Loren W. Cress. The Highway Commissioner

LOREN W. CRESS The Highway Commissioner From Coconino County

With the appointment by Gov. Sidney P. Osborn of Loren W. Cress of Flagstaff as a member of the Arizona highway commission, Coconino county, for the first time in the history of the state, has representation on the commission. Mr. Cress brings to the Arizona highway department a knowledge of road affairs and travel trends acquired during two and a half decades as an Arizona citizen.

With the appointment of Loren W. Cress of Flagstaff as highway commissioner to succeed R. E. Moore of Jerome, whose term expired January 31, 1941, Coconino county for the first time in history has been given representation on the board supervising the state highway system. Mr. Cress, whose appointment was made by Governor Sidney P. Osborn, represents the fifth highway district formed by Coconino, Mohave and Yavapai counties. His term is for five years. Under the law, succeeding commissioners must be appointed from succeeding counties in the highway districts in which they live. Coconino county, in area, is the largest county in Arizona and the second largest county in the United States. It is larger than any one of eight eastern states (Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, New Jersey or Rhode Island). In fact, Coconino county is larger than Connecticut, Delaware, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts put together with some 1770 square miles left over.

But not for size alone is Coconino county deserving of representation on the highway commission. It is one of the most travelminded counties in the state, and scenically probably surpasses any county in the United States and any province or canton in any country in the world. Coconino county has one national park, Grand Canyon; three national monuments, Sunset Crater, Wupatki and Walnut Canyon; all or part of three Indian reservations, the Havasupai, Hopi and Navajo; all or part of three great national forests, Kaibab, Coconino, and Sitgreaves; and other scenic wonders such as San Francisco Peaks, Bill Williams Moun(Turn to Page 21)

SPRING BOUQUET A Primer for Poets

A hummingbird, with wings of silver in the bright sunlight, sounds the gay keynote of an Arizona spring.

April and May bring to our land a gorgeous, colorful Spring. Our desert, grateful for Winter's rains, glows with all the gay, mad colors of Spring at her best. Every desert trail is a painting in vivid oil. Every bush and plant wears jaunty bonnets in the spring parade.

Old Picacho, that sun-burnt landmark between Tucson and Casa Grande, enters the mood and melody of an Arizona spring. Carpets of yellow poppies are draped about Picacho's broad shoulders. Here and there are clusters of bluebells. Not to be outdone, the cacti residents of the locality are shopping for the brightest colors on any store shelf.

SPRING in Arizona, this blessed land! Never in the past two decades in our land has Spring worn such bright, vivacious colors. Never has the desert been so beautiful, Never have the broad highways of our land beckoned so tantalizingly! There is a welcome on every bush, a "Howdy!" hanging along every desert trail.. April and May, the enchanted months in our enchanted land, are full of sunshine and turquoise skies and wisps of clouds and clouds of flowers everywhere.

What magic there must be in an Arizona spring that can cause the Saguaro, ordinarily a sombrè, glum fellow, to break out extravagantly in white, waxy blossoms, holding them high as a tribute from earth to Heaven. But such is Spring!

Throughout Arizona you'll find Spring, as you've never seen Spring before, during April and May. Spring is on the desert, in the low foothills and up on the plateaus. Only on the shady side of the high mountains can you find remnants of Winter, but even there Spring is not far away. Spring in Arizona is a magnificent melody of awakening Nature, the music of the light winds in the yucca and the ironwood, of bees buzzing around the palo verde, of the sparkle of sun in the mesquite and joshua.

Even that helter-skelter bush, which the cowboys call bear-grass, is alive to Spring, throwing forth stalks of blossoms to qualify for a place in our Spring bouquet.

This lace-work of flowers of purple-violet, gleaming in the sun, tells of the ironwood in gay, Spring dress.

The traveler, happening our way in Spring, should linger a week or two in the sunshine and the clear, crisp air. Here you are close to Nature in full dress, in a world of blossoms and color, in the exhilarating sunlight of an Arizona Spring.