YOURS SINCERELY

RIVER TRIP: ... Each issue of your beautiful magazine seems to be in answer to some question I have had nagging at me for some time. But your June issue was so curiously appropriate I think you should know why. For several years I've flown direct to Arizona to use every precious minute of my three week vacation to explore some of that fantastic country in the northwestern part of the state.

This summer I was scheduled to start the Grand Canyon trip from Lee's Ferry on July 12. Imagine then how I devoured Lauritzen's article on the Arizona Strip and Grater's on the bat caves. Little did I realize how much more they would mean to me in a matter of days!

On the morning of July 25 we were all enjoying a comparatively quiet stretch of river after the hectic experience of "living" Lava Falls Rapids the afternoon before. Suddenly someone began calling out and pointing. I looked and couldn't believe my eyes. There, standing on a sandbar was-a man! I would have as soon expected to see a polar bear or an elephant down there! But it was Pat Bundyone of the Bundy clan described by Lauritzen. He had heard we were going through so he came down to greet us. He refurbished our larder with some home-canned venison (delicious at supper that night!) and dynamited a few catfish out of the river for us, shared a bite of our lunch, volunteered to act as postman for the few cards we could scare up in the party and then was left, a tiny speck of humanity in that vast, forbidding, but fascinating land.

On July 27 we ran the last of the rapids before lunch and then settled down for the long pull to Pierce Ferry with a rapidly diminishing current and miles of rowing ahead. We decided to get a few extra miles after supper and so re-embarked in spite of a threatening storm. It came with a display of lightning even more wonderful than that pictured in this same June issue! The thunder rolled from canyon wall to canyon wall and back again and the wind and rain made the run down the river faster and far more thrilling than we had expected. Suddenly, in the illumination of a lightning flash, someone saw what our leaders had been expecting. The boat and barge tied up below the bat caves! The mine operators came out to signal and guide us, and help us to land and tie up and offer us the hospitality of their little settlement. We all slept that night on the boat and barge pictured on page 27!

Miss Eugenia V. Wyckoff New York, New York We feel Miss Wyckoff couldn't have taken a nicer trip. For that trip, at least, our June issue would be a good guide.

WELCOME!

Since it is your fault that we must change the address on our subscription, I am writing directly to you. You pictured Arizona so enticingly to us that we made two trips out there to see if it could really be as beautiful as you said. (It was!) And then you made us fall in love with Mexico! (Remember the issue on Mexico's West Coast?) Well, we can resist no longer, so please change our subscription address to the American Institute for Foreign Trade.

We shall be in the Institute's September class -and, of course, we learned about it from ARIZONA HIGHWAYS! I hope you are satisfied!

Priscilla & John Townsend Youngstown, Ohio Welcome, Priscilla! Welcome, John! We are very satisfied, and hope you will be, too.

BEHIND MONASTERY WALLS: In your August issue I found the article City of the Brown Robes by Thomas S. Shiya of special interest to me. As a Catholic, I am well aware of the role played in the early exploration of our country by the missionaries. However, many people have not had access to such historical information and Mr. Shiya presented in such an attractive manner the various activities carried on by the monks, which will doubtless be a source of enlightenment to many who have not the vaguest idea of what goes on behind monastery walls. I also cannot fail to commend Allen C. Reed for his excellent photographs in a publication unexcelled for good photography.

Mrs. James F. McElwee Miami, Florida

OF POST OFFICES: I just received my September issue of ARIZONA HIGHWAYS today and gave it that initial rapid once-through. A statement about Blue ("post office farthest from any railroad") caught my eye. I have always thought that another town in your beautiful state (Kayenta) had that distinction. How about it?

J. R. Owen Bartlesville, Oklahoma

W. E. Everett Winslow, Arizona

PORTRAIT OF CIVILIZATION: Surely no one but an artist could bring such beauty out of the lowly things of life (especially a garbage dump) as the "Portrait of Civilization" in your September issue. Words simply fail to express the depth of feeling in my heart as I study this gorgeous masterpiece. This is a picture one cannot put away and forget. I find myself going back again and again to muse and meditate upon the idea, the wheel standing as a symbol of courage and stability midst the fires of unrest and confusion.

Mrs. Rosella Moon Boise, Idaho

THE WEST: When we think of Arizona, we think of horses, cattle, cowboys, rodeos, etc. We want you to know it was a real pleasure to receive your September issue. Hope you will give us some more of the West in other issues. Charles C. Mueller Newtown, Connecticut The West still lives in Arizona. Reception of our September magazine indicates many readers are interested in the "West" of horse and ridera west that changes so little.

OPPOSITE PAGE

"ROAD TO PARADISE" BY MIKE ROBERTS. The photograph was taken in the red cliff country of Sedona. The great cliffs of the Mogollon Rim overlook the town itself. The photographer, who travels more than any other photographer in the country, says the place is a high spot in his journeys; hence the title.

SOUTHWEST

Old timers of this region always say, "Once a fellow visits here, he'll stay." And there is logic in their firm belief For I've seen those who came for just a brief Look at what they called a barren waste And withdrew in conscious, shuddering haste, Return like Coronado and his band As though they alone had found an untried land.

And if you ask, they'll shrug a bit and turn Pointing to the "elbow-room" of land, the burn Of a robust sun, unhampered wind, the blue "Oh, I dunno," they say. "It sorta gets you."

ALICE BRILEY

RIBBON IN THE SKY

Look quickly if you'd see the misty bow A looping plane has tied with careless grace To deck the bosom of the desert skv. The jealous winds that blow So fiercely there will rapidly efface The fragile strands, because they know How foolish vaprous ribbons look on one Who wears, by right, the stars and moon and sun.

VADA F. CARLSON

ON SEEING THE GRAND CANYON

What a stupendous canyon! One little river made it -One stream, with no companion Or digging tool to aid it.

This channel keeps imparting One thought-I can't combat it -What can be done by starting A thing and keeping at it.

THE GIANT DARK

The giant dark with quiet stride Came stealing through the countryside, Spreading dusk-blankets on the ground For all shy elfin things he found.

His touch was velvet-soft upon Rose petals fallen on the lawn.

His pace grew slower as he neared The city. Neon lights had seared With man-made glare the earth and sky The dark turned sharply . . . climbing high Along the tall hill's crest. Afar He kept watch with a new-born star.

CATHERINE DU PEN

MID-SUMMER MIRTH

I wonder what the tree-framed pond Has up her rippled sleeves. She's winking at the raindrops as They join her through the leaves.

THELMA IRELAND

BACK COVER

"CLOUD REFLECTIONS" BY STAN G. DAVIS. Oak Creek country always has great possibilities for the photographer. The country is exceptionally attractive when great clouds roll in over the Rim, accentuating the color of the cliffs themselves and adding beauty to the little stream.