Painting in Arizona

Should you travel to the southern tip of Navajo county, to Whiteriver and Fort Apache, you'll come to the centers of population for the Fort Apache Indian Reservation, the home of the White River Apaches, where you'll find another interesting people. Here are the forests and the cool mountain streams. Here is an Arizona summer at its best.

History and learning, did you say? You'll find both in such little Mormon villages as Snowflake and Taylor and Shumway and Joseph City, living records of the Mormon colonization in the west. These folks came to live before there were roads to follow, or the law to protect them. They came to build homes and they built them. They had to grow the food they ate to survive and they survived.

And if you have time seek out some of the oldtimers about Navajo County and ask them to tell you tales about the old Hashknife outfit a cattle ranch whose story remains to be written. Throughout all the cattle camps of the West in the old days the Hashknives were spoken of in awe, almost with reverence. The old West has seldom recorded a tougher harder riding outfit.

Navajo County is a long strip of some of the most exciting Arizona terrain. By the tape measure it varies in width from ten to fifty miles and rolls out in length like an exotic magic carpet for some 225 miles southward from the Utah border. In area it is the fifth largest comity in the state, consisting of 9,911 square miles. In population it ranks sixth in the state. According to the sixteenth official census, Navajo County in 1940 had a population of 25,309, compared with 21.202 in 1930 and 16.077 in 1920. If you were to scatter the people of Navajo evenly through the colorful miles of the county you would find 2.6 persons to each square mile. At that rate you see there's room to breathe and room to move about.Winslow, the largest city in the county, has a population of 4,577. The population of Holbrook, county seat of Navajo County and second largest city in the county, is 1.184. are important Arizona tourist centers, the former being on U. S. 66, the great transcontinental highway, and the latter being on the junction of U. S. 66, U. S. 260 and State Highway 77. Holbrook was named county seat when the county was formed by the eighteenth territorial legislature in 1895. The name of the county was derived from that of the Navajo Indian tribe.

When you speak of the county, you think in terms of the vast Indian country lying within its borders. Of the 6,335,360 acres in Navajo County, a total of 4,386,478 acres (as of June 30, 1938) belong to three great reservations-Navajo, Hopi, and Fort Apache Indian Reservation, These reservations are important trade arteries for the county as well as attractions for tourist travel, the county's most important industry. Agriculture, cattle and sheep grazing, extensive lumber activities in the southern part of the county, and the A. T. & S. F. terminals in Winslow and Holbrook are contributing factors to the financial resources of the county.

Navajo National Monument is in Navajo County, as is part of the Petrified Forest National Monument. Holbrook is the travel center for this monument. Part of the Sitgreaves National Forest extends into the county, covering most of the southern part of the county with forests.

There are numerous evidences of pre-historic civilization to be found throughout the length of Navajo. Of great interest at this time are the excavations of the ancient pueblo of Awatobi, south of Keams Canyon, which have been conducted by Peabody Museum of Harvard University. The Mision of Awatobi was built in 1629 by the Franciscan Friars. Dr. J. O. Brew of the Museum writes: The ruins of Awatobi, then, provide an archaeological record of approximately 500 years and show not only native development, but also the effect of the original impact of European civilization."

Foremost event on the traveler's calendar for Navajo County are the Hopi dances held each August. These are of world fame and each year attract many distinguished people. The county fair at Holbrook and the Pioneers Reunion at Snowflake are other important county events. Each Fourth of July the Apaches gather at Whiteriver for their annual rodeo, an event full of color and action.

The great charm of Navajo County is the invitation to wander its sparse miles. Turn off any of the main highways and you find yourself in big, colorful country, peopled by the always fascinating Navajo, Hopi and Apaches. As you jog along the back-country miles, the years pass by and you don't have to travel far before you're back a quarter of a century. You'll find the yesterdays of long ago full of charm and pleasant travel... R. C.

The shining steel rails of the A. T. and S. F. cross Navajo county. The railroad has an important terminal at Winslow.

By railway, by highway, by skyway . . . all the modern modes of transportation combine to carry thousands of visitors annually through and to Navajo County.