Yours Sincerely and Sincerely to You

Yours Sincerely and Sincerely to You PRESCRIPTION:

Just before last Xmas a Rocknut in Seattle said to his Rocknutress, "What can we send to the Hermit of Santa Helena that will do him the most good?" Without hesitancy she replied, "We'll send him a year's subscription to ARIZONA HIGHWAYS." No argument. The only mistake she made was in using the word subscription. We went twelve miles and back yesterday to get our fifth "refill" of said prescription and can truthfully say it is good for all ailments. How good can best be told by stating we walked there and back for one of them. We are one hundred miles from railroad or news stand so you may know we read our magazines from "kivver to kivver" passing them on to the first soldier or river guard who comes along. But we usually wear out A. H. reading it over and over before any one arrives.Jack Wise, Study Butte, Texas.

WORD FROM THE NATIVE:

Because I am a native of Arizona, Somerton, fourteen miles from Yuma, where my folks owned a ranch from 1909 until 1922, a Chicago friend sent me a year's subscription to your wonderful magazine. He and his wife had spent their vacation near Tucson and were fascinated with the state as well as your accurate chronicle of its highways and native lore.

Three copies of it have come to me and I literally devour every word and picture. Your photographic work is the very best I've seen and, of course, all of the accounts of the various interesting points of the state are of great interest to me.

Although I like living in Winnetka, Illinois, which is a delightful suburb of Chicago on the North Shore of Lake Michigan, where in summer the greenery is unbelievable, the falls a color riot and the winters white with snow, I still miss the majestic beauty that is Arizona. Your magazine envelops me in deep nostalgia for several days after it arrives each month.Mrs. Dessie Blair Rose, Winnetka, Illinois.

ARIZONA IN THE SUMMER:

I do wish to congratulate you on the excellence of your magazine in general, with particular reference to the photographic layouts. I have seen nothing in any of the magazines devoted to photographic art that can compete, and being somewhat of an amateur in this particular field, I feel qualified to express such an opinion.

It might interest you to know that you were mainly responsible for my family managing to get to Arizona this last summer (even though my relatives in the East thought I was crazy to spend a vacation in Arizona in the summer.) I spent an enjoyable three months or so in the cool and beautiful highlands around Greer, staying at "Butlers," and trying my luck in the various streams and lakes in that vicinity. And even though the "natives" all claimed the season was unusually unfavorable for fishing, due to high-water I was completely satisfied with the results.

I've had a chance to see a considerable part of the world during the past twenty years; I know of no place where one could find a more beautiful and satisfying spot to spend a summer vacation than in the White Mountains of Arizona. It was more or less by accident that I happened to find this particular spot, and I know of no greater contrast than the ride from Springerville, through open country, more or less barren, to where one enters suddenly the pine forests of the higher lands. I also made a trip down the Mogollon Rim by way of Heber, Payson, Tonto Basin, and back by way of Pine and Flagstaff. I also fulfilled a desire of many years standing by finally visiting the marvelous Grand Canyon. If and when I ever "retire" and return to the United States forgood, I know now where I'll live-it will be in Arizona; my only regret is that I can't now be there. However, the arrival of your magazine will help keep fresh in my mind my last vacation, which now appears will be the last one until the end of the war. But just as soon as that happens-Arizona will see me once again and I hope, for many reasons, that won't be too far in the future.

Clifford V. Russell, Cristobal, Canal Zone.

TONIC:

Once again this marvelous magazine reaches me and brings with it the never to be forgotten breath of the greatest section of our great country to refresh me.

When first I was made a recipient of the magazine I told you of life on a cattle ranch in 1890-91 (Eureka Cattle Co., in the Aravaipa Valley or Canyon. Brand Half Circle V) and how I came entranced with the country, later how I lived 1902-03 in Tombstone and still later as hotel physician at Castle Hot Springs for three winters '23, '24 and '25. I am now nearly 74 in very ill health but always feel that even now a stay in Arizona would prove an elixir of life for me. Alas, it is impossible. However the monthly appearance of Highways acts as a tonic, mentally at least, to one who loves the country and often wishes that his entire life might have been spent there.

