map was reviewed by the County Engineer's office, Grand Canyon National Park Superintendent's office, Forest Supervisor's office of the Kaibab, Coconino and Sitgreaves Forests, and on the Navajo and Hualpai Reservations were reviewed by the respective superintend-

Events

Events' offices. All names as far as possible were checked against the records of the U. S. Geographic Board and the University of Arizona Place Names Book.

In addition to the references mentioned all maps and notes on file at the State Highway Department were used. This county, incidentally, embraces part of the Grand Canyon.

It would appear from the description just given that the inventory division of the planning survey is only a mapmaking agency surrounded by much worry and distress. This is hardly the case, however. This department is also responsible for the development of the first complete inventory of all rural public roads within the State's boundaries. They will tabulate by systems the mileage, surface types, widths, structures, The location, measurement and description of all substandard sections; also a complete, detailed grade crossing survey showing by diagrams their situation, highway traffic and train movement, number and cause of all accidents occurring at each intersection for a period of five years. With our 27,500 miles of rural roads and 750 grade crossings this is not a small job in itself when properly executed.

In conclusion it may be mentioned that up to the present time we have not applied a great deal of planning survey data to our work. We did, however, in conducting origin and destination studies in connection with preliminary surveys on a number of new sections being considered as additions to the State System find these data invaluable. Our Secondary and Feeder Road Federal Aid System is being scientifically treated by using these data.

Upon completion of the initial report, which will embody the greater amount of statistical work, it is hoped that the foundation for future study will have been firmly established, that highway authorities may better estimate future traffic needs and at the same time prevent unnecessary expansion of the State System beyond the ability of the State to maintain a regular replacement program from funds annually available.

SITTING ON TOP OF THE WORLD

(Continued from Page 9) Saying that when he was digging the Grand Canyon and using the dirt to make the San Francisco Peaks, he accidently spilled a load of the brightly colored earth there and so he named it Sunset Mountain.

Beyond these hills and still more to the northward, it seems but a stone's throw to the Little Colorado River with its muddy rapids, its Grand Falls, and its majestic walls of sandstone and limestone plunging from one to three thousand feet in a single breath-taking drop.

Beyond this river, as far as the eye can reach, shimmers the immense and colorful expanse of the Painted Desert, a region scarred with domes, buttes and vermilion cliffs. Truly an enchanted land, where strips of purple sage alternate with patches of waving grasses to form a part of this mighty red and gold desert land, where Shadow Mountain stands forever in shadow as Sunset does in sunshine; where beautiful billowy clouds are massing for storm and weave lacy shadows on the mesas; where the age-old battlements of Monument Valley keep their silent watch over this magic waste place, home of the Navajo and Hopi; where every year near Oraibi, the oldest continuously inhabited town in the United States, the Hopi Indians stage their famous Snake Dance. Along in August when the last rays of a setting sun touch the sacred stone in the kiva, this primitive ceremony begins and is the Indian prayer for rain in the heart of this strange, silent and unconquerable land. It was here that Zane Grey found inspiration for his stories and descriptions in "Wild Horse Mesa" and "The Vanishing American." To the east, the Painted Desert is flanked by Canyon Diablo and the Petrified Forest. In this vicinity one also spots Meteor Mountain near Winslow. It is estimated that about five thousand years ago the largest meteor that ever hit the earth buried itself here a thousand feet under the surface. The terrific impact formed a crater six hundred feet deep, three miles around and with a floor of forty acres. On the opposite side this desert is guarded by the snow-crowned, gray bulk of Navajo Mountain, near whose base the little visited Rainbow Bridge spans a deep and rugged canyon. These two sublime touches of Nature provide the background for the characters in the "Rainbow Trail," and, not far away is that only spot in the United States where the boundaries of four states cross at right angles. It is said that Navajo Mountain holds rich deposits of gold and other rare minerals, but white men who have very foolishly prospected there have mysteriously disappeared. This God of the Navajo is jealously guarded by the Red Man and still remains unexplained and unexplored.

The Painted Desert has been called Nature's palette on which the Great Artist obtained and blended the colors for the Grand Canyon: Magic chasm deep and wide, Colors changing as the changing tide, Temples, domes, untrampled sodMasterpiece of Almighty God! This sublime spectacle, which defies all the words in all the languages to describe it, lies to the northwest of the Peaks about eighty miles away, and is the crowning attraction of this whole magnificent panorama. Hour after hour can be spent under the spell of its everchanging color and line; many months could be taken up exploring down into the mile of its depth and across the thirteen miles of its width up on to its north rim. Here we find the Kaibab Forest sheltering a herd of thirty thousand deer and other game. Back from the rim we can see House Rock Valley, the home of a large herd of wild buffalo. Skirting this valley we see the Vermilion Cliffs zig-zaging their way from Lee's Ferry back to where the Buckskin Mountains drop again to the level of the desert. This is the little traveled country where once lived and loved the "Riders of the Purple Sage."

