The Friendly Huachucas

Here are certain places in the world which have an individual distinction that sets them apart. Residents of such areas are proud to live there and, perhaps, feel just a bit superior to the less fortunate inhabitants of other communities. Boston is such a place; Charleston, South Carolina is another; Santa Barbara, on the West Coast, is a third. And here in Arizona we have the Huachuca Mountains.

If you find the Huachucas to be a bit short of Heaven on Earth, it is best not to mention the fact in the presence of Huachucans. They will consider you ill-bred and not wellinformed. For, after all, they are very nearly right about their home. In climate, scenery, atmosphere, and pleasant living the Huachuca Mountain area is close to the top. Even from a distance this graceful, swelling range, wrapped as if in a velvet cloak of soft blue, exerts a compelling allure and I know of no mountains in the Southwest more approachable and friendly than these.

The Huachucas begin below the Mexican border in northern Sonora, cross the line into Arizona and rim the west side of broad San Pedro Valley for twenty miles like a great wall a mile high. Their architecture is simple. Without the complication of foothills, the steep east and west flanks rise abruptly to a single narrow ridge over 8,000 feet in ele-vation, and at intervals along the crest rise four soaring peaks, five hundred to a thousand feet higher. It is probably this straightforward simplicity which contributes to the intimate charm of these mountains. For, unlike many lofty ranges, the Huachucas do not stand aloof, withdrawn and remote, jealously guarding their secrets. Instead, they lavishly display their attractions and, in true Dale Carnegie fashion, win friends and influence people on first acquaintance.

These delectable mountains can be reached via paved State Route 82, which crosses from Tombstone to Nogales just north of the range. But perhaps the finest approach is from the famed copper-mining town of Bisbee on U. S. Highway 80, twenty miles to the east. In fact, one of southeastern Arizona's most scenic and interesting trips is the hundred-mile drive between Bisbee and Nogales, which passes along the east base of the Huachucas.

From Lowell, three miles east of Bisbee, the Nogales road-State 92-branches south, then turns west around the southern end of the Mule Mountains. This polychrome, highly mineralized range is the source of Bisbee's vast deposits of copper, and the buildings of several large mines can be seen clinging to the barren hillsides. To the south, beyond the little international border town of Naco, spreads a wide panorama of Mexican mountains and valleys, dominated by the huge rounded bulk of San Jose Peak, just overthe line. From here to the Huachucas the highway parallels the boundary, three miles south, and the white plume of smoke from the copper smelter at Mexican Cananea is a prominent landmark, thirty miles away. This is a roomy, open country of magnificent distances to blue peaks on the far horizon-a land of sparkling air, clear skies, high-piled white clouds, and flaming sunsets.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY WELDON F. HEALD

As you round the extreme tip of the Mule Mountains, the San Pedro Valley suddenly appears before you, backed by the entire stretch of the Huachucas. The San Pedro, rising near Cananea and emptying into the Gila, is one of the rare rivers in the United States which flows northwards. Its whole mountain-rimmed upper basin is an unbroken expanse of hundreds of square miles of grass, making some of the finest natural cattle range in the Southwest. Here great herds of white-faced Herefords and humpbacked Brahmans graze, and in the San Pedro Valley are the baronial holdings of the Boquillas and Green cattle companies, the latter extending far down into Mexico and including some two million acres. Verdant as a well-kept golf course during the summer rainy season and golden brown in winter, this grassy carpet rolls gently down the valley's slope to the river, a thousand feet below, then up the opposite side to meet the dark green line of oak woodlands at the base of the Huachuca Mountains, fifteen miles away.

The highway, straight as a string, dips down the long incline to the San Pedro. There, among lush green fields of irrigated farms which line both sides of the river, is the pleasant little settlement of Palominas. For hundreds of years prehistoric redmen knew this fertile river-bottom land; the remains of scores of villages have been found and an ancient Indian burial ground was discovered in 1950 on Rancho del Rio at Hereford, a few miles north. Arizona's recorded history, too, began at Palominas. Beside the neat general store is a marker which tells that in 1540 Coronado and his army passed by on their vain two-year quest for the legendary golden Seven Cities of Cibolla.

State 92 now ascends the west slope of the valley, with the ever-nearing Huachuca Mountains directly ahead. Passing the clustered white buildings of the Kinjockety Ranch, famous for its blooded Hereford stock, the highway makes a wide curve to the north and enters the beautiful "Huachuca Strip." This is the name the Huachucans use to designate their particular bit of paradise, and it possesses a rare combination of features which makes the area unique. The Strip extends northward along the base of the Huachucas for a distance of about ten miles. Up the long, even slope of the valley sweeps the grass carpet and down from the mountains march the oaks to mingle here in a delightful mixture of open, grassy hillsides, tree-dotted

slopes, and patches of woodland. To the east is a vast panorama over the San Pedro Valley to the Mule Mountains, shining red, brown, yellow and ochre against the blue sky. Further south rises the round-topped pyramid of San Jose, with the Los Ajos Mountains and distant Sonoran peaks lining the horizon. Northward gleam the great granite rocks of Cochise Stronghold and the lofty outline of Mount Graham, over ninety miles away. Within the boundaries of this view you could place the whole state of Massachusetts and have enough room left over to slip Rhode Island in one corner. Immediately to the west the Huachuca Mountains tower above the Strip to heights of 4,000 to 4,500 feet. You can look into the heart of their forested canyons, up to rocky cliffs and long shelving ledges, and follow with your eye the dipping ridges and soaring peaks leaning against the sky. Dark forests of pine and fir clothe the upper slopes, softened here and there by the bright green of aspen groves which turn to spots and streaks of gold in the autumn. In winter the high summits shine white and after a snowstorm each tree and rock glistens as if dusted with powdered sugar. But it is the great cumulus clouds of summer which gave the mountains their name. Long ago the Apaches watched with awe the turreted white masses billow thousands of feet into the air and, with threatening booms and growls, send down jagged forks of lightning and gray sheets of rain upon the peaks. "Wah-chu-kah," the Apaches murmured-"Thunder Mountains"-and Thunder Mountains they have been ever since.

