U. S. 70

BY: HUBERT A. LOWMAN,JOSEF MUENCH,V. R. ARMSTRONG

Arizona, in the fertile Duncan Valley section of the upper Gila River Valley. Franklin is a tiny town of about 300 people at an altitude of 3676 feet. It was settled in 1897 by Mormons who built irrigation ditches and brought the land into production. Water for the ditches comes from the Gila River, a mile or two north of town. Duncan, a prosperous town of about 1500 three miles northwest of Franklin, is the trading center of a rich farming area.

At Duncan, State Highway 75 starts. It follows the Gila twenty miles northwestward to Guthrie, where it joins U.S. 666, famous Coronado Trail running from the Arizona-Mexico border at Douglas to Cortez, Colorado. It is the route Coronado is supposed to have followed in his search for the fabled Seven Cities of Cibola with their streets paved in gold. It is surfaced for sixteen miles north of Clifton, then becomes a good graded road for seventysix miles through the beautiful White Mountains and Gila National Forest. It is paved again from Alpine on.

Along the Coronado Trail from Clifford to Springerville is some of the most spectacular mountain and forest scenery in the Southwest. The country abounds in flashing trout streams, huge ponderosa pines and wild game. Deer, antelope, turkey, elk, perhaps even bear or mountain lion can be seen in the lovely, wild-flowered mountain meadows or under the stately trees. The road is passable from about May first to November first, although it is advisable to inquire in Clifton before setting out in early spring or late fall.

A visit to Clifton and Morenci adds only thirty-two miles to the trip from Duncan to Safford. It is worth it, for the Phelps Dodge Corporation's Clifton-Morenci copper mining and smelting operation is the largest in the state, producing over 30% of the total mine output in Arizona. The significance of this production can be judged when it is remembered that Arizona ranks first in the nation in the mining of non-ferrous metals.

Leaving Duncan, U.S. 70 crosses the Peloncillo Mountains. Thirty miles west of Duncan, U.S. 666 leaves U.S. 70, heading northeast toward Guthrie. Less than a mile farther on, another branch of 666 leaves 70 northward and eastward to make a short loop and join 666 proper. On this loop is the old Mexican town of San José, which might have been transplanted in its entirety-adobe houses, colorful gardens, cross-shaped stucco church and allstraight from old Mexico.

Just beyond this second leg of 666 about half a mile the traveler entering Arizona from the east is required to stop for inspection of his car by State Agricultural Department officers for diseased or pest-laden fresh fruit, produce, flowers and plants. The officers at “Gripe” as the “bug station” has been dubbed, are pleasant and efficient and are happy to answer questions while the motorist and his companions stretch their legs. There is a cafe adjacent to the inspection station.

Two miles beyond “Gripe” and a block south of U.S. 70 is the now somnolent town of Solomon. Not too many years ago Solomon was the trading and banking center for this whole part of Arizona, including even Clifton and Morenci. Here was founded with $25,000 capital only fifty-five years ago what today is the largest bank in the eight Rocky Mountain states and one of the 70 largest in the entire country, the Valley National Bank.

But somewhere along the line, Solomon-named for

NOTES FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS OPPOSITE PAGE

“COOLIDGE DAM” BY HUBERT A. LOWMAN. 4x5 Brand 17 View camera; Ektachrome; f.18 at 1/10th sec.; 5" Ektar lens; April, 1957; bright afternoon sunlight. A.S.A. 12. Until early 1957, Coolidge Dam carried U.S. 70 over the Gila. A long bridge has been built on the upper end of San Carlos Lake, so now the dam has been bypassed. A side trip to the dam, however, is very worthwhile. Of the technical data, the photographer has this to say: “A normal bright desert situation, but not abnormally bright. The slow shutter speed, with tripod, and small aperture were used to bring both infinity and closeup flowers into sharp focus.”

FOLLOWING PAGES

“U.S. 70 THROUGH GRAHAM COUNTY” BY JOSEF MUENCH. 4x5 Linhof Super Technika camera; Ektachrome; f.20 at 1/10th sec.; 6" Schneider Xenar lens; April, 1958; sunny day. Poppies (one of the Eschscholtzia) add a touch of gold to the landscape as U.S. 70 swings over the hills on a pleasant jaunt west of the Duncan. Graham Mountains, still with some snow, are seen in the background. Along this eastern entrance to the state on U.S. 70, the visitor sees a variety of country-cultivated valleys with distant mountains like the bulk of Mt. Graham with its hint of forest and snow (even at this distance) as well as lovely rolling open spaces-some of it far too big to catch with a camera. “THE DESERT AND SAN CARLOS LAKE” BY JOSEF MUENCH. 4x5 Graphic View camera; Ektachrome; f.10 at 1/25th sec.; 6" Ektar lens; April, sunny day. Taken along the edge of the lake at a spot reached from old U.S. 70-now a detour across Coolidge Dam and returning to the highway west of the long bridge over the Gila River. There is something particularly inter-esting about saguaros seen in conjunction with the blue lakeringed by mountains an instance where man has improved the natural scene.

“GLOBE, ARIZONA ON U.S. 70” BY E. V. ARMSTRONG. 4x5 Pacemaker Speed Graphic camera; Ektachrome; f.20 at 1/10th sec.; Ziess Tessar 150mm lens; Feb. 12, 1956; bright, high clouds, very high wind; Gen. Elec. meter reading of 334 giving 1/10th sec. at f.20. Photograph was taken in front of last house up road south of town across R.R. tracks. Some homes are along this road in back of where picture was taken. Road ends at this last house, giving a good view of Globe. Was very windy at time picture was taken about 10:30 A.M. Photographer had to anchor tripod down. Globe is the county seat of Gila County at an elevation of 3,507 feet. Early mines were rich in silver. City got its name from a silver ball found on Pinal Creek. One of discoverers when asked about it is reported to have answered: “Why, man, she's as big as the whole globe!” “MIAMI, WHERE COPPER IS KING” BY E. V. ARMSTRONG. 4x5 Pacemaker Speed Graphic camera; Ektachrome; f.18 at 1/10th sec.; Ziess Tessar 150mm lens; Feb. 12, 1956; bright, high clouds, very high wind; Gen. Elec. meter reading of 32. Photograph was taken above some new homes up mountain west of town, giving a fine view of Miami. Level plot in foreground is for a new home. View overlooks town. Picture taken about noon, with sun overhead. Miami is one of America's most important copper mining centers. Here the Inspiration and Miami Copper companies' mines are the largest producers. At an elevation of 3,408 feet, town was named for stockholders of Miami Milling Company, who were from Miami Valley in Ohio. Settled in 1907. Residents pronounce name “My-am-ah,” not “Mee-am-mee” or “My-am-mee.”