At last toward evening we follow the view westward toward the land of the setting sun. This aspect offers wide contrast to that of east and north and south. The timber quickly gives way to wide open and seemingly endless stretches of lower and more level country. All is magnificently lighted with the glory of the sunset, but subdued by patches of purple sage and shadowed in the distance by the blue haze of far-off mountain ranges.

Finally, in the extreme west, the sage brush fades into the horizon and "shadows of the evening steal across the sky." We take one last look at this aweinspiring scene, striving by sheer willpower to impress it on our memory so as to keep it always. Then we reluctantly turn and come down "out of the mountain," with a new conception, a new and deeper respect for Arizona, the wonderland. ⚫

INDIAN JEWELRY

(Continued from Page 11) Turquoise has always been a sort of magic stone to Southwestern Indians. Prehistoric graves yield strings of this cherished gem and shells inlaid with bits of it are found in almost every deserted ruin. It would be almost impossible to find a Navajo without a bit of turquoise somewhere on his person. The richest may wear thousands of dollars worth around his neck and still be dressed in perfect taste, but he is no more under the protection of the Navajo Powers-ThatBe than his poorest brother who has only one small bead tied somewhere in his knot of coarse black hair. Turquoise protects the wearer from snake bites and chindees; from being struck by lightning and from the evil designs of his motherin-law. If one is fortunate enough to possess a bit of the hard blue stone found in a prehistoric dwelling, then one is indeed blessed by the Navajo gods. More than likely the owner will be called upon to use it in “sing” and money cannot buy it. On the cradleboard of each Navajo baby a turquoise bead is tied and on a string around its neck is placed such a bead when the first tooth is cut, when the first word is spoken, and the first step is taken, and each and every event of its life is marked by the addition of another bead. Among the Zuni Indians, finest turquoise workers of all the tribes, the clear blue stone holds many virtues. If the wearer of this semi-precious stone does a dishonorable act, the turquoise turns a sickly yellow and does not resume its own pure blueness until atonement for the act has been made. Bits of turquoise were found sticking in the houses of the Zunis when the greedy Spaniards conquered Cibola in search of great wealth. The Zunis think turquoise will cure blindness and they carve small fetishes from it which are carried as pocket pieces. The mane of each racing pony conceals a turquoise, and the finest and best turquoise necklaces are buried with their owner in order that the inmates of the next world may know that a person of importance has come to dwell among them. The Zuni Indians wear great ropes of odd-shaped turquoise as necklaces. These, together with strings of rose colored coral and a few silver beadsare part of any up and doing Zuni's dress. Turquoise is a semi-precious gem found in deposits of clay and shale and there are about a dozen mines in the Southwest that turn out good stones. Among them are the ones in Nevada and New Mexico and Colorado. Just out of Santa Fe is the oldest mine known to have been worked by Indians before the coming of the Spaniards. Tiffany acquired it many years ago and it does not produce any gems now.

Old Mexico sends a great amount of inferior turquoise to the United States and there is a mine in Arizona near Kingman that produces a beautiful soft green stone much used in cheaper jewelry. The best silverwork contains the deep blue black veined turquoise from Nevada and Colorado. This stone is found at an eighty-five foot level and sells from $5 to $50 just as it comes from the mine. When the stone has been cut and polished, it sells by the caratand runs from ten cents to sixty or seventy a carat. There are many varieties and grades of this southwestern gem, and it is well to study them before making extensive purchases. One very inferior grade, almost white, is bought up by Germany and dyed over there and returned to this country for use by commercial firms. The soft stone readily absorbs colors and sometimes oil or grease is used to darken a poor grade of turquoise. The hardest stone, about six in hardness, is a deeper blue and resists dyes or grease. The softer grade goes down to three and can be dyed successfully. The gems are polished with carborundum which gives them a high luster. That is how they are polished commercially, but I have watchd Navajo and Zuni stone cutters polish them on a wheel covered with sand paper and then buff them with buckskin. They get the stone shaped to their fancy; then with a dab of hot sealing wax fasten it on the end of a stick and hold it firmly against the polisher. Stones prepared this way lack the hard glistening sheen of the commercially polished stones, but to us lovers of real Indian work, the native cut and polished turquoise is far more appealing.

