Yours Sincerely

YOURS SINCERELY GETTING AROUND:

As I mentioned before, your publication is a masterpiece and one I should be proud to have edited. It is, indeed, rare to find the artistry, the editorial quality, and the mechanics of publishing so combined as to give a unique and magnificent magazine. Won't you please congratulate your art director, George M. Avey, and your staff for their exquisite work? Your magazine, you might like to know, has exerted a considerable influence on our budding camera club, and consistently is referred to as a comparison by those of us who indulge ourselves in this fascinating hobby-ofttimes with results something less than you produce. In one case ARIZONA HIGHWAYS went to the past president of Takoma's large and historic Horticultural Club, and if plans materialize, as I am certain they will, our camera color fans will be afforded an exclusive opportunity to photograph the winning blooms before the grand show. Several Hort Club members, I found out, are thoroughly familiar with your publication.

In other cases your kindness has made itself felt in the hearts of budding artists and shut-ins, and in every instance it has been a real source of pleasure to me and to those who experience its beauty.

As a photographer, editor and publisher. I again want to sincerely thank you for permit ting me to share in the beauties of your fine state.

I cannot close without mention, particularly, of the center spread in your December issue, "The Delicate Arch-Utah." It is beautiful and to my mind combines all the qualities of a picture that should be preserved.

DESTINATION: SPRING

After seeing the lovely cactus blossoms in your February issue we have decided that the Arizona desert will be our destination this spring. If we spend the time from the middle of April to the middle of May traveling through Southern Arizona will we find desert flowers and cacti in bloom?

TRIBUTE:

Please accept our thanks for your effort and outstanding success in producing ARIZONA HIGHWAYS.

It is a tribute to the power and beauty of God and your representation has unceasingly professed these truths.

By contrast to our profession and present situation your magazine each month is a continual reminder and reaffirmation of our fundamental origin, purpose and goal.

Please continue the excellent tone and content of your publication.

RECEPTION IN HOLLAND:

Since I first received ARIZONA HIGHWAYS I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and not I alone, all my friends and my parents, too, simply love your magazine.

Here in Holland your Arizona sunshine is so welcome, for our climate is by far not as gay and sunny as yours.

I hereby want to express the thanks and admiration for the people who are able to create with the help of their beautiful country such a magnificent magazine as ARIZONA HIGHWAYS from all the readers of my copy of your publication.

BASS FISHING:

Several days ago the mail brought me a copy of the ARIZONA HIGHWAYS magazine, January '53 issue, all dressed up in a Yuletide garment and I'm so elated over it I feel obligated to congratulate you on the splendid job you have done.

Being a fisherman, and a bass fisherman at that, naturally, I took special interest in that absorbing bass story penned by Charlie Niehuis. I've fished bass since I was knee high to a duck and I must say this guy knows his bass from A to Izzard and what I like so much is his smooth, convincing way of telling about it.

What's uppermost in my mind today is to get a crack at some of your vicious, pugnacious Arizona lunkers. If the hook doesn't break, I think this hope will materialize some time this year.

THE GYPSY TRAIL

I must follow the gypsy trail, Must be up and away with the dawn!For I must greet the vigilant sun And hear the morning's song.

I must go where the eagle nests Atop the mountain peak!When you possess a gypsy soul The gypsy trail you seek.

I must feel the blizzard's rage, Must face the biting cold!For I was born with a gypsy heart And a gypsy heart is bold.

I must rest where the wind's caress Is wild as a nomad's kiss! For I must know what the Great Voice says That speaks from life's abyss.

O blessed am I whose gypsy feet Are doomed to forever roam! Companioned by the wind and starsThe whole wide world my home.

DESERTED CABIN

There is an aching emptiness about This cabin, once alive with warmth and light. Paneless, the windows frame the vacancy Of rooms that echo with unending quiet, As a chipmunk scurries through the sagging door That once shut out the loneliness of night.

Only the sturdy chimney still defies The insistent years; and on the hearth's worn stonesI build a fire; and smoke soon upward flies.

TRIOLET TO TREES

How good it is to live with trees On water's edge or mountain side! No companions equal these. How good it is to live with trees, Sharing leafy memories, Hearing secrets they confide. How good it is to live with trees On water's edge or mountain side!

CONTRAST

Far away mountains March to the sky, Stalwart and soldierly, Towering high. Fumbling foot hills Sprawl out below, Lazy, low foothills Too tired to grow.

BACK COVER

"ALLIGATOR JUNIPER" BY CHUCK ABBOTT. Juniperus Deppeana Stead is the largest of the Arizona species of Juniperus. It is known to reach heights as great as 65 feet. This tree is common in the southeastern and central parts of the state and is found as far north as Flagstaff and as far west as the Baboquivari Mountains in Pima County. This juniper, an evergreen, is one of the most handsome trees in the state.

OPPOSITE PAGE

"VIEW FROM MT. GRAHAM" BY WILLIS PETERSON. Mt. Graham, the highest peak in the Pinaleno Mountains in Graham County, reaches an elevation of 10,516 feet. The great Gila valley, with its rich farms, extends to the east of this mountain. In the Crook National Forest, Mt. Graham is a popular winter and summer playground for residents of Graham and Greenlee Counties.