Along the Highways and Byways

NAMES Is Names: In Arizona you will find a Horse Canyon, a Horse Mesa, Horse Mesa Dam, Horsehead Crossing, Horseshoe Bend, Horseshoe Canyon, Horseshoe Lake, Horseshoe Mine, Horseshoe Station, Horse Thief Basin, Horse Thief Creek, Horse Wash and Dead Horse Gulch.

There is also Wild Horse Canyon and a Wild Horse Lake. You will find, in case you are interested, White Horse Hills, White Horse Pass, White Horse Springs, White Horse Lake, a Red Horse Wash, a Little Red Horse Wash, a Rockhorse Canyon and a place called Stray Horse. (What a horsey state!) Then you find such places and things as Ajax Hill, Allah Station, Angel Point, A One Mountain, Bald Mountain, Barbershop Canyon, Jack Ass Flats, Bean Station, Big Bug Mesa, Big Johnnie Mine, Burro Creek, Butterfly Mountain, a couple of Cave Creeks, Dead Old Man Pond, Deadman's Flat, Deadman's Wash and Creek, Dead River, a couple of Hell's Holes, Hell's Canyon and a Hell's Hollow; Devil's Kitchen, Devil's Windpipe and a Skeleton Mesa!

In Arizona there is a White River, a Black River, and a Blue River; a Green Valley, an Orange Butte, a Painted Desert, Painted Rocks, Purple Hills, Vermilion Cliffs.

Pursuing the whimsy further, we find a Whiskey Creek, Rattlesnake Basin, Can Creek and Tanks; Tower of Babel Butte; Skull Valley; Wolf Mountain and Wolf Hole; Hardscrabble Mesa; Windy Hill; Wildcat Canyon and Wild Cat Peak; Superstition Mountain; Wagon Tire Flat; Vulture City and Vulture Mine; Twenty-nine Mile Butte and Twenty-four Draw; a Turtle Back Mountain and a Trout Spring; Tam O' Shanter Mountain; a handful of Turkey Creeks, some Turkey Mountains, Turkey Springs and Turkey Tanks. (Who started this anyway?) There are such quaint and curious names as Cemetery Hills; Cemetery Ridge; Boothill Graveyard; Black Bill Butte; Blind Indian Creek; Bloody Basin; Bloody Tanks; Blue Jay Peak; The Boneyard; Buckskin Mountain and Bright Angel Creek; Bumble Bee; Buzzard Roost Mesa; Camelback Mountain; China Peak; Chinlee; a town of Christmas and a New Year Station; Cinch Hook Butte; a place called Cocklebur and a Coal Can-yon; a Coal Creek, Coon Mountain and Coon Creek Butte; Coyote Creek, Mountains, Peak, Spring and Coyote Wells; Diamond Buttes, Creek, Canyon and Fields; Disappointment Valley; Dirty River; Dixie Canyon; Dutch Woman Butte; Eagle Creek, Eagle Eye Peak, Eagle Nest Mountain and Eagle Tail Peak; Elephant Head, Elephant Hill and Elephants Tooth; Fools Gulch and Hol low; Frog Peaks; Giant Chair; Great Thumb Mesa and Grief Hill; Hidden Canyon and Holy Joe Peak; Honeymoon Cabin and Iceberg Canyon, Ice Caves, and Ice House Canyon; July 4th Butte; Jump Up Canyon; an Inspiration and a Last Chance; a Lousy Gulch; a Lucky Cuss Mine; Maverick Hill and Mountain; Mink Creek, Locust Canyon, and Lynx Creek; Mud Tanks, Muddy Canyon and Muddy River; Mule Gulch, Pass and Moun-tains, and Mule Shoe Bend; Music and Mustang Mountain; Nigger Well; Nine Mile Peak, Station and Valley; an Observatory Hill and an Old Glory Mine; Outlaw Mountain and Spring; a Petrified Bridge and a Petrified Forest. (Coming up for breath!) tains, and Mule Shoe Bend; Music and Mustang Mountain; Nigger Well; Nine Mile Peak, Station and Valley; an Observatory Hill and an Old Glory Mine; Outlaw Mountain and Spring; a Petrified Bridge and a Petrified Forest. (Coming up for breath!) There is such a place in Arizona as Rabbit station and Rabbitt Hills; Ragged Top Peak and Rain Tank Wash; Rawhide Mountains; Rose Peak and Rye Creek; Salt River, Creek and Mountain; Sam Hill Draw; Saw Buck Mountain, Sawed Off Mountain and Saw Tooth Mountain; there is a Silver Creek and a Copper Creek; A Six Mile Hill and Sixty Mile Creek; a Skunk Creek and a Sleeping Beauty Peak, and a Cape Solitude, a Soldiers Hole and Sombrero Butte; Spud Rock and Squaw Butte; Squaw Peaks no end; Squash Mountain; Steamboat Mountain, Steamboat Peak and a Steam Pump; a Strawberry and a Strawberry Creek and a place called Stringtown.