So much for the turquoise. Let's get back to the silver work. When the Nav-ajos first began to make jewelry they used American coins. These, contain-ing so much alloy, showed red when filed and beaten. They hailed with glee the Mexican peso when that coin came into their lives and many a trader added to his ill-gotten gains by charging the Navajo a full dollar for the coin. Now, practically all hand made jewelry is pounded out of silver slugs obtained direct from the U. S. mint and this silver is much easier to handle. With a length of railroad iron and two or three assorted hammers, the smith goes to work, and with resounding blows soon reduces the silver to the shape desired for a ring or bracelet. I watched a Navajo boy cut a slug in half, heat it with a gasoline blow torch obtained from the trading post, and then hammer it into a man's ring. He flattened the middle out to his satisfaction, then turned it sidewise and pounded the silver back into a smooth heavy shank for the ring. With a thin strip of silver pounded on his anvil he made a setting for a turquoise. Before he soldered this frame on the ring itself, he took a little steel punch on which he had filed the design he wanted and, with sharp blows of the hammer, stamped one plain dignified design on each side of the setting. Then with a solder made of silver and brass he fastened the tur-quoise frame to the main ring. Placing the heavy oval stone in position, he clinched the edges of the frame firmly down over the turquoise. Under the turquoise a cushion of pasteboard had been placed. The finished ring was carefully inspected for flaws or rough places and then thoroughly buffed on the wheel covered with buckskin. Work-ing steadily all day this boy could turn out six such rings, provided the turquoise was cut and polished ready for him to use. And such a ring, with an excellent tur-quoise setting, sells for around six dol-lars. The younger silversmiths seem to know little about the art of making cast, or "sand mould," ornaments once quite the mode among silversmiths. Far in the depths of the Navajo mountain country I came upon an old long haired silversmith working at an outdoor forge. After the usual tender and acceptance -of cigarettes, I seated myself and watched him. He spoke no English but now and then he turned a toothless smile my way just to let me know he hadn't forgotten I was there. In a soft soap-stone or sandstone he had gouged out a design about eight inches long and two inches wide, very simple and very ef-fective. In this mould he poured mutton grease and left it while silver slugs were being reduced to a greasy looking liquid over a charcoal fire. When he decided the silver was just right, he tipped the grease out of the mould and poured the silver into it. He carefully leveled the stone until every portion of the design was full and then he laid a flat greased stone on top of it. Then we waited. He smoked and looked at the landscape and I sat and looked at him. I'm sure he must have been on the "long walk" with Kit Carson, down to exile and back again, but I'll never know. After half an hour or so he lifted the cover from the cast and I supposed he'd break the stone away from the metal ornament but with his strong brown fingers he gently loosened it from its bed and brought it forth. He flexed and curved the silver until it suited him, then placed a long square ended turquoise in the center as its only ornament. The brace-let and its stone cast now belong to me.

While Navajo silverwork is estimated to bring half a million dollars yearly to its tribe, they are by no means the only silver craftsmen in the Southwest. Almost all the Pueblo Indians work with silver, and the Zunis doubtless turn out as much or perhaps more silver and turquoise jewelry than do the Navajos. Their work is almost all for the tourist trade and turquoise invariably overshadows the silver framework. They have taken the Navajo craft and lightened it with their fanciful designs. Brooches depicting dragonflies and butterflies and other of their cherished insects are numerous, and their bracelets are studded with dozens of small turquoise. Hopi Indians, too, do quite a lot of silver work. They love the squash blossom or pomegranate necklace, called a marriage or wedding necklace, and they and the Zunis make most of the necklaces that reach curio stores. The better old ones made by the Navajos are to be found rarely outside of trading posts on the reservation. They are getting rarer all the time and harder to obtain. Very few Navajo women take up silverwork as a trade, but the Zuni girls go in heavily for it. I doubt if there is a Zuni belle that cannot and does not make her own lavish decorations. Some of the Zuni women are listed as the best craftsmen, or women, among native silver workers.

To buyers of Indian jewelry, here are a few simple rules that may help you in your selections: First: Buy your Indian jewelry as well as all other Indian arts and crafts, from a reliable dealer, preferably a member of the Indian Arts and Crafts association. In order to be a member of this association, whose standards are set by men and women who know and devote their time to such things, a dealer must carry only hand-made, genuine Indian work. When you enter an Indian curio store look for the certificate of membership.

Second: Choose your Indian jewelry with your wardrobe in mind. For sport things nothing is nicer than a reasonable amount of silver jewelry. But you cannot mix Indian jewelry with gold rings; neither can you wear an Indian bracelet next to a diamond studded wrist watch. I say you "cannot" and yet one sees a lot of such incongruous mixtures. Plain silver, shimmering like pearl, goes well with anything and everything. I've seen a string of polished silver beads and large silver ear rings worn with a black velvet dinner gown and the effect was lovely. But turquoise, beautiful as it is, must not be expected to get along harmoniously with blues or purples or reds. It shows to advantage with pink, yellow, brown, black and white. Before buying turquoise-set jewelry, make up your mind whether you want blue or green turquoise and then stick to that choice. The soft green stones are very appealing and if all your jewelry is set with green turquoise well and good. Otherwise, turquoise of conflicting colors can set up a nice little civil war of its own! Blue turquoise is harder and more valuable, as you'll learn when you price silver sets with the different shades of the gem.

Practically all silver jewelry will discolor your skin when worn next to it. That is on account of the sulphur in your blood and is no fault of the article itself. If this bothers the wearer, a light painting of the jewelry inside with colorless nail polish will entirely eliminate the trouble. When your silver becomes discolored take dry soda and a soft cloth and gently rub it until the original sheen is restored.