CENTER PANEL

"U.S. 70 THROUGH RUGGED COUNTRY" BY JOSEF MUENCH. 4x5 Linhof Super Technika camera; Ektachrome; f.8 at 1/50th sec. with skylight filter; 15" Schneider Tele-Xenar lens; April; sunny day-floating clouds. Taken on U.S. 60-70 a few miles from Superior on the way to Miami. This is a mountain climber's view of the beautiful canyon with the graceful span of bridge over Queen Creek and one of the most expensive pieces of Arizona's highway system swirling out of sight to reappear as it mounts to the tunnel. The old road, only glimpsed by the traveler along the highway, points up the advantages as well as some of the difficulties of the construction of new, modern, Arizona highways. The two and one-half mile section of U.S. 70 east of Superior, including the Queen Creek Bridge and Tunnel cost $2,824,000. The breakdown of the three items is as follows: Bridge, $530,000; Tunnel $1,066,000; Approaches $1,228,000. This places the cost of construction of this spectacular segment of U.S. 70 at well over a million dollars a mile. The tunnel is 1200 feet long, largest in the state when it was built. Mule Mountain Pass Tunnel on U.S. 80 between Tombstone and Bisbee is 1400 feet long, now the longest tunnel in the Arizona State Highway System. "SUNNY WINTER DAY IN GUEST RANCH COUNTRY" BY BOB BRADSHAW. 4x5 Crown Graphic camera; Ektachrome; f.16 at 1/2 sec.; Ektar 4.7 lens; March; bright sunlight. U.S. 70 is one of the main highways of the state leading into the heart of the winter vacation country of Arizona. The road goes through Wickenburg where guest ranch guests enjoy riding in the desert under a benevolent winter sun.the pioneer merchant who established it as a trading center-lost its status as seat of Graham County to nearby Safford and since has gone its peaceful way as an historical landmark. Local folks sometime brag that Solomon's streets were laid out by a drunken peon driving a blind burro.

"THE SUPERSTITIONS FROM U.S. 70" BY JOSEF MUENCH. 4x5 Graphic View camera; Ektachrome; f.16 at 1/5th sec. with Pola screen; 54" Zeiss Tessar lens; May, sunny day. Photograph was taken near Apache Junction from U.S. 70. The Ocotillo or Coachman's Whip is Fouqueria splendens, one of the most dramatic and unusual of the desert plants. Its bright tips, in spring, make brilliant red spots-usually waving in any breeze. Behind them are the always mysterious bulk of the Superstition Mountains, daring the visitor to explore their legend-mantled cliffs and hidden canyons.

"WHEAT FIELDS IN GRAHAM COUNTY" BY HUBERT A. LOWMAN. 4x5 Brand 17 View camera; Ektachrome; f.11 at 1/25th sec.; 8" Ektar lens; April; bright afternoon sunlight; A.S.A. 12. Fine crops are raised in irrigated fields of the Gila River Valley of Southeastern Arizona. This field of lush green wheat is near U.S. 70 at the town of Solomonville. The 8" lens, which is made for a 5x7 camera, was here used with 4x5 to bring up the distant mountains closer. Because the wind was blowing enough to keep the wheat waving gently, a shutter speed of 1/25th second had to be used with f.11. This aperature does not provide ample depth of focus in a lens of such long focal length; therefore, sharp focus on infinity and closeup of wheat heads was achieved with the tilting front of the View camera.

"DOWNTOWN PHOENIX AT NIGHT" BY WILLIS PETERSON. 34x44 Speed Graphic camera; Ektachrome; f.8 at 10 sec. time exposure; f.5.6, 20" telephoto lens; clear evening. Taken from the top floor of Phoenix Towers on North Central Avenue looking south. It takes exceptionally clear atmosphere to get sharp separation between sky and skyline in a late evening shot such as this. It is best to take this type of picture toward the sun. U.S. 70, 60 and 89 pass through the heart of Phoenix on Van Buren Street.

The land in the surrounding valley is rich, and nearly 50,000 acres of it are under cultivation. The valley runs almost due northwest along the Gila. Along the northeast it is bounded by the Gila Mountains, on the southwest by the Grahams.

Five miles beyond Solomon lies Safford, prosperous and modern county seat of Graham County. Its wide, tree lined streets, well built houses and general mien of neatness and well-being make it one of the state's most attractive small cities. Its population of nearly 4300 is supported by the thriving agriculture, by sales and services to the entire area (including Clifton and Morenci), and by caring for the needs of the many tourists along U.S. 70 who avail themselves of Safford's excellent accommodations.

Around Safford one will see great stretches of farm land on which the principal crop is cotton. A gin in Safford processes the crop and ships it via Southern Pacific freight branch to market. There is also a thriving business in livestock. Beef cattle are ranged throughout the surrounding foothills and mountains, while valley farms grow hay and grain for supplemental feed. Of course, the cottonseed meal produced at the gin is also an important protein supplement for stock. A modern meat packing plant pen feeds and slaughters the animals, dresses and prepares the meat and ships throughout a large area of Southwestern and central Arizona.

Safford's elevation is 2906 feet. To the north the mountains-mostly graceful, unforested rocks which wear almost perpetual blue shadows to complement the gold of Arizona sunshine-rise to perhaps 6000 feet. To the south rises Mt. Graham. Graham is the largest mountain in Arizona and the third highest. Its graceful bulk stretches symmetrically northwest, southeast, with the peak towering majestically just south and a bit west of Safford. The summit reaches 10,720 feet, thus rising 7760 feet above the valley. It dominates the entire eastern stretch of U.S. 70 from the Peloncillos to Coolidge Dam and can be seen occasionally from points even further west.

On Mt. Graham are a number of excellent trout streams which flow all year on the mountain but which sink into the ground before they reach the parched foothills. Magnificent views; glorious mountainscapes; lovely mountain meadows; splendid hunting and skiing; abundant bird, animal and plant life; marvelous subjects for photography; a few secluded picnicking and camping facilities; and some cabins all are waiting on Mt. Graham for the traveler who would linger. It would be well to inquire for directions and accommodations at the Safford Chamber of Commerce office or at the district forest ranger's office in Safford before going up Mt. Graham, however, because new developments have been made, and the trip can be much more enjoyable if you know the best routes to follow and the best places to find campgrounds or cabins.

Two miles west of Safford on U.S. 70 is Thatcher, seat of Eastern Arizona Junior College. The town combines the aspects of a small college town and a farming community. EAJC, like Thatcher, was founded by Mor-mons and was a church related institution until it became part of the state educational system in 1933. U.S. 70 closely parallels the course of the Gila River from Safford to Calva. After Thatcher it passes through, at three mile intervals, the farm villages of Central, Pima, and Glenbar. At Pima a road to the left leads to Red Knolls, a fascinating eroded formation. Great pinnacles and spires, sometimes singly, sometimes in tiers, rise to form a cathedral-like amphitheatre. Stages and stage re-cesses and a formation compellingly like a great pipe organ enhance the illusion. Remarkable acoustical qual-ities have caused Red Knolls to be used many times for choral recitals, while its many coves and bays also led many an old time cattle rustler to hold and brand his stolen cattle there. Four miles beyond Glenbar a road to the left leads through mountains and desert to Klondyke and Aravaipa. Klondyke is a small settlement on Aravaipa Creek, where fishing is reported to be excellent and scenery beautiful. Aravaipa is at the mouth of Aravaipa Canyon, a wild and wonderful retreat for those who would fish, photograph and camp out away from it all. However, the 45-mile trip (one way) is recommended only to those who don't mind second class roads and a lack of ready-made accom-modations.

community. EAJC, like Thatcher, was founded by Mor-mons and was a church related institution until it became part of the state educational system in 1933. U.S. 70 closely parallels the course of the Gila River from Safford to Calva. After Thatcher it passes through, at three mile intervals, the farm villages of Central, Pima, and Glenbar. At Pima a road to the left leads to Red Knolls, a fascinating eroded formation. Great pinnacles and spires, sometimes singly, sometimes in tiers, rise to form a cathedral-like amphitheatre. Stages and stage re-cesses and a formation compellingly like a great pipe organ enhance the illusion. Remarkable acoustical qual-ities have caused Red Knolls to be used many times for choral recitals, while its many coves and bays also led many an old time cattle rustler to hold and brand his stolen cattle there. Four miles beyond Glenbar a road to the left leads through mountains and desert to Klondyke and Aravaipa. Klondyke is a small settlement on Aravaipa Creek, where fishing is reported to be excellent and scenery beautiful. Aravaipa is at the mouth of Aravaipa Canyon, a wild and wonderful retreat for those who would fish, photograph and camp out away from it all. However, the 45-mile trip (one way) is recommended only to those who don't mind second class roads and a lack of ready-made accom-modations.

