YOURS SINCERELY

YOURS SINCERELY WITH A PRISONER-OF-WAR, GERMANY BOUND:

This afternoon a German prisoner-ofwar, who is a passenger on board this ship, came to me and brought a bound copy of Arizona Highways. He had been in the camp at Florence. He is an artist and was taking back to Germany your magazine so that he could remember the beauties that he had seen there.

He had heard that my home is in Arizona so he brought his book to me. I must say that he has made me most terrifically homesick. We are about 2000 miles out of New York bound for Le Harve.

Frederick D. Pine Captain, C.M.P. Transport Commander S. S. Rensselaer Victory In the North Atlantic.

TONTO RIM COUNTRY:

Being an ardent admirer of Arizona and all that it holds I always read Arizona Highways avidly from cover to cover each month. The color photograps are superb and worth far more than the small price of a year's subscription. You are to be congratulated on putting out such a worthwhile and interesting magazine. It seems to me that every state would do well to follow your splendid example in making the public conscious of its state's natural beauties and resources. What particularly pleases and impresses me is the absence of advertising matter in your magazine. What a relief!

And now I have a request to make. In the two years that I have been subscribing to Arizona Highways I have failed to find any article on the Tonto Rim country regarding its scenic and historical interest. It seems to me this part of Arizona is one of the most beautiful and colorful sections of the entire State. Please, sometime, devote an entire issue to articles and photographs (oh, lots of photographs) of that region as you have done with other sectionsthe Phoenix and Tucson sections for instance. I should think the Tonto Rim country offers limitless possibilities for wonderful color photographs.

Miss Allida Allen Hollywood, Calif.

MAP SUGGESTION:

Knowing my love of your desert, a friend has sent me a copy of your beautiful publication. I noted that you welcome suggestions so would make this comment: the inclusion of a small map would be of great help and interest to readers. This may be as detailed as the compilers think fit but main physical features and chief towns might be indicated; also the location of places mentioned in the current text and pictures.

Miss M. L. Benson Gordon, NSW, Australia.

As a monthly feature. It will not appear, however, until the December issue, and if it turns out as well as we hope, it should be a fine map. (Yes! You are right. If it takes THAT long to get it out it should be a map to end all maps.)

DEAD BUFFALO:

Early in May, my wife and I left Marble Canyon Lodge to return to our home at Clearfield, Utah. On Highway 89 about three miles south of the House Rock Valley ranch, and along the highway we found two pieces of a skin lying where some one had left it. Upon closer examination it proved to be a buffalo skin, freshly removed from the carcass.

I climbed up on my car to look over the landscape, as I felt that somewhere close I would be able to see the animal from which the skin had been taken. Off to the north of the road about one hundred yards, I found the carcass of the buffalo. It had been partly skinned out, but no meat had been taken from it.

Car tracks of one automobile were there at the scene of the killing. From signs left by the party who did the job I am sure there must have been two people implicated. I know that it is too late to do anything about it other than to maybe give it some publicity in the Arizona Highways. We took a couple of pictures of the partly-skinned dead animal where it lay. I am sportsman enough to resent this kind of thing, and regardless of who may have done it, I would like to see them prosecuted to the limit.

KOREA ISN'T SO FAR AWAY:

Though I am a native of California, I have always argued for Arizona whenever the two were in question. (Please don't let the Los Angeles C. of C. hear about this). I lived in Arizona for a year and a half and I literally fell in love with it, as so many others have. We were fortunate enough to receive Arizona Highways in my home before I came overseas and it is a treasured addition to the family.

To get on with my story: I am now stationed with the navy port director in Korea and while I have been here I have made a few friends, one of whom is an elderly German merchant who has lived here for 43 years. The other day when I went to visit him he showed me some magazines a chaplain had brought to him. Suddenly I jumped up and told him to stop. There was an Arizona Highways. I was very amazed to see it here in Korea and thought maybe you would be, too. It was like a technicolor dream for me. I read them and reread them. Even though they were dated November and December, 1944, they were still a welcome sight. You have won two more admirers for the state in the German people. The issue was colored photos of our desert flowers and they were beautiful.

DESERTED SHACK

Deserted shack? Perhaps . . . and yet, half boarded windows seem to peep out toward the distant snowy peaks . . . Two battered seats upon a would-be porch, chat idly, as though calls should never end . . .

Shadows drooping from rafters, slip their pattern softly back into the vacant rooms to wait the trysting of the desert moon . . .

Outlined above the glistening dune, the roof leans forward, as if listening . . . Desert shack? Perhaps . . .

LORRAINE BABBITT.

REVERSAL

In the darkness, high on my quiet hill, I gaze at the lights of the town; There are no stars and so for tonight Heaven is upside down!

VIRGINIA LEE MEHARD.

INDIAN DESIGN

Squash flowers and the setting sun, Lucky signs and lightning streaks, Thunder bird with silent wings Soars above the mountain peaks.

Design from nature, color, form, Mesa's sand and canyon wall, Motion from the eagle's flight, Music from the waterfall.

LOUISE GOODSON.

APOLOGY FOR NO SERENADE

Because Jose was poor He had no instrument to serenade her with, And because he was not talented He could not play one Even if he had one; Thus he whispered with the desert willows His apology, On the river bank Under the stars. Maria, sitting happily by his side, Laughed quietly To hear guitar strings plinking In the lapping water, And castanets In the sound of crickets.

G. RAPHAEL SMALL.

THE CATALINAS

They were here, In countless unwritten ages. Hohokam, Conquistador, Were awed by them. Silent, calm, serene, They, who know not time, Look down on us, Who live but for a day.

They will watch, For ages yet to come, The little race of man Go by. Adding to each life Some high moment Of beauty and faith, A promise, Still to be fulfilled, Of immortality.

MARGARET NEAL THRELFALL.

"THE ROAD"

The road goes through the Indian country—one of a network of similar roads through the Hopi and Navajo Reservations. This particular road leaves U. S. 89 and goes north through Kayenta to Monument Valley and Utah. The main traveled roads through the Indian country are maintained by the Indian service and in good weather are safe and fairly fast. They lead you to strange places and to a strange people. They lead you to the most isolated places in America, far, far, indeed, from the hurry and scurry of our modern civilization. In wet weather, the traveler, unaccustomed to travel over these Indian roads, should inquire of road conditions at trading posts and service stations along the way. Always he should take it easy and just relax. Here you travel for fun and to see the country—and you just don't get your money's worth if you hurry.