Meet the Joshua Tree

If you look very closely you might see a dinosaur, ghostly throwback to some long forgotten age, stumping out there among the Joshua trees, scratching an itchy back on some convenient limb. If you pause to listen, you might hear above the gentle wind rustling the dry Joshua stalk, the thump-thump of some heavy-footed bygone Behemoth going about in pursuit of whatever Behemoths pursued in the moonlight. Let your fancy follow its own vagrant course. Here in these two delightful nooks-one in Yavapai county, the other in Mohave is spice for the imagination, stuff for reverie and dreams. Here are two places where you can idle away an afternoon and evening, spending every precious second in delectable contemplation of good Mother Nature in one of her quainter moods... On the road to Pierce Ferry the trees are tall and dense by the road...

... in a Joshua forest you find good Mother Nature in one of her quainter moods...

SERENADE TO SPRING

Deep Spring is with us, when every inch of this blessed land is attuned to the beauty and flamboyance of the merriest of all our merry seasons. There is music in the air, great thunderous waves of music that sweep over our desert, our hills and our mountains in cascades of melody and song.

You hear it softly at first in the high mountains where the snows of winter are vanishing before the warm sun and are sending chatty streams off the mountainsides, seeking their chatty fellows. As the streams gather force and as they join hands with each other their chitter-chatter turns into a low rumble and finally into a loud roar as they form rivers like the Salt, the Verde, the Gila, the Hassayampa, the Bill Williams, and the San Pedro and go tumbling down toward the seas from which they came. Only some sink into the desert and others drown their roar in the lakes held behind dams that were built to hold them and permit their orderly passage when their water is needed by farm lands below to quench Summer's thirst.

But when the dams are full as most of our dams are now, the rivers leap madly over the dams and their music is louder and madder than ever, and the sight of the rivers boiling over the dams is something to behold this Spring and travelers will come from afar and in great numbers to see the triumphant rivers roar over the dams and shout a million hosannas as they race to the sea because this is their moment of triumph they have waited for so many years and for which they may have to wait so many years more. Who wouldn't shout after waiting for a moment of triumph so many years. It is all rather exciting and if we make much of it you must understand that we are on the side of the rivers and in their triumph we, too, would like to shout a million hosannas!

Then there is a quieter, softer melody of Spring played largo and larghetto to andante, as the music people say. This is the music of the soft wind in the young green leaves of the Aspen trees high up on San Francisco Peaks. It is the gentle movement of the Palo Verde blossoms, the modulated conversation of the birds on the desert returning for the summer and full of gossip about their travels. It is the subdued gamboling of Everett Bowman's lively "paint" colts at his ranch at Hillside, or the footfalls of sturdy Hereford calves on the Slaughter Mountain range of the San Carlos Indian reservation just before the roundup. It may be the laughter of the Mexican children playing in the streets of Nogales, Sonora, in the early evening or the low, slow speech of a group of Navajos sitting in the sun in front of Johnny O'Farrell's Trading Post at The Gap.

The music of Spring in our land is all of these things and many things more... R. C.

Joyous Days of Spring...

Spring is still with us . . . and what a delightful season . . . and what delightful months . . . April and May. Spring this year brings glad tidings . . . and to those tidings and the joyous days of Spring do we dedicate our cover panel this April month . . . a study by Max Kegley of Roosevelt Dam, holding back a mighty lake filled to the point of overflowing. Glad tidings, indeed! For the traveler, for the farmer, for the photographer and for everyone who lives and visits in this colorful land. Spring, that old enchantress, beckons more than ever before.

April is a fine month to visit the Organ Pipe National Monument, south of Ajo, and it is about time that we present this interesting subject to the readers of ARIZONA HIGHWAYS. It is with both pride and some satisfaction that we call your attention to Natt Dodge's fine description of the monument under the title: "Godfather of the Organ Pipes." Natt Dodge, assistant naturalist of the Southwestern National Monuments, gives us the story of the monument through the eyes of Bill Supernaugh, the custodian of that 516 square miles of desert wonderland. Natt and Bill have added a lot to these pages this issue, and we are as proud of this article as any we have ever had. Folks, meet the "Godfather of the Organ Pipes."

We believe that the busiest man in Arizona is Ernest Douglas, editor of that remarkable farm paper, "The Arizona Farmer." He conducts a farm program on the radio and in his spare time ably covers the local scene for such papers as the Christian Science Monitor. We were fortunate enough to get him to do for us this issue a short article on Rancho Palos Verdes, near Tucson. Ernest Douglas selected the title himself: "Rancho Palos Verdes: Desert Miracle." Inasmuch as he uses such words as "miracle" very rarely (he is not given to overstatement) we promise you that when he tells you of what M. L. Reid and family have accomplished down there on the desert you'll agree with him that you have seen a miracle and that the Reids are miracle makers.

Colossal Cave down in Pima county is something else you should look into when you're traveling the highroads of southern Arizona. And if you would like to spend an afternoon away from everyone there are miles and miles of subterraneous channels to claim your attention. Nice place to keep from getting sunburned.

We have attempted to give you a view of what water means to us out here in the Old West in a picture essay entitled: "Water in the Magic Land." We also have a bit by Joseph Miller on the Arizona Museum in Phoenix, another place to spend an errant afternoon when you're out our way. Moreover, if you visit us in May we'll promise you you'll enjoy both the Masque of the Yellow Moon and Douglas rodeo, two highlights in our May calendar.

We hope your Spring is a joyous one and that your miles are sunny, happy miles. Or better yet, as they say in Mexico: "Salud, pesetas y amor. Y tiempo para gastarlas!" . . . R. C.

ARIZONA HIGHWAYS

PUBLISHED IN THE INTEREST OF GOOD ROADS BY ARIZONA HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT RAYMOND CARLSON, EDITOR ONE DOLLAR PER YEAR 10C PER COPY PRESCOTT COURIER, INC.PRESCOTT, ARIZONA ADDRESS ALL COMMUNICATIONS TO ARIZONA HIGHWAYS. ARIZONA HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT, PHOENIX, ARIZONA CONCEIVED AND PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Arizona highways for april of nineteen hundred and forty one extends spring greetings to you from Arizona and a few things for your reading pleasure:

Meet the Joshua Tree quaint old mother nature

Water in the Magic Land "Yep! it shore rained some!"

"Godfather of the Organ Pipes" uncle sam's native cactus garden Rancho Palos Verdes: Desert Miracle the reids proved it could be done Colossal Cave The underground wonderland in pima county Hadji Ali... Better Known as "Hi Jolly" son of islam who came our way

"Buddies" a story of the mines

Douglas Rodeo invitation to a high time on the border

The Arizona Museum yesterday retained for today

"These United States" masque of the yellow moon Along the Gila

Navajo Nicknames Every navajo is a humorist

Road Projects Under Construction The highway system expands Yours Sincerely . . . and Sincerely to You..inside back panel A few notes from the mailbag 1941 Arizona Highway Map To guide your pleasant journeyback panel