Ashurst, named for Henry Ashurst, Arizona's pioneer U.S. senator, outstanding orator and developer of many of the state's resources, is a tiny settlement six miles northwest of Glenbar on U.S. 70. Here a road to the right leads east to Indian Hot Springs, a spa at which many sufferers from arthritis and similar ailments have found relief. The entire Gila Valley abounds in such natural hot mineral water springs, and several others are now being developed for resort and rest cure purposes. This par-ticular one is said to have been used by the Apache Indians whose homeland was this area of Arizona. Followers of the famous renegade Apache warlord, Geronimo, are re-puted to have bathed their battle wounds and packed them in medicinal mud at Indian Hot Springs. Four miles beyond Ashurst is Fort Thomas, now a solid little cattle raising and farming community, but formerly an important scouting point for the military during Indian wars. Ft. Thomas more recently has won fame as the home of world's champion rodeo cowboys, in-cluding Breezy Cox, Everet Bowman and Hugh Bennet, whose names are known and respected among rodeo per-formers from Madison Square Garden in New York to the smallest corral in the West. Geronimo is on U.S. 70 and the Gila River six miles from Ft. Thomas. It was the original site of Camp Thom-as, which moved in 1878 to Ft. Thomas. This cow town

CLIMATE EVALUATION ALONG U.S. 70

This highway, through the south-central portion of the State, parallels U.S. 60 from Blythe to Globe. From there it heads more or less straight for the New Mexico border, and might be said, with one brief exception, to be a highway with no high elevations within Arizona. The western third of this highway from Blythe to Wickenburg passes through some of the driest portions of the State, but at a slightly higher elevation than U.S. 80, hence daytime temperatures are from three to five degrees lower on U.S. 70. During winter months temper-atures are mild and only a minimum protection for radiators is advisable for early mornings. Winter storms are not frequent although extensive rain and even snow has been encountered on occasion. Snow at this elevation would melt in an hour or two and present no hazard to traffic. In summer temperatures of 100° and over are the rule with frequent temperatures over 105°. Higher temperatures will be encountered on the short stretch from Blythe to Quartzsite due to the lower elevation. The summer thundershower season is July and August. Occa-sional showers will be encountered, mostly during late afternoon or evening hours. The central portion of this highway from Wickenburg through Phoenix to about Florence Junction aver-ages lower in elevation with slightly higher temperatures. However this difference is too slight to be noticeable to the ordinary motorist. The same precipitation character-istics as on the western portion apply to about Mesa. From Mesa to Florence Junction the frequency and se-verity of summer storms increases due to the proximity of the Superstition Mountains. In respect to precipitation this short stretch of highway should be tied to the eastern portion for discussion.

From Florence Junction through Miami and Globe to Coolidge Dam this highway passes through semi-desert mountains. Climatic characteristics increase in intensity in intensity in this area. During winter months temperatures are cool but not severe. Radiator protection is necessary for early mornings from November through March. Most winter storms result in snowfall although the area is mild enough that the snow usually melts in two or three days. Chains would be advisable for ice and snow dur-ing extensive stormy periods only. During summer this portion of the highway is warm with occasional days over 100°. Summer thunder showers during July and August are frequent and sometimes heavy due to the mountainous terrain. Flash floods occa-sionally occur, delaying traffic momentarily. From Coolidge Dam to the New Mexico border this highway climbs gently through the upper Gila Valley. This desert valley is at an intermediate elevation and winter temperatures are mild. Radiator protection is necessary for early mornings. Winter storms are infre-quent, although precipitation occasionally turns to snow from Safford eastward. This snow melts in a few hours after falling and presents no traffic hazard to the careful driver. Summers are hot with temperatures over 100° the rule. Summer thundershowers occur during July and August. These are slightly less frequent than on the central sections of this highway due to the shielding effects of surrounding mountains. This eastern portion of the highway is sheltered to some extent, also, from strong winds. However during the spring months a certain amount of wind with light blowing dust will be encountered. The dry season is normally from April to June.

This was then renamed for the Apache chief.

A mile and three quarters from Geronimo, U.S. 70 crosses onto the San Carlos Indian Reservation, and the traveler will be the guest of the Indians for the next 50 miles or so. Indian dwellings may be seen along the road, wickiups made of sticks set in a circle and brought together at the top to look something like a weathered brown igloo.

The Apache are a proud and sensitive people who have made great strides in the last twenty years toward cultural and economic stability. The work of their tribal council in conducting the business affairs of the Apaches has been outstanding. The reservation across which U.S. 70 passes might be called one of the world's largest and best cattle raising ranches, larger even than the famous King Ranch in Texas. The Indians raise cattle that compete with the finest in the state, and they ship thousands of head each year.

At Bylas the visitor is invited to stop, enjoy a meal or refreshments and to see samples of Apache arts and crafts which are offered for sale. Bylas is essentially an Apache trading post. There are many Indians there willing to talk to the visitor, to answer questions and to help him enjoy his visit. It is important to remember, however, that the Apache is proud, intelligent and self respecting. The basic courtesies are as important to him as to anyone else.

Most Apaches, especially those in such trading posts as Bylas, are well educated and speak English. They usually are pleasant about having their pictures taken; but they insist on being asked for permission first.

Six miles beyond Bylas is Calva, rail shipping point for cattle. Here the Apaches and others have shipped many, many thousands of head. The name is a contraction of the Spanish word 'Calvario,' meaning Calvary.

Now U.S. 70 turns almost due east at Calva to cross the Gila on the upper reaches of San Carlos Lake, a new by-pass saving eleven miles. The road, old 70 via Coolidge Dam, is quite winding, threading its tortuous way among the rocky hills. Many interesting views of San Carlos Lake are had along this stretch before Coolidge Dam is reached. The road crosses the top of the dam, 259 feet above bed rock. The dam was dedicated by President Calvin Coolidge, for whom it was named, in 1930.

On the day of the dedication the lake, which is now some 23 miles long and capable of holding more than 1,200,000 acre feet of water, was only just beginning to fill. Will Rogers, beloved humorist-philosopher, was asked to speak. Looking down into the green Gila River Valley, where more grass than water could be seen, he drawled, "If this was my lake, I'd mow it."

Coolidge is the first and largest multiple-dome dam ever built. The waters it impounds now cover an ancient who was heading east with news that Commodore Stockton had already won control of California for the United States.

Carson's message was given to another scout, and Carson was attached as guide to Kearny's forces. The route was fairly simple until they reached the rugged mountains. At Calva, Carson persuaded Kearny to abandon the heavy howitzers and wagons and to use pack mules over the unrecorded detours they made through and around the mountains.

This year the entire section of the highway between Calva and Cutter, which lies another eighteen winding miles beyond Coolidge Dam, was replaced by a straight and open road of easy grades. The new highway crosses the Gila at Calva and the San Carlos at Peridot, then runs Apache tribal burial ground over which a thick slab of concrete was laid before the Apaches would consent to the building of the dam. The lake also covers a camp from which Geronimo launched many of his bloody raids.

Most of the route of U.S. 70 from the New Mexico border to this point is approximately the same as that followed by General Stephen W. Kearny, commander of the Army of the West during the Mexican War. Stationed at Santa Fe in September of 1846, Kearny was ordered to seize and govern California. With 300 dragoons and two howitzers, Kearny set out for the long march through largely unmapped territory. Near the Rio Grande he was met by Kit Carson, much storied scout,

Peridot is an interesting village on the San Carlos Reservation. It derives its name from the fact that this area is one of very few in the country where peridot, an unusual semi-precious stone which resembles an emerald when cut and polished, is found. Smoky topaz is also found.

Globe, seven miles from Cutter, is a city with a metropolitan population of about 9000. It is situated on Pinal Creek at an average altitude of about 3600 feet. The altitude is given as an average because Globe, like Rome, is built on seven hills. Elevation on Broad St., main business artery along which U.S. 70 runs, is 3500 feet; at other points in town it is 500 feet higher.

Globe was founded in the 1870's as a mining camp, after the discovery there of a huge globe-shaped rock of extremely high grade silver ore. Later rich copper veins were located, and Globe lived successively through the rough, bawdy days of a booming mining camp; the more substantial prosperity of a well organized modern mining community; the depressing hiatus after the mines are exhausted and closed; the quieter life of a trading center and county seat for the surrounding area; and finally, today, the day of vibrant expectancy of the Western town waiting for the electrifying news that someone has found a rich new vein-in this case uranium-which will boom the town again for years.

Within the city limits of Globe is Besh-ba-Gowah, ruin of a prehistoric 200-room Indian pueblo inhabited monuments total more square miles and more visitors per year even than Grand Canyon National Park. Visitors to Gila Pueblo go there on business. There is no guide service available, although a ride out to look at the outside of the building will be rewarding.

At Globe U.S. Highway 60 joins U.S. 70 from the northeast. The two run together from Globe all the way into Los Angeles, finally to join U.S. 66 in that city. A diversionary trip from U.S. 70 55 miles up U.S. 60 leads through the Salt River Canyon, one of the most spectacular canyons in the Southwest. There are plenty of excellent accommodations in Globe at which to make comfortable headquarters during time spent exploring the nearby Indian reservation, Salt River Canyon, Apache Trail, and the loop on State Highways 77 and 177. This swings south from U.S. 70 between Globe and Cutter. It offers the traveler, in 109 miles from Globe back to Globe, a firsthand look at some of the finest cattle raising country in the state in the Winkelman, Hayden and Sonora section of the Gila River Valley.

from about 1225 A.D. to about 1400 A.D. by the Salado Indians. It has been completely explored and has yielded many valuable artifacts. There are plans to have Besh-baGowah become the scene of an annual Indian festival. There is no charge for visiting the ruin.

Just outside the city limits is Gila Pueblo, headquarters for Southwestern National Monuments. The building itself is a restoration of a huge prehistoric pueblo, a large part of the restoration having used original materials found on the site. Today it has under roof more than 15,000 square feet, housing the offices from which the affairs of a group of 20 national monuments in Arizona, Utah and New Mexico are administered. These Five miles west of Globe, State Highway 88 comes into U.S. 70 from the northwest. This is the Apache Trail, famous internationally for its scenic wonders and its historical interest. It follows sections of several old Apache war and hunting trails through spectacularly beautiful and constantly various desert-mountain landscapes, the beauty of which is augmented by a chain of man-made lakes stretching sixty miles along the north of the road.

Thirty-four miles from its Globe-Miami end, the Apache Trail comes to Tonto National Monument, a 1120-acre tract in which stand two magnificent prehistoric cliff dwellings of the same period as Besh-ba-Gowah and Gila Pueblo. From the monument grounds can be had superb views of Roosevelt Lake, created by Roosevelt Dam. This, the world's largest masonry dam, was completed in 1911 after five years of work in cutting with the crude hand tools of the early 1900's each block from quarries in the nearby hard rock mountains. The dam was named for President Teddy Roosevelt.

The Apache Trail is eighty-three miles long. It rejoins U.S. 70 at Apache Junction, sixteen miles east of Mesa. It is an excellent and well maintained gravel road along the forty-two miles of its central portion; the rest is paved. It is open and passable most of the year, certainly during the eight or nine warmer months. But during the winter (late November through March) it would be well to check at the chamber of commerce in Globe, Miami or Mesa to ascertain that it is comfortably passable in winter.

A mile west of the Apache Trail's eastern junction with U.S. 70 is the little residential community of Claypool, and a mile further is Miami. Here the Inspiration Consolidated Copper Co. and the Miami Copper Company operate huge mines.

An interesting side trip from Miami leads into the Young and Tonto Basin region, the country in which was fought in the early 1890's the bloody and mysterious Pleasant Valley War. This is the kind of Western coun-try Zane Grey, William MacLeod Raine, Harold Bell Wright and so many others have written about, and many of them have written specifically about this fascinating part of Arizona. Seventeen miles from the Globe-Miami end of the Apache Trail a graded road leaves the Trail running a bit east of north around the end of Roosevelt Lake. It pushed up through mountainous country through Young to the foot of the Mogollon Rim, loops westward to Payson, thence south through Felton and the Tonto Basin to cross Roosevelt Dam and rejoin the Apache Trail.

It's rather a rough trip of approximately 212 miles. Anyone undertaking it should be sure to have extra water and provisions with him in the event of a breakdown and should be in no hurry. There are ranches all along the way, although rather widely separated, while at Payson there are accommodations available. It makes a fascinating junket for anyone truly interested in that part of the Southwest that has changed the least through the years. It's a perfectly safe journey in every way; it's simply through rugged and sparsely populated country. It should be undertaken only in good weather.

Fifteen miles west of Miami on U.S. 70 is the Queen Creek Tunnel, three miles past the 4615-foot summit of the mountain pass through which the road is winding. Cut through a hard rock mountain, this beautiful feat of engineering is the key in a relatively new alignment of U.S. 70 cutting out many steep grades and treacherous curves as the road winds over and through the mountains between Miami and Superior. Twelve hundred thirty feet long, the tunnel cuts through the mountain 435 feet below the top and is seventy-seven feet lower at the west end than at the east, a grade of 6.4%. Across the canyon on the left (as you travel west) is a high, sheer cliff, majestically beautiful with sharp spires silhouetted against the sky. Its name, Apache Leap, recalls one of the saddest and most poignant happenings in all of the bloody conquest of the West. The fiercely proud Apaches bravely and stubbornly resisted the invasion of the white man, yielding each square foot of land, submitting to each new indignity only after the stoutest resistance. It was said the Apache would rather die than yield his ancestral lands to the people he considered invaders, thieves and murderers.

By the 1870's much of the Apaches' age-old hunting grounds had been taken from them. The tribe had suffered many crushing defeats in battle. But still, determinedly, they fought on. When it became impossible any longer to defend their more exposed towns and camping grounds, they retreated deeper and deeper into the wilderness, fighting a guerilla warfare unequalled even in the annals of World War II.

High on top of this rocky mountain, accessible by only the most difficult of hidden trails, one contingent of Apaches lived for some years in comparative security, doing a little farming, but living mostly on the spoils from raids they conducted over a wide area. After each raid they scattered, each raider making his separate and devious way back to the stronghold. Attempts to track and trail them were unsuccessful.

Then the Apache luck-but not the Apache spiritchanged. Their long success in dodging pursuit and detection gave them a false sense of security. They grew lax in guarding the approaches to their Shangri La, and they grew careless in covering their tracks on their return to camp. A contingent of cavalry from Camp Pinal finally succeeded in following to their stronghold. Undiscovered until morning, the troops completely surprised the Apache community, raking the entire population-men, women and children-with a deadly fire. The Apaches valiantly tried to reach their arms, to group and fight. But their disadvantage was too great. A large part of the population was killed by the implacable fire. The remnants, some seventy-five souls, panicked and fled. Yet even in their panic they behaved like true Apaches. The thought of surrender apparently never entered their minds. Instead they retreated in the only way open to them, toward their death on rocks hundreds of feet below.

