Yours Sincerely

Yours Sincerely METEOR CRATER:

Your November issue as usual was full of very interesting matter. The story of the "Meteor Crater" is of especial interest, the writer having for years read every thing published concerning this crater. As it has been some time since anything has been written about Meteor Crater, this story of yours seems to bring this subject up to date and is especially interesting. After reading this story, my thoughts turned to a visit the writer made to Honolulu in 1911 as a member of the party promoted by the A.I.M.E. on a visit to Japan. Among the party was a man that was connected with a mining company of Butte, Montana. This man was born near Honolulu and had a brother there who was the manager of a large sugar plantation on the Islands. This man informed me that the company, for whom his brother was manager, had spent five million dollars to install a pumping plant that raised water for irrigation of their sugar lands. It seems that the time taken to raise a crop of sugar cane usually was about 12 months, and through the dry season water had to be raised from wells to keep the cane growing, hence the expensive pumping plant. Now the question that came to my mind after reading this crater story is this: Is there any land near by that could be developed under irrigation? If so, is the altitude suitable for producing crops that might have a value sufficient to make use of the water raised from the shaft that can be sunk to reach the meteor for an additional source of revenue.

In view of the estimate of the weight of this meteor at ten million tons having a value of $50.00 per ton, or 50 million dollars, this added to the value of the irrigation project, it would seem to me, that the pumping difficulties mentioned are negligible and can be easily overcome. The fact that the fine sand stopped the first effort to get this shaft down could easily be overcome by the use of caissons, and filtering sumps.

If there is a sufficiently large body of water found that might constitute a permanent supply, the profits from the irrigation project might easily make this a very fine investment, the same as the five million dollar pumping plant near Honolulu.

T. H. Proske, Denver, Colorado.

TRIBUTE TO MEXICO:

In referring to your September issue of ARIZONA HIGHWAYS, giving a salute to Mexico am moved to say that this issue is the finest publication I have seen on Mexico. Your artist and editorial staff are to be complimented on its excellence and I can only say it is a great tribute from a great state to a neighbor nation.

Although we are in another section of the United States it may interest you to know that our interest is as intense in your section of the country as is your own and we can only commend you on the good work you are doing as is evidenced by this publication.

William Jacob, Canton, Ohio.

SOMEWHERE IN NEW GUINEA:

Today Mrs. Knight surprised me with the October issue of ARIZONA HIGHWAYS for which I am very thankful. It made me feel so happily lonesome that I thought it a good idea to tell you that the little sight of home is a big help to me here. One can be lonesome and still happy when he knows there still will be a place like Arizona when this job over here is completed.

I like the sentiment of your editorial too. One is so prone to feel that at home it is "business as usual." We are doing an increasingly good job here and will continue. Arizonans are well represented here and I am proud of them; we hope it will not take too long. Keep on with your efforts we won't let you down.

F. W. Knight, 1st Lt. M. C., 19th Bomb. Squadron, Somewhere in New Guinea.

WANDERERS IN THE DESERT LAND:

This is a sort of double barrelled letter -in the first place to express my appreciation of ARIZONA HIGHWAYS, particularly this last Christmas number; and secondly to ask if you have any suggestions to make on a matter which is rather important with us just now the finding of a new wilderness home location.

As you are doubtless familiar both with ourselves and our problem through the monthly feature which we have been running for some time in DESERT MAGAZINE, I think I can skip all introductory remarks. But it occurred to me the other day that if anyone is in a position to make suggestions regarding a little spot of wilderness with water-you, as editor of Arizona Highways, probably could do so.

In the almost thirty years that have elapsed since I previously travelled in Arizona, the country has changed. Not the country, of course, but the populations and development areas. This is fine for Prosperity and Progress but a little disheartening for one who feels much about settled areas as Daniel Boone did. The Taylor Act has complicated things too. And seemingly every little trickle of spring water has been tagged.

Of course this is a pessimistic view. There must be and undoubtedly are dozens of isolated suitable places if we could connect with them. Our needs are not elaborate-fortunately perhaps for a Thoreauesque purse. Even an abandoned mining claim would be quite in order, providing it possessed the essentials of wood, water and the possibility of rais-ing a garden. We have seen beautiful places in Arizona; but none that offered us the pos-sibility of locating. The place does have to have a certain amount of inspiring atmosphere. But this is a detail upon which it is unnecessary to elaborate. Knowing you as I do, through your printed words in A. H., I am aware that you know all about the intangible "something" for which poets and similar unhappy mortals -seek.

Somewhere there is someone who has just what we want. It may be some old timer who knows of some forgotten location in the hills. Quien sabe? And if you are in a position to throw out a line of suggestions we'll be very appreciative.

Marshal South, St. George, Utah.

The South family lives as closely to nature as is possible in this modern century of ours. At Ghost Mountain, for instance, their water came from the rain that collected in rocky cisterns. But finally the rains did not come and the Souths had to wander again into the desert seeking a new home.

Should any reader in Arizona have any suggestions as to where the Souths may find a home in the desert wilderness, Arizona High-ways will be happy to forward their suggestions to the South family.

PAN AMERICA:

I have read the Christmas issue of your magazine which, with its interesting articles and colorful photographs, would serve us considerably in our efforts to make known the attractions of the United States in Latin America.

Would it be possible for you to send us one or two copies of this issue for our files? If this office could be placed on your regular mailing list it would serve to keep us posted on the development of good roads and travel attractions in your state.

Francisco J. Hernández, Chief, Travel Division. Pan American Union, Washington, D. C.

PURPLE SHADOWS ON THE MOUNTAINS:

Just a note to tell you how much I have enjoyed your remarkable magazine. As an amateur photographer I take particular delight in your wonderful illustrations. The December number is a work of art. I wish I could frame and hang on my walls all of the marvelous color pictures and most of the black and whites. In my boyhood, I lived three years in Cananea, Mexico, where I looked out over the desert every day and came to love it. Your marvelous color pictures take me back. Again I see the purple shadows on the mountainsshadows I tried so hard to photograph.

Dr. Walter C. Alvarez, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn.