E. H. McEachren the New Highway Commissioner from Gila county

GILA COUNTY RESIDENT BECOMES MEMBER OF ARIZONA HIGHWAY COMMISSION.

PROMINENT Arizona resident, E. H. McEachren of Miami, was appointed a member of the Arizona Highway Commission on the seventh of February by Gov. R. T. (Bob) Jones to fill the vacancy caused by the expiration of the term of Lucian B. Owens of Holbrook. Mr. McEachren, who will represent the district formed by Gila, Navajo and Apache counties, will serve until the first of February, 1945.

His appointment gives Gila county representation in the highway commission for the first time in years, and demonstrates the workability of the law enacted by the legislature in 1939 setting up the present commission. At that time the state was divided into five districts, each district composed of several counties. Terms for the first commission appointed by Governor Jones under the new law were so regulated that the appointments were made for periods of one, two, three, four and five years. Upon expiration of a commissioner's term, the governor would make an appointment from the same district but from a different county the retiring commissioner represented. Successive commissioners are appointed without disrupting any program entered upon by the commission. In this way all of the counties in the state will be given representation on the commission in due time, and in this orderly manner Mr. McEachren takes over the duties so well administered the past year by Mr. Owens.

Mr. Owens, during the year he has been with the commission, established himself high in the regard of his fellow commissioners and personnel of the highway department. He brought to the commission a broad knowledge of state road affairs, which proved of great value to his fellow commissioners in formulating a wide and far-seeing road program for Arizona.

Mr. McEachren, the new commissioner from Gila county, is one of the best qualified men in the state to serve in a supervisory capacity over the Arizona Highway System. He has been a resident of Arizona for over thirty years and for eight years served with marked distinction as a member of the State Senate from Gila county.

The new commissioner was born in Canada in 1879, coming to Bisbee in 1901. He lived in Bisbee for nine years, and with the opening of Miami came to the latter city, where he has lived ever since. He was Justice of the Peace in Miami for eleven years, and represented his county in the State Senate from 1930 through 1938.

During his tenure as State Senator, Mr. McEachren showed a firm and comprehensive understanding of state problems and earned for himself the respect and admiration of all his colleagues. One of his colleagues was State Senator Jones of Maricopa county, now Arizona's Chief Executive. Governor Jones was so impressed by Mr. McEachren's ability that the latter's appointment to the Highway Commission came as a natural sequence of events.

In private life, Mr. McEachren is land agent for the Inspiration Consolidated Copper company at Miami, which position he has held for twenty years. Mr. and Mrs. McEachren live in Miami. Their son, Dr. John McEachren, is a dentist in Phoenix.

Mr. McEachren is known throughout Arizona for his service to the state in the State Legislature, and is admired as a 100 per cent Arizonan by virtue of over a quarter century residence. His appointment to the Arizona Highway Commission was well received throughout Arizona. He understands the highway problems in his own district and has a broad knowledge of problems of road building and road planning measured in terms of the state as a whole... R. C.

Upon expiration of the term of L. B. Owens of Holbrook, Governor Jones appointed to the Arizona Highway Commission E. H. McEachren of Miami. This prominent Arizonan, representing Gila County on the highway commission, brings to the highway system of the state a thorough knowledge of road affairs gained through long residence in the state and service in the State Legislature.