And for a few unpronouncables, may we call your attention to such Arizona jawbreakers as Zil-tah-jini Peak, Yuhtheska Mesa, Wickty-wizz Canyon, the Unkakanigutus Indians, Azanosi Mesa, Baboquivari Peak, Chemehuevi Valley, Chilchinbito Spring, Chikapanagi Mesa, Lechuguilla Hills, Lukachukai Pass and the Hopi villages of Shongopovi, Mishongnovi, and places in Navajoland like Dinnehotso Village and Salahkai Mesa.

We Pass On a Whimsy: David Jones, park ranger of the Wupatki National Monument, writing in the Southwestern Monuments Monthly Report for August, reports the following: "Hal Smith, a Navajo, had a four-day 'sing' for his wife who is troubled with trachoma. We were permitted to take pictures of the medicine man and his assistants while they were making the sand paintings. Several Kodachrome shots were attempted, but they will probably not be very satisfactory, as it was possible to include only a small part of the painting, and the equipment used was not particularly suitable for this type. One afternoon Clyde Poshlacai and I were discussing the efficiency of the medicine man in curing. Mentioning that the white people had just discovered a new medicine for treating trachoma, I suggested that if any of his family developed trachoma, he should take them to a white doctor first. Clyde promptly squelched me with the remark, 'Medicine man just like white doctor! Sometime cure; sometime not.'"

A Christmas brainstorm hit the office the other day. How exciting, it would be, we thought and how timely to mail the December issue of ARIZONA HIGHWAYS from the postoffice at Christmas, Arizona. We visualized a mailing envelope all dolled up in the Yuletide motif bearing the proud notice "Season's hurried call to the Phoenix postoffice informed us that the postoffice at Christmas, Arizona, had been abandoned several years ago. We im-mediately dispatched the following telegram: Hon. Mr. James Farley, Postmaster-General, Washington, D. C.

WOULD APPRECIATE YOUR REESTABLISHING POSTOFFICE AT CHRISTMAS, ARIZONA, FOR ONE DAY SO THAT WE COULD MAIL DECEMBER ISSUE OF ARIZONA HIGHWAYS FROM THERE. CAN IT BE ARRANGED? SWELL CHANCE FOR POSTOFFICE DEPARTMENT TO DO GOOD TURN DURING YULETIDE. APPRECIATE REPLY SOON. BEST REGARDS.

ARIZONA HIGHWAYS

The Hon. Mr. Farley had not replied by the time this went to press! . . .

This "names" game we have inflicted upon you this month is getting a hold on us. Let's pursue the whimsy further: Saddle Mountain Canyon and Saddle Back Mountain; Mistake Peak; Fort Misery; Quien Sabe Peak; Primrose Hill and Potato Butte; Owlshead Camp and Packsaddle Mountain; Ox Yoke Mt.; Boneyback and Monkey Springs, and Poverty Knolls.

There's a Thin Mountain and a Thors Hammer; Thunder River and Three Sisters Butte and a place near Bisbee called Tin Town. There are Tortilla Flats, Tortilla Creeks and Tortilla Mts, and if you don't know what "tortilla" is you have never eaten Mexican food.

There's a peaceful little place called Tornado Valley, and a mine once upon a time known as Total Wreck. There are places such as Uncle Jim Point and Uncle Sam Hill; an Upset Rapids on the Colorado river; a Vinegar and a Vinegaron Well; a Vulcan Throne and a Vulture City.

There's a Coolidge Dam, Roosevelt Dam, a Lincoln Inn and a Mount Washington.

And how are these for colorful speech: Locomotive Butte, Little Dog Mountain, Lady Bug Peak, Kangaroo Hill, Jerked Beef Butte, Jackrabbitt Well, Hole-in-the Rock and the Navajo capitol, Window Rock; Fish Creek Mountain, Groom Creek and a place called Grasshopper.

We like such names as: Yellow Jack Mountain, Yellow Medicine Butte, Wrong Mountain, Window Hill, Wishbone Mountains, Whisper Mountain, and a place called Tobacco. And what interesting places must be: Sheep Creek, Sheep Dip Creek, Short Creek, and a little station called Silent. There are places like Silver Mountain and the Silver mine and also a Silver King.

We also like such names as Snowflake, Snowshed Peak, Snowstake Creek, Snowstorm Hill and others like Single Standard Gulch, Sinking Ship Butte and a place called Soldier Grave.

There is a Sunset Crater, Crossing and Pass, a Sunrise Springs and a place called Sunshine. There is a Tangle Creek, Tank Mountains and Creek, and a Tank House Canyon. And such places as Tea Kettle Mountain, Teapot Mountain, and Tees Too, a trading post.

For all these names do we express our deepest appreciation to "Arizona Place Names" by the late Will C. Barnes. This book contains all these names and many more and the derivation of each colorful name is given.

"Arizona Place Names" is published as a bulletin by the University of Arizona. It contains over 500 pages of material on Arizona and Arizona names, and it sells for the modest price of One Dollar and Fifty Cents. Write to the University of Arizona at Tucson, if you are interested.