From the tunnel U.S. 70 drops some 1900 feet in about six miles from its recent peak. The grade is long and fairly steep; but the road is wide, the curves quite open. Only heavily loaded trucks have any worries. At the bottom is a recently built bridge six hundred ten feet long, one hundred seventy-five feet above Queen Creek and one hundred fifty feet above the old, very winding and difficult road that has been replaced.

Here the highway by-passes the main part of the mining and smelting town of Superior, where Magma Copper Company's huge operations are located. Superior's modern mining activities started back in 1875; but large scale operations began only relatively recently, the great smelter being built in 1927. There are several modern motels and a first class guest ranch in or near Superior in which to stay while enjoying nearby attractions.

The Southwestern Árboretum, four miles west of Superior on U.S. 70, is recognized as one of the foremost centers in the world for the display of and research into woody plants of subtropical desert climates. Leaving Superior, U.S. 70 slips through a short range of hills, via a wide and open highway down into the Valley of the Sun. Fifteen miles from Superior is Florence Junction, at which U.S. 80-89 from the south joins U.S. 70-60. U.S. 80-89 has come from Tucson via Florence and will run with U.S. 60-70 to Phoenix, where U.S. 80 will turn off to go to San Diego. U.S. 89 will continue with U.S. 70-60 to Wickenburg, where it will continue north when U.S. 70-60 turn west for Los Angeles.

THE SAGE OF U.S. 70

Out in the western Arizona desert, about two-thirds of the way from Phoenix to the California border on U.S. 70, there lies a town with the peculiar name of Salome. Thirty-some years ago it enjoyed a national renown not unlike that of Will Rogers' Claremore and Irvin S. Cobb's Paducah, and some of its early fame clings to it yet. For Salome is known as the town where Dick Wick Hall lived.

Hall founded Salome. He wrote about it, poked affectionate fun at it, spent much of his adult life in it and died in it. Little wonder that, in the minds of old-time Arizonans, Salome and Dick Wick Hall are practically synonymous.

Born in Iowa as DeForest Hall, he drifted to Arizona after a year of college. He lived for awhile with the Hopi Indians, did some ranching in Pleasant Valley and settled down in Wickenburg to mine for gold and publish a newspaper. There, too, he had his name changed bycourt order to Dick Wick Hall (the Wick was for Wickenburg).

But his eyes were on the great open desert to the west. And so, in 1904, he established a townsite sixty miles west of Wickenburg and called it Salome. It has been rather widely assumed that the Salome he had in mind was the dancing daughter of Herodias who asked and received the head of John the Baptist. Actually it was the wife of Dick Wick Hall's mining partner, Grace Salome Pratt. But in his newspaper, the Salome Sun, Hall always referred to the town as "Salome (Where She Danced!)" and explained, "Everybody seems to think I am the man that made her dance, but it wasn't my fault. I told her to keep her shoes on or the sand would burn her feet."

Dick Wick Hall earned his living from prospecting and also from a filling station where he sold what he was pleased to call "Laughin' Gas." But it was his newspaper-"made with a Laff on a mimeograph"-that gave As soon as the highway levels off after Superior, the Superstition Mountains dominate the skyline to the north. The land over which the highway travels through Florence Junction and on past Phoenix is flat or very gently rolling desert. Florence Junction has a cafe, gas station and limited accommodations. From it and beyond one gets a fine view of Weaver's Needle, a high, lonely spire of rock that towers above the desert floor to a height of 4535 feet.

Behind it are the Superstitions, almost legendary mountains of lost gold mines, murdered miners and mysterious disappearances. The story of the Lost Dutchman gold mine is one of the most fascinating, most frequently written and still most speculative in the annals of Southwestern lore.

At Apache Junction, 17 miles beyond Florence Junction, the western end of the Apache Trail comes into U.S. 70. Here is located a privately owned zoo in which is exhibited a wide variety of wild life, including especially such denizens of the desert as rattlesnakes, gila monsters, javelina and so on. The Apache Trail is paved for 18 miles northeast from this point and will take the motorist close to the foot of the Superstitions.

Shortly beyond Apache Junction, heading northwest, Highway 70 finds itself itself no longer in the cactus studded desert but passing amidst vast stretches of irrigated farm land, desert to which man's ingenuity has brought lifegiving water to convert it into some of the most productive farm acreage in the world. Beautiful groves of orange, grapefruit and lemon trees; long lines of graceful date palms; flourishing vineyards; huge stands of cotton and grains turn the desert green on every side.

Sixteen miles beyond Apache Junction is Mesa, modern, clean Mormon-built city in which is located the stately Arizona Mormon Temple. One of less than a dozen Mormon temples in the world, the magnificent structure is set in a beautifully landscaped 20-acre tract. It is truly one of the show places of the Southwest.

Six miles from Mesa is Tempe, quiet seat of Arizona State College at Tempe, a modern educational institution with an enrollment of nearly 7000. One of the country's fastest growing institutions of higher learning, ASC has recently been granted university status by the Arizona Board of Regents. It boasts a superior library, an outstanding collection of modern art and a number of very beautiful modern buildings.

Crossing the Salt River via a long concrete bridge at the west end of Tempe, U.S. 70 almost immediately finds itself in the outskirts of Phoenix, Arizona's capital and largest city. The Chamber of Commerce is located at 124 N. Second Avenue, in downtown Phoenix, where complete information is available on accommodations, sight-seeing tours, current entertainment attractions, medical facilities, industrial facilities and almost anything else that might be of interest.

Out of Phoenix, U.S. 70 runs northwest through a long stretch of irrigated farm country. Vegetables of all sorts, melons, cotton, citrus, hay and grains are the principal crops. Vegetable and citrus packing sheds are seen along the railroad which parallels the highway for several miles beyond Phoenix.

Nine miles north of downtown Phoenix is the thriving city of Glendale, population within city limits 11,000, altitude 1100 feet. Glendale is the packing and trading center for the rich agricultural area around it. Here some of the country's most modern produce packing and refrigerating plants are located. Here also is situated the American Institute for Foreign Trade, unique institution devoted to preparing students of adult age to take their places in the increasingly important foreign trade field.

Luke Air Force Base is located at Glendale, and the jets from Luke and Williams Air Force Base, southwest of Phoenix a few miles, can be seen daily inscribing the deep blue Arizona sky with their white trails. Goodyear Aircraft, Reynolds Aluminum and other industries such as cotton gins are major employers in the Glendale area. Water from Roosevelt Dam brought Glendale an assured water supply in 1911, the beginning of its real prosperity, With his fun and Salome its fame. Hall's paper was devoted largely to good-natured jibes at Salome, its handful of citizens, the desert heat, which was bad, and the desert roads, which were worse. His favorite character was his pet frog, born and bred on the desert. "If the world looks blue," wrote Hall, "and your luck is bad and you think you are having a hell of a time-why, just stop and think of my frog-seven years old and he can't swim."

The Dick Wick Hall brand of humor was, as one critic subsequently appraised it, a "Liars' Club brand of humor." Of the fertile soil around Salome, he wrote: "Melons don't do very well here becuz the vines grow so fast they wear the melons out dragging them around the ground." And he gave over one entire issue of the Sun to a description of Salome's mythical "Greasewood Golf Course." It covered hundreds of square miles of desert, he said. The players rode horseback, carried canteens, considered everything that didn't move as a hazard and were warned that "all horses lost must be paid for."

seemed well on his way to becoming a latter-day Mark Twain when suddenly, in 1926 and at the age of 49, he died. He was buried there at Salome, and his prospector-friends brought bits of gold ore and laid them on his grave.

