CANYON GARDEN

Oak Creek is a merry little stream and the canyon that contains it is a garden of rich and fragrant beauty. The creek itself is formed by springs coming from the high rim, a few miles south of San Francisco Peaks. It goes about its business providing water for gardens and orchards, filling swimming pools, watering stock, and forming the playground for thousands of silvery trout. It keeps company almost throughout its course with Alternate U. S. Highway 89, which goes from Prescott to Flagstaff by way of Jerome, Clarkdale, Cottonwood and Sedona. Every mile of Oak Creek Canyon is out of a picture book, every turn of the road offering portraits of great natural loveliness. The walls are steep and drip with color, the vividness of which is enhanced by the forests that pour over the rim. Truly an enchanting picture.

The canyon floor is a profusion of growing things, wild and cultivated, a luxuriant garden, whose color varies with the time of the year. In this canyon garden are camp grounds, inns and lodges, in picturesque settings. There are orchards, famed for their fruit and rich gardens in black-brown soil. The canyon is fruitful and productive, blessed with the infinite riches of mild climate, sunshine, good soil, and water that has no ending.

The seasons move in and out gently and quietly, and the signs of their passing can be read only in color of the growing things. Spring leaves her mark in the peach trees, glowing with spring blossoms. There is the dark heavy green of summer, the gay gold of autumn, the deep and somber browns of winter. Oak Creek Canyon is full of color, vibrant color, the color of living things and canyon walls. Here abundance and color are the keynotes.

This is a country easy to live in. It is a peaceful coun-try, restful and relaxing. The little creek, born in the springs on the high rim and lost forever in the embrace of the Verde River, not so many miles away, never raises its voice above a whisper. The raucous color of canyon walls is muted by the green forest. The soft wind touches tenderly the leaves of the peach trees and in deepest summer even the sun seems to be less fiery as if reluctant to shatter the perfect pattern of peace and stillness that lays over all the country. Winter may rage furiously on the rim overlooking the canyon and the country around Oak Creek but the uninvited will seldom intrude. After all, winter has no place in a peaceful, sunny garden, serene in its restful charm.

"Ranch and the River"

Up and down the Verde, the traveler, should he care to leave the main roads for a few miles, comes upon small farms whose simplicity and hominess form scenes of great beauty. Soil along the Verde is rich and with a little care these acres can be made very productive. Because of the agreeable climate the Verde Valley is becoming a popular winter ranch locality.