ST. JOHNS, THE TOWN OF FRIENDLY NEIGHBORS

St Johns THE TOWN OF FRIENDLY NEIGHBORS BY CECIL CALVIN RICHARDSON

An eagle riding high in the blue sky over St. Johns in eastern Arizona is but a tiny dot of shadow on the ground, moving from flat-topped mesa to rolling hill and valley. There is no sound of its passing, but like Time itself it moves on and on into Eternity. Yesterday there was another eagle and another shadow, and on and on into the past for untold centuries. But the whole of all things past is only yesterday. And out of yesterday was born St. Johns, the town of friendly neighbors. Today it is a living, thriving example of Americanism at its best. Founded upon an heroic past, the community of StJohns is a landmark in the progress of time. It took millions of years for nature to produce the Petrified Forest nearby, and in that dim and distant era the mighty dinosaurs and mastadons traveled the lonely trails to extinction and left their footprints in the "sands of time" near St. Johns. In the sixteenth century Fray Marcos de Niza came plodding wearily up from the south toward the Little "LYMAN DAM" BY WAYNE DAVIS. The Lyman Dam was first built in the years 1911 and 1912, but due to faulty construction and an unusually great amount of water flowing in the Little Colorado, the dam broke without warning April 15, 1915, killing six people in the flood waters. The dam was rebuilt in 1918-21 and at the present time holds an average of 31,000 acre feet of water. The dam is located on the Little Colorado, 12 miles from St. Johns. The water is taken out of the dam by canals to irrigate land near St. Johns. Photograph made with a 4x5 Brand 17 View Camera, Ilex, 61½ inch focal length Paragon Anastigmat lens, 1/10 sec. at F:16, Kodachrome.

Colorado River that makes a half circle about the town, and there was the wonder of fairy tales of golden cities in his eyes. Following him came Coronado, to cross the Colorado Chiquito at the edge of the present site of the town, and then to go on into the dim horizon where disillusionment waited like a hungry ghost to creep out upon him. And then for over three and a half centuries there was a strange quiet along the upper reaches of the Little Colorado. At last it was broken for all time by the gaunt, hoarse-voiced trapper and trader, and the sibilant whispered Spanish of New Mexicans. Among the latter were

SANTA FOR MANY NAVAJOS:

Shine Smith has been playing Santa to many Navajos each and every year for a long time almost since he first came to the reservation thirty years ago as a friend and missionary of The People. ARIZONA HIGHWAYS again invites readers to send little gifts to Shine's Christmas Party for the Navajos this year. Just anything will do-old clothing, shoes, blankets, food, candy or fruit. Small monetary contributions sent to Shine will be used for medicine and things like that. Checks and money orders should be made out to Shine Smith. Gifts should be sent to Shine Smith, Flagstaff, Arizona. Shine plans several parties this Christmas Season in parts of the reservation where help is needed.

Vol. XXV. No. 11 NOVEMBER, 1949 ARIZONA HIGHWAYS

"THE WINDOW OF THE WEST "

RAYMOND CARLSON, Editor

George M. Avey, Art Editor

LEGEND

"BUCKER AND BUCKAROO" FRONT COVER PHOTOGRAPH BY ROSS MADDEN OF A FAMOUS CHARLIE RUSSELL BRONZE.

ST. JOHNS, THE TOWN OF FRIENDLY NEIGHBORS CECIL RICHARDSON INTRODUCES US TO COUNTY SEAT OF OLD APACHE.

WINTER FISHING IN THE SUNSHINE LAND SHIRT SLEEVE WEATHER MAKES IT A REAL PLEASURE TO GO FISHING.

THE VERDE RIVER CONTINUING THE STORY OF ONE OF ARIZONA'S FAMOUS WATER COURSES.

GENIUS IN CHAPS PRESENTING THE LIFE AND WORKS OF THE ARTIST, CHARLIE RUSSELL.

IN OLD ARIZONA PHOTOGRAPHIC REMINDERS OF THE DAYS WHEN APACHES RODE WILD.

YOURS SINCERELY

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A PAGE DEVOTED TO OUR READERS AND TO SEVERAL LINES OF VERSE.

"BLACK HILLS" BACK COVER WAYNE DAVIS PRESENTS A STUDY OF SCENIC AREA NEAR ST. JOHNS.

DAN E. GARVEY

Governor of Arizona

ARIZONA HIGHWAYS is published monthly by the Arizona Highway Department. Address: ARIZONA HIGHWAYS, Phoenix, Arizona. $3.00 per year in U. S. and possessions; $3.50 elsewhere. 35 cents each. Entered as second-class matter Nov. 5, 1941, at Post Office in Phoenix, under Act of March 3, 1879. Copyrighted, 1949, by Arizona Highway Department, Phoenix, Ariz.

Allow five weeks for changes of addresses. Be sure to send in old as well as new address.

"BIG COPPER"

Part of the plant of the Morenci branch, Phelps Dodge Corporation, one of the big U. S. copper producers. Photograph Western Ways

Novembering

Remember November? The wind is rustling the dry leaves on the mountains, the aspen are bent and shivering white sticks in the wind. Impatient clouds hurry above the mountain peaks, their shadows mad apparitions moving over the earth. In the desert all the heavy heat of summer is gone. Now the air in the desert is warm, lightened by the crispness that only comes to the desert in late autumn and winter. How perfect can the weather get? We have from time to time presented some outstanding art features in these pages but we have never presented one with more pleasure than our feature this issue on the life and works of Charles Marion Russell. This cowpoke out of Montana is dead now and forall we know "is chasing the devil's herd across the endless skies," but each year adds to his stature as an artist, perhaps one of the greatest artists America has ever produced. In his paintings will live for all time a West that is no more, the West before barbed wire, when the Indian and the buffalo ruled the plains. Our feature was prepared for us by Homer E. Britzman, who with Ramon Adams, wrote "Charles M. Russell-A Biography" and with Adams and Karl Yost compiled "Charles M. Russell-A Bibliography." These two volumes, a complete study of Charlie Russell and his works, are available at book dealers or at Trail's End Publishing Company, 725 Michigan Blvd., Pasadena, Calif. The material we use to illustrate our feature this issue is from the private collection of Mr. Britzman.

If there ever was a genius surely Charles Russell could be so described. His paintings and water colors are now priceless, but many critics contend that he was best in his bronzes. Such a bronze is reproduced on our cover page. He had no formal training as an artist. He lived the scenes he drew, he was part of the decades he depicted so well. It can be that we will never see his likes again. In a continuation of our town studies, we present this month a portrait of St. Johns, the pleasant, friendly town in Apache County. St. Johns has had a lively history, in some respects more boisterous than that of Tombstone, but the town doesn't sit around dreaming of other days. St. Johns is busy and expanding.

If you plan to spend a winter in Arizona, don't leave your fishing tackle at home. Our expert on matters pertaining to hunting and fishing. Charlie Niehuis, goes into considerable detail this issue to show what fine fishing we have here during winter. Scribner's, early this fall, brought out another book by Ross Santee, whose sketches appear almost each month in ARIZONA HIGHWAYS. We recommend with enthusiasm Ross' new book. "The Bubbling Spring." This book is done with extreme care and presents a vivid tableau of the West, colorful, exciting and authentic. Of the many fine books Ross Santee has written, this is one of the best and we predict it will have an important place in western literature.. R.C.