The Huachuca Strip, at their foot, is about 5,000 feet above sea level. That is an elevation which enjoys a superb year-round climate in this southern latitude. Winter temperatures average less than 4º Fahrenheit below those of Tucson, while summer days, tempered by refreshing afternoon showers, are cooler than in central Minnesota. It was this fact that led the owner of the Flying H Ranch, a 7,000-acre cattle outfit on the Strip, to move his mink from Minnesota and establish the first mink fur farm in southern Arizona. A second was started later. Yearly precipitation ranges from fifteen to twenty inches-amply sufficient to maintain the flourishing grass and oaks, and to keep the ever-threatening desert at bay. It was inevitable that sooner or later people would discover the Huachuca Strip and other elevated areas of salubrious climate paradoxically located in Arizona's southeast corner down by the Mexican border. So the social character of the country has changed in recent years and the Huachuca Strip, only a half-hour's drive to Bisbee, an hour to Douglas, and two hours to Tucson, has become almost a suburban community. Retired Easterners have bought land, built homes and settled down permanently. Some are satisfied with twenty acres, a horse, and a view, while others maintain luxurious establishments reminiscent of the pages in House Beautiful. There are numerous guest ranches nearby too, a mountain lodge, a motel, stores, eating places, and even a CAA-approved airport at Nicksville. As you drive northward on State 92 you pass the gates Of these new Arizonans-Farview, Oakgrove, The Scarlet Gate, Rail Oaks-names which indicate the recent transformation of this pioneer Western country. But you seldom see the homes themselves; they are hidden by trees or nestled behind folds in the hills, well away from the road. However, there is much to remind you of the Huachucas' lusty past. The tang of the Old West still lingers there. This is cattle and mining country with traditions of Indian fighting, the quick draw, the open range, and fabulous bonanzas of gold, silver and copper. At the north end of the mountains the highway passes the historic Fort Huachuca Reservation which covers 76,000 acres from the crest far down into the valley. Established as a frontier cavalry post in 1877 to protect settlers from the savage, battling Apaches, Fort Huachuca has figured prominently in four of the nation's conflicts. For many years it was headquarters for the army's famous Indian Scouts, and today it provides training for 7,000 troops, with more to come. 35,000 acres of the reservation are now a state game refuge, stocked with two hundred buffaloes and a herd of antelope. It was from Fort Huachuca in 1877 that prospector Ed Schieffelin sallied forth into the Apache-infested hills across the San Pedro Valley and discovered one of the richest silver veins in the West-Tombstone. It became the roughest, toughest mining camp of them all and the Huachucas were a sort of exuberant suburb. In the 1880's the mountainsides were pockmarked with hopeful mines, which can still be seen, and later the boom town of Hamburg flourished in Ramsey Canyon. The social behavior of these early Huachucans followed the traditional pattern and the Tombstone Epitaph headlined many a Huachuca deed: Tragic Killing in Miller's Canyon; Shooting in Ash Canyon; Bullets End Fourth of July Celebration. A score of miners still work their claims in the Huachucas today, albeit a bit more peaceably, and unanimously swear that these mountains will prove someday to be the richest mineral storehouse yet discovered. An ambitious project to remind us moderns that local history began long before the turbulent days of Tombstone is the Coronado International Memorial. The Huachucas first saw white men-or vice versa-over four hundred years ago, and a group of enthusiastic individuals aspire to commemorate the event in permanent form. They have proposed to the United States National Park Service and the Mexican authorities that an area of 2,880 acres in Arizona, and an even larger tract across the line, be preserved and developed in memory of Francisco Vasquez Coronado, first explorer of the American Southwest. A sightly area has been chosen atop the Huachuca divide at the south end of the range and the highest elevation there, 6,827 feet, has been christened Coronado Peak. A breathtaking view is already furnished by nature, but the Memorial Committee visualizes the addition of roads, trails, a historical museum, and an elaborate annual Coronado pageant. The proposed memorial may be reached by a good back-country dirt road which crosses Montezuma Pass to the west side of the mountains. This can be made part of a superb sixty-five-mile loop drive completely around the Huachucas. The road hugs the west base of the mountains and overlooks the remote and little-known, mile-high basin at the headquarters of the Santa Cruz River. This, too, is prime cattle country and is divided by a few huge ranches, the size of Eastern counties. It is also one of the most charming areas in Arizona-rolling grasslands, wooded hills and canyons, with a background of distant Mexican mountains. But it would be wise to bring along a picnic lunch to enjoy on some dioramic knoll for, except a general store at Canelo, sometimes closed, no restaurants or hamburger stands line the Huachuca circle highway. A full gasoline tank is another wise precaution. Other roads penetrate a mile or two into the forested east-side canyons to picnic grounds beside the mountain streams, and the Reef Road climbs in dizzy corkscrews to a lovely, hidden, pine-wooded valley high up under the aspenclothed slopes of Carr Peak, 9,214 feet elevation. But to explore and enjoy the summits, ridges and canyons one should follow the fine system of trails afoot or on horseback. The Huachuca Mountains are included in a detached section of Coronado National Forest and the Forest Service maintains the trails as well as a fire lookout on 9,445-foot Miller Peak, the highest point. The twenty-mile Ridge Trail follows the crest and is joined by access trails up the canyons on both sides of the range. Perhaps the easiest and most scenic is the seven-mile trail from the end of the Reef Road to the summit of Miller Peak. Although there are no improved campgrounds in the Huachucas, several generations of hunters, miners, riders, and hikers have established camps and picnic grounds at the road-ends and along the trails throughout the mountains. Fall hunting is excellent for white-tailed and mule deer, but for fishing, alas, one must go elsewhere. Old-timers still tell fish stories of the brave, bygone days, but the low water of recent years will not tempt the angler to unpack his rod for anything larger than a minnow. However, wandering the Huachucas on foot or horse-back is a rewarding pastime. They rise into an oasis of Canadian climate where luxuriant evergreen forests thrive. You will thread aisles between cinnamon-boled ponderosa pines, pass spiry white firs and Douglas firs with trunk diameters of five to eight feet. Beneath the trees are slopes covered with ferns and brightened by wild-flowers; and now and again your trail will come out upon a rocky ledge with hundreds of square miles of Arizona and Mexico spread out a mile below.

The Huachuca Mountains, too, are an amazing natural botanical garden, zoo and aviary of animal, bird and plant life. Here north meets south in a bewildering jumble of species from Central America to Canada's Hudson Bay, and scores of varieties are common to the Huachucas alone. This makes the area one of the richest fields in the country for naturalists and each year it is visited by an increasing number of specialists on mammals, birds, reptiles, insects, plants and flowers.

But perhaps the Huachucan who knows every canyon, ridge and peak best is Ila Healy. With her husband, Major John Healy, retired Fort Huachuca officer, she owns and operates the Carr Canyon Ranch, a cattle outfit situated in a miniature Yosemite with a two-hundred-foot waterfall in the back yard. Ila Healy has discovered more rare animals, birds and reptiles than anyone else and there is always a tame peccary, coati mundi, or ring-tailed cat following her about like a family pet. She is also probably the foremost woman mountain lion hunter in the country, and has recently captured several of these lithe, tawny beasts alive for zoos. Last summer a group of ladies playing contract and sipping tea at a home in Ramsey Canyon were startled to see Ila Healy riding by leading a half-grown mountain lion on the end of a rope.

That is the Huachucas! If there is a more paradoxical combination of the old and the new, the wild and the civilized, the gentle and the tempestuous, I have yet to see it.

Huachuca, pronounced "wah-chu-kah," is from an Apache word meaning "thunderhead mountain," and came from the highpiled summer thunderclouds which build up thousands of feet over the mountain range during the long afternoons of summer.