THE CHANGING LANDSCAPE

The colorful and magic terrestrial car-pet that is the scenic wonderland of Ari-zona is 391 miles long at its greatest length, north and south; 337 miles wide, east and west, at its greatest width. The state's area is 113,956 square miles, of which 146 are water. Our landscape, to say the least, could be described as being high and dry. Statistics, as above, are as cold and un-palatable as cold mashed potatoes, but to give them verve and a semblance of life we would like to stress the fact they rep-resent the fifth largest state in the Union (Texas, California, Montana, New Mex-ico, Arizona), and they further represent a gosh-awful lot of terra firma; more, in fact, than about five New England states put together, and about twice the size of "APACHE LAKE" BY W. G. CARROLL. Apache Lake is one of the spectacular lakes along the Apache Trail, State Highway 88, about 40 miles east of Mesa. The lake is formed by Horse Mesa Dam. 5x7 Eastman View camera, with 4x5 reducing back, 8" Commercial Ektar lens, f.16 at 10th second, polaroid filter. The photograph was taken right after a heavy rain-storm. The photographer says: "I have traveled the Apache Trail twice since, and while it will always be beautiful the fresh sharp colors, the dustless roads and the clouds which held until mid-afternoon will never be quite the equal of the first trip."

"SUMMER RANGE" BY CHUCK ABBOTT. These registered Herefords (all prize show stock) belong to Suncrest Ranch near Springerville in the White Mountains and are shown here at their watering pond near Pat Knoll, at about the 7000-foot elevation. This is their summer range, a high, cool meadowland where winter snows and summer rains guarantee a drouth-free pasture. Camera data: 5x7 Dear-dorff View, Ektachrome film, Goerz Dagor lens, 120 at f.ro.

The Changing Landscape

A couple of the larger midwestern states. (If one would like to compare figures, a sharp pencil, simple arithmetic and an atlas would be pleasant instruments to use in wasting a couple of hours any lazy afternoon comparing state dimensions, and the results would be both revealing and enlightening.) Our boast is not a lot of acres, but interesting ones. Ours is a changing landscape that differs with each and every mile and such is the variety the miles unfold that most starry-eyed adjectives and practically all other less inspired adjectives would be applicable for descriptive purposes except one-tedious. From the sun-broiled sand dunes near the Mexican border southwest of Yuma, 137 feet above sea level, to the frigid tip of Humphrey's Peak in the San Francisco range near Flagstaff, 12,611 feet in elevation, the Arizona landscape has been moulded and sculptured into all sorts of patterns and panoramas, pleasing to the eye of even the dourest layman, persuasive inspiration to the those of slightest poetic bent.

This happy land encompasses the green grass country along the border between Nogales and Bisbee; the patient desert, domain of the saguaro; the smiling hills; the green mountains; the high, bare plateaus, where the lightning walks and the wind is a living, vital force writing an eternal message in sand and slick rock. Only the interminable miles know all the variety of the changing landscape. . . . R.C.

"IT'S A GOLDEN WORLD" BY WILLIAM BLEDSOE. This photograph was taken at Baldwin's Crossing in Oak Creek Canyon in midNovember of last year. Linhof 4x5 Technika camera, Schneider Angulon 90mm wide-angle lens, f.17 at 14oth second, Ektachrome film. There are many beautiful portraits of autumn to be found in Arizona, but few places are as lovely as Oak Creek Canyon clothed in the golden dress of the season.