Dick Wick Hall gave Salome its name, its fame, its very being. But Salome and the great desert around it gave Dick Wick Hall something, too. He put it into words once, speaking of the "wonderful peace and quiet which only the dweller of the desert can understand and appreciate . . . where I can do as I please and no one to bother me . . . where I can get acquainted with myself and find the something that every man in his own soul is consciously or unconsciously searching for-himself." -JOSEPH STOCKER While more recently the Roosevelt water has been sup-plemented considerably by the supply from wells.

Following Glendale, U.S. 70 passes through a series of small agriculagricultural centers where stores, cotton gins and other facilities are located. Peoria is four miles, Marinetta seven, El Mirage 12, Beardsley 15 and Wittman 27 miles from Glendale. Just north of Marinette an im-proved dirt road takes off from U.S. 7o to the right. Twenty miles away over this road is Lake Pleasant be-hind Carl Pleasant Dam on the Agua Fria River. Named for its designer and builder, the dam controls the flash floods with which the Agua Fria from time immemorial inundated the valley. Today its unpredictable waters are impounded behind the dam to serve agriculture rather than run amok. The lake offers good swimming and fish-ing and there are some accommodations available.

Morristown, 34 miles from Glendale, is at the junction of U.S. 70 with an improved dirt road to the right which leads to Castle Hot Springs, 19 miles away in a beautiful valley in the foothills of the Bradshaw Mountains. This is a nationally known spa at which sufferers from arthritis, rheumatism and similar ailments find relief in hot mineral waters.

About four miles beyond Morristown the famous Hassayampa River comes close to the highway on the left and the two run parallel about seven miles through rocky ridges into Wickenburg. The Hassayampa has acquired a distinctive reputation in the West; anyone drinking of its waters, especially from 'above the trail,' is said to be incapable from then on of telling the truth. The legend got its start, probably, from the fact that back in the 1860's the hills near there were full of prospectors who loved, when they got to town once every six months, to brag about the rich ore lodes they had found. Of course, it was taken for granted they were telling untruths in an effort to promote a new grub stake, for anyone who had really struck it rich did everything he could to cover his tracks and keep claim jumpers from grabbing his mine. Thus, an Arizona way to call someone a liar is to say he is a Hassayamp."

Wickenburg claims to be “The Dude Ranch Capital of the World.” One of the most colorful towns in the Southwest, Wickenburg successfully combines real old Western flavor with the finest in modern accommodations. Immortalized by J. R. Williams in his nostalgic cartoon series, “Out Wickenburg Way,” the town has tripled in population in the last twenty years, now has over 2000 permanent residents and can accommodate 1000 visitors at any given time. Its annual Gold Rush Day, its bi-monthly rodeos from November through April, its fine country club and golf course, its many swimming pools and other attractions make it truly a mecca for the vacationer.

Wickenburg was born in 1863 when Henry Wickenburg found the rich Vulture lode, a real bonanza gold strike. The town grew as home site for the people employed in the mine, was located on the bank of the Hassayampa so the river's water could be used for milling. By 1866, just three years after it began, Wickenburg was one of the biggest and lustiest towns in Arizona. It missed being made state capital by only two votes of the legislature.

Wickenburg is fifty-four miles northwest of Phoenix, 109 miles east of the Arizona-California line on the Colorado River. In town are a great many relics of its rough, Though old days, while nearby are a number of points of interest to the motorist. Heading west out of town, U.S. 70 follows closely the route of the old Trail of Graves. The name was applied in pioneer days because so many of the early travelers over the route to Ehrenberg died, some from thirst in the desert, some from Mohave Indian raids, some from snake bite or exhaustion, some from badmen's bullets.

Two miles west of Wickenburg, as the highway pushes into an area of rolling hills among which many of the dude ranches are located, is the junction of the old Vulture Mine road. Anyone interested in the history of the West will enjoy a visit to this storied mine which figured prominently in supplying the Union treasury during Civil War days. The trip is twelve miles one way.

Two and a half miles further west on U.S. 70 is a stone monument, built of chunks of ore and topped by a bronze replica of a stagecoach and four-horse team. It marks the spot on which was committed the Wicken-burg massacre in 1871. Indians ambushed the Wicken-burg-Ehrenberg stage, killed six of the passengers on the spot and fatally wounded a seventh. Near the monument is a sundial made of petrified wood. In a small park around the monument and sundial seven specimens of each variety of cactus found in the area constitute a living me-morial to the massacre victims.

The highway now passes through some of the most typical desert of the Southwest. Mile after mile it crosses flat or gently rolling parched country. In the distance are seen the Big Horn Mountains on the left, named for the rare bighorn sheep found there. Then the Big Horns give way to the Harquahala about 23 miles from Wicken-burg. The Harquahalas (named from a Mohave word meaning running water) have yielded several rich mines. In the foothills of the Harquahalas is Eagle's Eye Mountain, 25.3 miles west of Wickenburg. A hole eroded through the top of Eagle's Eye gave it its name and guided many a stagecoach driver pushing his perilous way across the desert plains with a cargo of precious bullion. Just east of this point a paved road, State 71, joins U.S. 70; it is a connecting road from Congress, mak-ing a short-cut from U.S. 89 for westbound traffic by-passing Wickenburg.

Aguila is a tiny desert hamlet in McMullen Valley, named for a stagecoach driver of early days. At Aguila dirt roads join U.S. 70 from left and right. They lead back into wild and desolate country and it is not recom-mended that anyone unfamiliar with the desert, without proper equipment and without a reliable guide take them.

For thirty-eight miles (from Aguila to Hope) a branch of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad parallels the highway. It and U.S. 70 pass through Wenden, forty-nine miles west of Wickenburg, which in the early days was an important shipping point for mines in the vicinity. Wenden has long bragged about its pure water.

Five miles from Wenden is Salome, the town made famous by Arizona's first widely known humorist, Dick Wick Hall. Since Hall's death in 1926, Salome has been only a sleepy reminder of the gayer days when Hall's tall tales kept residents and visitors laughing. He erected a sign in town: Salome, Arizona-Where She Danced. Then he proceeded to explain he wasn't responsible for Salome's dancing there; he told her to keep her shoes on or the desert sand would burn her feet. He told about

the sad plight of his desert-bred frog which, after seven years in Salome, finally saw some water, fell in and drowned.

Just off the highway on the right, on a dirt street, is the now abandoned gas station at which Dick Wick Hall made his living. The sign he erected is hardly legible. It used to say, "Smile! You don't have to stay here but we do." A block or two beyond this "Laughing Gas Station" is Hall's grave, just across the railroad tracks. His many friends among cowboys, miners, writers and casual visitors to Salome have piled a mound of choice ore specimens on his grave as an impromptu monument.

Five miles west of Salome the road cuts through a rocky pass, altitude 1925 feet. On some of these rock faces are prehistoric Indian pictographs. Parking areas are provided for the motorist who wants to inspect these rare and interesting evidences of one of Arizona's earliest cultures.

From the top of the pass the highway drops more than 1300 feet in a little over two miles into the little crossroads town of Hope. Here State 72 from the northwest joins U.S. 70. Here also the railroad turns to parallel State 72 into Parker, 17 miles below Parker Dam on the Colorado. From Hope to Parker is 50 miles, during which the desert suddenly gives way to lush irrigated farm land. The irrigated land is part of the 265,858 acres owned by the Mohave and Chemehuevis Indians and known as the Colorado Indian Reservation. Here the wonder of modern irrigation has brought the potential of great wealth to formerly impoverished Indians. Parkerites claim the Colorado Indians can become the richest group of Indians in the country, barring only those who live on fabulously rich Oklahoma oil lands. Parker itself is on the Colorado River in the heart of excellent fishing and hunting country and is easily accessible to Havasu Lake created by Parker Dam. At Parker is the diversionary rock dam which turns river water into irrigation canals. Called Moolvalya Dam, it doesn't create a bona fide lake, but rather a wide spread of river in which fishing is good most any day of the year. Duck hunting in season is tops, while boating, rodeos, Indian entertainment and just plain sightseeing provide year around recreation.

