The Cochise-Santa Cruz State Highway

THE state highways of Cochise and Santa Cruz counties are roads that any county, any state, might well be proud of and for the purpose of this article I will ask the reader to start with me at Nogales, the "double barreled" city and say that we have had a fine dinner at the Cave, on the other side, not of the river Jordan, but the U. S.-Mexico line, and that I wouldn't wonder if there might be a little old Jordan left around over there somewhere, yet. Leaving Nogales we will take the state highway and our first drive will be to Tombstone, over one of, if not the best dirt highway on the entire system and one of the best mainttained.

This road is all either gravel, decomposed granite or caliche, surfaced the entire distance of 76 miles. It has all curves properly banked and is a very fast road, but in addition to being a fine road it has a most interesting topography to drive over and through with its prairie, gorge, rolling hills, oak forests, up and down hills and at places the most beautiful panoramic views in all of Arizona.

Especially is this so from the higher levels about three miles out of Nogales. At six miles you cross the Santa Cruz on a reinforced concrete bridge built by the state highway department about 12 years ago. At 19 miles you pass the Circle Z ranch one of the finest guest ranches in all the industry. Next you pass through the Sonoita Gorge, a beautiful drive with colored panoramic effects that beggar description, especially about four o'clock in the afternoon when the sun is shining down on the colored mountain peaks.

By A. H. GARDNER We now are approaching the pretty village of Patagonia, where almost every yard is a fruit orchard At the top of the hill as we start down to the village, we go through a gravel cut that when the state forces made it, they uncovered an Indian burial ground and recovered many worthwhile exhibits.

CROSS SONOITA CREEK

Leaving Patagonia we cross the Sonoita creek on a steel single span bridge, erected by the state highway department about six years ago.

About five miles out of Patagonia we follow a wash for about 3,000 feet which owing to the overflow condition of the land it became necessary for the state highway department to get permission of the Southern Pacific railway company, to place the highway on its right of way at that point and to construct a sloping concrete wall for flood protection and then fill in between the railroad fill base and the concrete revetment.

About eight miles out of Patagonia we come to two sign boads of historic interest, the first marks the site of old Camp Buchanan and a short distance beyond another board marks the site of old Camp Crittenden. These sites were marked and dedicated last spring by the state highway department, with Governor Hunt as the principal speaker.

We next come to Sonoita, which junction point, for here a recently constructed state highway was opened toward Vail and is a well traveled, built and well maintained highway through the Santa Rita mountains and came in handy for west bound tourist traffic last October after the big flood. From Sonoita we are soon up on the mesa where the motorist has a wonderful panoramic view, and while driving this prairie like stretch of country it is interesting to know that the two cattle passes one drives over in this vicinity are lined with two elephant huts that once saw duty in Francee.

ENTER MESCAL PASS

We are now entering Mescal Pass and a caliche section of the road that looks like it was paved with concrete and now we are in Cochise county and down grade we spin until we come to the San Pedro river where we cross that some times a raging earth eating stream on a bridge built by Governor Hunt during his first administration and as I have said before will be there when the Rocks of Gibralter have been washed to nothingness by the ocean and time at least it appears that way. This bridge the governor constructed with prison labor.

Fairbank is the point at which this bridge is located and from here to the Nogales-Benson Junction it is five miles and at this point we intersect the United States Highway No. 80, but from