Garden of Tumu-urru

RIGHT here in the Old West is the most popular winter playground in the world today. Throughout the length and width of our Empire of the Sun have arisen ranches and resorts whose fame and good name are known wherever travelers gather, wherever fastidious people discuss the finer things of life. Throughout this area where winter is a sixlettered word found in lexicons under "W", thousands of people from the east, north, south and west, live from four to six months out of the year, and they scrawl in the guest registers of our ranches, resorts and hotels some of the important names of this and other countries. There must be something attractive in the Old West, for these people are spending their leisure time, and people always exercise the greatest of care when that precious commodity is concerned. The Old West to these people means a way of life and a manner of living that is good for the mind, the body and soul. The hurried business executive, far from the harrowing detils of an office, surely finds rest and relaxation in a hammock propped up beside a ranch house in the middle of an expansive range. From the vantage point of a saddle seat, in open range country alone with his thoughts and the sunshine and the sky, whatever problems that beset him must surely seem of minor importance. The catclaw and the palo verde, the saguaro and the scrub oak, the ocotillo and the cottonwood, the yucca and the palm tree all of these are medicine for the nerves, stimulation for the soul, when mixed liberally with fresh air and sunshine. Herein are a group of portraits of a pleasant mode of life in the Old West. This group represents every resort and ranch from Rimrock to Nogales, from Wickenburg to Portal, from Skull Valley to Patagonia. To these places come young people, elderly people, people with families and people alone. They come to seek the warmth in our sunshine, the inspiration in our desert and our mountains, the rest and quiet of a slower tempo of life. They come back year after year. Here is a treasure-chest of gracious living rediscovered each season.

THE Old West means a way of life. Perhaps that is the greatest charm offered to the guests each winter at the ranches, resorts, inns, and hotels scattered throughout the sunlit miles of the Empire of the Sun. This way of life expresses itself in its informality, in its graciousness, in that delightful character-istic called "western hospitality." It is the simple life, the pleasant life, close to the good earth and to Nature, close to the sun and the mountain top. It expresses itself in lonely horseback rides through the desert, around roaring campfires at night. It is found in the daily apricot-toned miracles called an Arizona sunrise and it is found in that evening occurrence of gold, flame, yellow, scarlet, vermillion, carmine, magenta and purple simply called an Arizona sunset. It is heard in the sputter of steaks in a frying pan and the happy gurgle of morning coffee. It is heard in the low bawling of calves in a corral and the far-away howl of a coyote as the shutters of night are slowly being pulled. It is heard in the impatient stamp of a young pony in the stable, and the squeaking complaint of an old gate opening. This way of life tells of the sun at high noon, a white metal disc pounding down on a dusty road. It tells of the new moon, in a sky of stars, like a crazy Japanese lantern hanging over a mountain range, full of red and yellow lights with that impish look it has about it. It has the smell of saddle leather and the smell of horses and cows, and fresh smell of the desert in the morning. It is the smell of mesquite burning, and the smell of the dew on fresh grass. It is in the smell of alfalfa and in the smell of sagebrush after a rain.

It clothes itself in boots and battered hats, in slacks and whipcords and riding breeches. It wears leather jackets and loose, colored shorts and bandanas. It is a life of lazy ease and comfort and informality. No rigid book of fashion dictates its usage. No social mandate decrees this and that. There is no pattern to follow. This way of life is the way of a hospitable people. Strangers wave in friendly greeting. In the Old West, they still say "Howdy!" and "So long!"