At Parker, Arizona State Highway 72 crosses the river into California. Eighteen miles west of the river it intersects U.S. 95, an excellent highway giving access north and south to much of the Colorado River country, as far north as Lake Mead and Las Vegas, as far south as Blythe. Immediately across the river from Parker is another paved highway which follows the river northeast to Parker Dam and Havasu Lake, long and beautiful backwaters behind the dam. Here boating, fishing, swimming and other vacation pastimes are first class. Excellent accommodations are available throughout the area.

Continuing on U.S. 70 west from Hope the traveler passes through 37 miles of the kind of desert that struck terror into the heart of many a pioneer. In the middle of the desert is Quartzsite, a small town at the junction of U.S. 70 and State 95. The latter runs south 84 miles into the farming boom town of Yuma. Originally called Tyson's Well, the town was an important stage station on the Ehrenberg-Wickenburg route.

Just to the west of town is the site of old Fort Tyson. Never a regular army post, the sturdy building of the fort was originally erected by the settlers for their own protection against Indian raids and the depredations of the badmen who were the scourge of every rich mining area in the early days. It is a grim reminder of the days when citizens sometimes were forced to take the law into their own hands to survive.

In the Quartzsite cemetery 2.2 miles west of town and 200 yards off the highway to the right is a fascinating monument to one of the old West's most unusual men. The pyramidal stone structure was built in 1935 by

size nor attained the flamboyance of La Paz, Ehrenberg was destined to serve as a vital link in the Southwest's transportation system for a number of years, until the coming of the railroads in the late '70's. Today it is but a rubble of crumbled adobe walls.

On the right of the highway at Ehrenberg is a dirt trail leading to La Paz, eight miles away. Or rather, it leads to the site of La Paz, for there too only a rubble remains. However, it is said that under many an old mesquite and greasewood bush and behind many a boulder there are to be found glass bottles, appropriate souvenirs of the hell-roaring mining camp camp of long ago.

Near the junction of the La Paz trail and the main highway (in the northwest sector of the right angle formed by the junction) is the old boothill cemetery of Ehrenberg. Here are buried an unrecorded number of pioneers who died with their boots on. A monument marks the end of the trail for so many strangers who came West for reasons known only to themselves, who met death in a wilderness and whose fate probably never was known to the loved ones . if any they had left behind.

Embedded in the monument are guns, spurs, branding irons, dutch ovens, kettles, miners' picks, burro shoes and other articles, many gathered from the ruins of Ehrenberg, appropriate in commemorating the sort of pioneers who lie buried there. The monument was built by employees of the Arizona State Highway Department as a fitting marker at the end of the Trail of Graves. From Ehrenberg, U.S. 70 continues its joint course with U.S. 60. It crosses the Rio Colorado bridge over the Colorado at Ehrenberg, four and a half miles east of Blythe, California. It crosses the lower part of the Mohave Desert, skirting the Joshua Tree National Monument, passes between the famous resort communities of Palm Springs and Twentynine Palms and goes through Riverside and Pomona into Los Angeles on the Pacific.

At present the Arizona segment of U.S. 70 is 373-4 miles long. That is 2.6 miles shorter than U.S. 66's 376, 29.6 miles less than U.S. 60's 403, and 124.6 miles less than U.S. 80's 498-mile Arizona segment. Traffic movement on U.S. 70 has increased from an average of 2480 vehicles per day in 1950 to 4100 vehicles per day in 1957. This constitutes a jump of 65 per cent for the 7-year period. Out-of-state passenger cars account for 38 per cent of the total traffic in 1957 and trucks for 22 per cent. The forecast for the year 1975 is estimated at 10,660 vehicles per day.

Knowing the wealth of scenic and historical attractions on 70 in Ariz., one does not wonder it is so popular.

COLONEL THOMPSON'S AMAZING GARDEN BY JOSEPH STOCKER

Col. William Boyce Thompson was an Arizona copper millionaire who knew that some day the copper had to run out and Arizona would have to look elsewhere for a source of wealth. Where to look? Well, where else, reasoned the colonel, but the soil and the things that might grow therein?

Thus was born the Boyce Thompson Southwestern Arboretum, located just west of Superior. It's one of the interesting things to be found along U.S. 70, and you're welcome to stop in any time you're driving that way.

It's not maintained primarily as an attraction for the traveling public, however. Colonel Thompson had a much more serious mission in mind when he established and endowed the Arboretum in the 1920's. He envisioned it as a growing and testing laboratory for all the plants of the arid and semi-arid regions throughout the world, to see how they might be made more useful to mankind.

If you were to count them, therefore, you'd find some 3,000 different species of plants growing throughout the 1,600 acres of the Arboretum. You'd see pomegranates from Africa, Crucifixion thorns from Mexico, eucalyptus from Australia, the curious boojum tree from Baja California and Arizona's own saguaro cactus. You'd also see dozens of different kinds of grasses. For one of the main objectives of the Arboretum is to develop grasses which will grow in the dry earth of the Southwest, replenish our rangelands and stitch down our soil, preventing erosion.

Just this one phase of the Arboretum's operation has an all-important bearing on the future of our Southwestern civilization. Water and power are the keys to that future. Unless erosion is checked and the watersheds made more secure, our dams and reservoirs will silt up and our civilization will wither on the vine.

He was aware of something else, too-that man has made much less progress in the plant world than in the world of technology and industry. Hence he saw the job of the Arboretum as being "far more than mere botanical propagation." "I hope," he said, "to benefit the state and the Southwest by the addition of new products. A plant collection will be assembled which will be of interest not only to the nature lover and the plant student but will stress the practical side as well-to see if we cannot make these mesas, hillsides and canyons far more productive and of more benefit to mankind. But it isn't just Arizona and the American Southwest that benefit from the experiments going on at the Arboretum. There is constant communication between its botanists and the botanists of countries all over the world having arid and semi-arid regions. Seeds of plants indigenous to Arizona go to Chile, South Africa, Algeria and scores of other countries to be tested in their soil, under their growing conditions. And the seeds of their plants come to the Arboretum to be tested in Arizona soil and under Arizona growing conditions.

The Arboretum is situated in Queen Creek Canyon, in a part of Arizona that is both beautiful and historic. Just above it is the winter home that William Boyce Thompson built (it is now a guest ranch known as Picket Post Inn). There, after his retirement, Colonel Thompson lived and watched a dream come to life-a dream known as the Southwestern Arboretum.

THE OVERLAND MAIL... Continued from page thirteen

After attention was given to the starved animals, two express riders were dispatched to Fort Buchanan for medical aid; assistant Surgeon Irwin set out immediately with an escort and arrived at Dragoon station Friday morning, making the trip in less than 24 hours. St. John's dangling left arm was amputated. This was nine days after he was wounded. Six days later, September 23, 1858, he was sufficiently recovered to make the journey to Fort Buchanan in a wagon, and in another five days he was walking with the aid of a cane. His convalescence was so rapid that twenty-one days after the operation, he was able to make the trip from the post to Tucson on horseback, a distance of forty-five miles.

The company offered a reward for the capture of the three murderers, but they made good their escape into Mexico and were never apprehended.

With the exception of the loss of his left arm, St. John suffered no after-effects from his other wounds. His exhibition of courage and fortitude and the physical and mental sufferings he endured and survived have few parallels in medical annals.