Highways is undoubtedly the most picturesque magazine extant and long may it flourish, Dr. Henry Wallace, New York, N. Y.

IN ALASKA:

I think your magazine is a unique, artistic and journalistic job, and I would not be able to express comprehensively how much I enjoy it. Relatives in Southwestern Alaska and others who have seen my copies have praised them highly, also. Now, I am going to put my current issues and other outstanding numbers such as August, 1940, in the Service Men's Library here.

Bertha Allen, Cordova, Alaska.

OF INTEREST:

I don't know of a magazine that interests me more than your ARIZONA HIGHWAYS.

Your magazine is one of the most inspiring books that anyone could read. Not only are the pictures beautiful but the articles written by your own department and your friends so interesting to read.

This world of ours needs more of this kind of reading and less of the trash that is found on our news stands today and anyone who has visited your beautiful state as many times as we have, and has carried home a lot of footage in colored movies, can well appreciate everything your good magazine describes.

We are waiting anxiously for the time to "visit again in Arizona" and go over the many beautiful spots that we have only "partly explored."

F. J. Sperka, Graham Paper Co., St. Louis, Missouri.

AUGUST, 1942

PAGE FORTY-THREE

Portrait of a GHOST TOWN

On the slopes of the Cerbat mountain range in Mohave County, there sprawls the town of White Hills -a city truly given up to the ghosts of its former inhabitants. This is no oftvisited, well-known mining camp such as Tombstone or Virginia City. White Hills lies alone and forgotten, and each day the ravages of sun and wind combine to speed its complete disappearance.

Not forgotten, however, is the silvery torrent that flowed from its mines and mill during the fifteen-year period following its discovery in 1892-a sum estimated to have reached more than nine million dollars in silver, lead, and zinc. At one time, White Hills was a booming silver camp of over two thousand inhabitants, and was considered the most important city in Mohave County. Now it sleeps quietly. Gone are the prospectors, the begrimed mill workers, the wild pay days. Gone, even, is the mill itself. Only the great stamp presses still stand as mute reminders of the activity that once characterized this region.

After the discovery of the silver deposit, a horde of prospectors descended upon White Hills, and began honeycombing the hills with their diggings, so that hundreds of tunnels and shafts may be seen today in the immediate vicinity of the town. The ore was rich, and the price of silver was high. White Hills prospered. Supplies and machinery were brought in from the railroad at Kingman or from the boat landings on the Colorado river. The hauling was done by great freight wagons drawn by mule teams. The ore was hauled to the mill by wagon, also, and some of the ten-ton ore wagons can still be seen. A city was laid out in orderly blocks, and many wooden buildings were constructed. Of these, a large number were saloons, for the miners were evidently heavy drinkers. Throughout the town, the ground is littered with bits of broken whiskey bottles, turned purple by the sun's rays.

They rest in peace in the silence of White Hills' cemetery. In the background can be seen the mountain, whose silver made and unmade the town.

Regular stage service was established between White Hills and Kingman, the county seat, and the silver camp came to be considered as a well-established and permanent city.

However, the price of silver fell, and the high-grade ore became increasingly difficult to find. One by one, the mines closed down, until there was insufficient ore to supply the big mill. The mill was shut down, and the inhabitants of White Hills seemed to disappear overnight, until only a handful of persons remained. Soon, even these hardy souls departed, and the town was left alone and forgotten.

Today, it is easy to visit White Hills, and it provides a very interesting side trip for the motorists visiting Mohave County and the Boulder Dam region. The town lies six miles north-east of the Kingman-Boulder Dam highway. The turn-off is clearly marked, and is located 48 miles from Kingman, or 27 miles from Boulder Dam.