Yours Sincerely

Dam location. Another of many operations necessary is the drilling and blasting of two 5 x 7 foot drifts 40 to 50 feet back into the solid rock abutments high above the river for further tests and examination.

Such an investigation does not necessarily mean that a Marble Canyon Dam will be constructed at this site in the near future even if the conditions prove satisfactory for this is but one phase of a reclamation masterplan. The ultimate decisions will be largely governed by many factors such as over-all reclamation developments, alternate locations that might prove more favorable, available appropriations, and the increased power requirements of a growing population and new industry in the West. However, if and when it becomes time to construct a dam on this part of the Colorado River to further harness nature's forces for the good of mankind, the pioneering will have been done. The dam is on paper for Marble Canyon. It would rise approximately 300 feet above the river surface and sink 100 feet below to bedrock. It's potential power output is calculated at two and three quarters billion killowatt hours a year.

Someday man-made thunder may reverberate throughout Marble Canyon and when the dust and smell of blasting powder has settled powerful trucks may be seen grinding up and down a steep winding roadway serving a full-fledged dam construction operation far below. Or the sun might glisten on the stout multiple strands supporting huge shuttling cablecars as they glide in and out of the canyon loaded with cement and steel.

Perhaps someday a passerby will peer over the rim at Marble Canyon and see a gracefully curved white concrete dam for below. Where the muddy Colorado has carved its way for twelve million years there will be a narrow winding clear blue lake fifty miles long. The traveler will know that a new breed of pioneers has passed this way and that civilization has once more touched the great canyon of the Colorado.

NO NEW TENANTS: The United States Air Force has, as of February 1, 1951, taken official possession of Fort Huachuca, Arizona. The tenants of Fort Huachuca Enterprises are now the tenants of the Air Force and are being permitted to reside in the Fort temporarily; it is not unlikely that those among them qualified, desiring employ ment, will be employed at the Fort. In the event of abandonment of the Post at some future date, we sincerely hope that it will again become available as the wonderful residential-recreational area for which we know it. Until then we cannot accept new tenants. John Pintek Fort Huachuca Enterprises, Inc. Bisbee, Arizona After our January issue of ARIZONA HIGHWAYS, presenting the story of Fort Huachuca Enterprises, was published, announcement was made that the U. S. Air Force was taking over the Fort. Many inquiries have been received in our office by people interested in establishing homes at the Fort. The situation has changed, however, and we are grateful to Mr. Pintek for bringing us up to date. We, too, sincerely hope that the Fort will soon again be open for civilian residency and rumors of war far, far behind us.

HOPI NAME: Fred Kabotie tells me that he is sorry that the description and title were left off my last picture, “Dawaki.” He feels that such publica tions are helpful to the Hopi people in that the Hopi names for our part of the state are more colorful than the more recent titles. Thomas A. Donohoe Oraibi, Arizona

T. R. IN ARIZONA: As one who for years has enjoyed ARIZONA HIGHWAYS-which first came to my desk when I was on the New York Herald Tribune-I wish to call your attention to some minor errors in the article “Buffalo Robes on the Hoof” by Marjorie Secrest in your number of January, 1951. On page 13, second column, third paragraph, she states that Theodore Roosevelt maintained a hunting cabin in the Houserock Valley, and that it was he who financed the driving of the first herd of buffalo there that had been built up by a man named Owens and Buffalo Jones, and saying that it was with the latter that T. R. used to slip away and go hunting. It so happens that I was with T. R. on the only hunting journey he made in Arizonawhich was in the summer of 1913. He and his sons, Archie and Quentin, and I spent a month on the North Rim hunting cougars, and crossed the Houserock Valley to Lee's Ferry. The herd of buffalo was there at the time, but T. R. had had nothing to do with getting it there, although I believe he encouraged Buffalo Jones to make the experiment. If Mrs. Secrest had consulted one of Zane Grey's first books, “The Last of the Plainsmen”-not fiction-she would have found the full story of Buffalo Jones, and a little ma terial about his last drive to the Houserock Valley. I have not looked at the book for forty years, and so cannot be too precise in summariz ing it. Furthermore, if she had consulted T. R.'s “A Booklover's Holiday in the Open,” published in 1916, she would have learned about T. R.'s only Arizona trip. If you can dig up a volume you will see that in the second paragraph on page one he mentions the fact that I had made the preparations for his trip. But at no time did he maintain a hunting shack there, nor was he ever accustomed to slip off with Buffalo Jones.. So much for corrections. But the real point is to suggest that there is good material to be got for your magazine about Buffalo Jones, and about “Uncle Jim” Owens, who, it is true, helped Buffalo Jones drive the buffalo into the House rock Valley, but thereafter served as govern ment agent in charge of exterminating “var mints.” I spent a summer with him, and found him to be not only a wonderful hunter, but a gentleman of the highest character, and a repre sentative of what was best in the old frontiers men. He worked on the Goodnight ranch in Texas in the 60's, and told me that he was the man who discovered the technique of driving cattle at night in the hot weather so as to cut down the wear and tear-a system for which I believe Buffalo Jones later took the credit. From what I heard of Jones-whom I never met-my conviction is that Owens told the truth in this matter, as Owens was a thoroughly modest man, whereas Jones was pretty much of a self-adver tiser. Nicholas Roosevelt Big Sur, California

TO TUMACACORI

Religious men built a Cathedral. Religious men wearing Flowing robes of Solemnity.

Ornaments on the altar were pure gold: The well of Truth, The Palm of Peace, The Candle of Flame, The tower of strength, Painted in four corners.

Lizards watched from stone wall shade, Tails wiggling, Mouths snapping at careless fly; Beady eyes exhibiting no surprise Of those kneeling the cold stone, Pleading mercy and ignorance.

Time, time, time, Now stand crumbled walls Of an ancient Spanish Cathedral.

Rough, wooden crosses in the yard, Weatherbeaten, mark the Strong.

Lizards still watch from cool shade, Watch, and beady eyes exhibit no surprise Snapping now and then at careless fly.

CULPRIT

The sun sneaks down behind the hill When ends another day. It fills its pockets full of gold And slowly steals away.

MYSTIC BREW

Two-faced, shimmering maple leaf, You confound me with disbelief What magic brews beneath your sheen That changed to silver, all your green?

STRIPTEUSE

What is this bright confetti that litters the desert floor? Why, it's sequins from the spangled gown a Palo Verde wore! Poor yellow Cinderella, so gay at the Springtime ball, Then the wind-swept stroke of Summer left her no gown at all!

TALE OF TIME

Seconds and minutes-such tiny Grains of time building up Into mounds Of shifting hours; Soon the growing months Are molding mountains On the landscapes Of eternity; Then the years are piled up Into decades Marked by man, Ever building Into infinity.

BACK COVER “LAGUNA CANYON” BY RAY ATKESON. Laguna Canyon is in the heart of Navajo National Monument, north of Tuba City, a few miles west of the Cameron-Monument Valley road. This spectacular canyon was the home of prehistoric Indian tribes. Two of the southwest's most picturesque prehistoric ruins-Betatakin and Keet Seel-are located in the tributaries of this canyon.

OPPOSITE PAGE “ON THE APACHE TRAIL” BY ROY L. CAPLES. The Apache Trail is one of Arizona's noted scenic drives. Listed on maps as State Highway 88, the Apache Trail begins at Apache Junction, 16 miles east of Mesa, and winds its colorful and twisty way for some 80 miles through mountains and foothills to the Globe-Miami district. 8 x 10 View Camera, 8 in. Cooke wide angle lens, 1/5th sec. at f29.