From Dragoon station the mail route passed on southwest through Cuercas Canyon and then followed along and through Dragoon Wash for a distance of five miles where it turned west and continued for another five miles before it began a descent from the steep bluffs that border the San Pedro Valley.

San Pedro River, the next station, twenty-one miles southwest from Dragoon Springs, was located on the east bank of the San Pedro River, almost directly opposite the present town of Benson. From the San Pedro a station was built at Cienaga Springs which was located about a quarter of a mile west of the present Irene siding on the Southern Pacific in Pima county. From here the road followed the broad plain which slopes gently toward Tucson through the old Vail ranch. It was about the same route as that transversed by the railroad and highway today.

The Butterfield station at Tucson was thirty-five miles northwest from Cienaga Springs, being located on the block of property now bounded on the north by Alameda, and on the east by Main streets. Tucson was the last station on the sixth division, going west. The supervision of this division under William Buckley terminated here, and the supervision of the Seventh division from Tucson to Fort Yuma began at this point. Tucson was also a time-table station. The west-bound mails were due to arrive on Tuesdays and Fridays at onethirty o'clock in the afternoon, and the east-bound mails were due on Wednesdays and Saturdays at three in the morning.

The first west-bound Butterfield mail arrived about nine o'clock in the evening of Saturday, October 2, 1858, and left an hour later. Tucson was described as a small place, with but a few inhabitants, mainly Mexicans. There were not more than two or three stores kept by Anglos.

From Tucson the road followed approximately the same general route that the highway and railroad do now. It continued on the east side of the Santa Cruz, to a point about a quarter of a mile west of Jaynes, where it curved almost west, crossing the Santa Cruz and followed on along the west side of the stream bed. Pointer Mountain, the next station, eighteen miles northwest of Tucson, was located about a quarter of a mile somewhat northeast of the present Rillito railway station. This site was also known as "Charcos de los Pimas."

From Pointer Mountain the mail road followed a direct course northwest over the flat desert terrain toward Picacho Mountain twenty-two miles distant, near where the station was located. The station was approximately one mile southeast of the Wymola railroad siding. The general direction of the Mail road continued northwest to Blue Water, some fourteen miles from Picacho station. This was approximately three miles east of where Toltec is now located. Oneida, the next station was about twelve miles north of Blue Water, and was about one and one-half miles northwest of the Signal Peak school.

The next stop on the road was Sacaton, eleven miles north of Oneida, then on to the Casa Blanca and Maricopa Wells stations. From this latter station the road turned sharply southwest and headed for the pass between the Sierra Estrella and Palo Verde Mountains. About one and one-half miles from the pass the route crossed what is now the boundary between Pinal and Maricopa counties. At this point the road turned almost due west to Desert Station twenty-two miles from Maricopa Wells. It was about five and a half miles northwest of the present town of Mobile. The spot now designated as Conley's Well is thought to be the original site of Desert Station.

The great stretch of desert country between Maricopa Wells and Tezotal (Gila Ranch) near what is now Gila Bend (so named because of the large bend in the Gila River at this point) was known as the "Forty-Mile Desert."

From Desert Station the road curved slightly southwest and headed for Pima Pass in the Gila Bend Moun-- tains. It was reported that an official of the Overland Mail Company was killed by Indians in this pass in June 1860. From the pass the road led on to Gila Ranch station which was about four miles north of the present town of Gila Bend. This was a time-table station, the eastbound mails were due to arrive on Mondays and Thursdays at seven-thirty o'clock in the evening; while the west-bound were scheduled to arrive on Wednesdays and Saturdays at nine o'clock at night.

The next station, Murderer's Grave, was seventeen miles southwest from Gila Ranch, later the name of this station was changed to Kinyon's. From Kinyon's the road left the river and followed a course almost due west for a pass in the Painted Rock Mountains. After covering some rough country, the road plunged down over the steep escarpment to a level plain named Oatman Flat, another station. (The flat was named for the Oatman family who were massacred here in 1851.) From this point, the road curved southwest and followed along the river bluff to Burk's station-twelve miles from Oatman Flat, and then on an additional twelve miles to the Flap-Jack Ranch station. This station was also known as Flat Creek or Stanwix's Ranch. Grinnells', fifteen miles southwest of Stanwix's, Peterman's or Mohawk, Antelope Peak, Filibuster Camp and Mission Camp were the five succeeding stations southwest from Stanwix's. (Filibuster Camp was the starting point of the illfated expedition of Henry A. Crabb in 1857.) Mission Camp located on the south bank of the Gila River about four and a half miles slightly northwest of the present town of Welton.

From Mission Camp, the mail road continued on west for about two miles and then curved northwest, following the Gila to the Snivelly's Ranch (Gila City station), thirteen miles from Mission Camp. From Snivelly's the route followed around the northern end of the Gila Mountains, keeping near the river where possible, then curving almost due west. It continued on for a distance of twenty-two miles over the heavy sandy country south of the Gila to Yagers' Ferry and Fort Yuma.

Fort Yuma was the last station on the Seventh division going west. It was also a time-table station, the west-bound mails were due to arrive on Fridays and Company from Conkling, 'The Butterfield Overland Mail, 1857-1869, 3 Volumes.

Mondays at three o'clock in the morning, and the eastbound mails due on Sundays and Thursdays at five-thirty in the afternoon.

Early in the spring of 1861, two events occurred which delivered the death knell to the greatest overland transportation venture ever undertaken. These were the Civil War and the Pony Express. Either one alone could have been fatal, coming as they did almost simultaneously, the demise was sudden. This chapter in Western expansion, written in blood and sweat was now brought to a conclusion. Apaches peered down from the grim Dragoons to behold those big leather carry-alls for the last time change horses and drive away. Freight wagons followed gathering up supplies. Two thousand horses and mules were called in from corrals and pastures. Stations grew silent. Doors creaked on idle hinges, windows stared vacantly at the dark blue sky. As the dust of the last coach and four had settled over the horseshoe route, and drifting sand filled its tracks, the watching Indians may be forgiven for exulting that the white man had left their land forever.

Arizona, although a part of the territory of New Mexico, had begun to have dreams of its great destiny while serving as a link in the vast chain of communication connecting the Atlantic and the Pacific coasts. Now those dreams were shattered and Arizona was to face one of the most tragic and neglected periods of its checkered history. She was to be an orphan until the end of the Civil War.

Yours sincerely DAMS-TO HAVE OR HAVE NOT:

I have just read the June issue of your fine magazine and as I did I found myself becoming fond of your treatment of Arizona's scenic charm. I was mentally patting the editor and his able staff on the back, not only for this issue but past issues as well. (I believe I've read them all since 1940.) And then I turned to the Letters to the Editor Section. There, near the top of the page, was an artist's sketch of the proposed Bridge Canyon Dam, and underneath you state that, "the Canyon would probably be enhanced by a dam in Bridge Canyon." We have in our files many pictures taken in the upper reaches of Lake Mead. They show huge expanses of silt and debris that have piled up there since Hoover Dam began to fill. The high water marks are little more than sterile zones where nothing will grow. It is not the "beautiful, crystal clear lake" we were promised. It does not form (except in a few places and at great expense) the "clean, sandy beaches" we were told to expect. It does not really "make easily accessible" the lovely side canyons. The most important part of these once beautiful canyons-the thing that made them and gave them character-the impatient Colorado, has now been reduced in dignity to a mill pond. Can there ever be beauty-I am not speaking of the artificial kind-when the very heart of that beauty is gone forever? Bridge Canyon, if it is ever built, will not add one iota to the beauty of Grand Canyon. To the contrary, it will destroy forever a part of one of the nation's finest scenic assets. Nature has been lavish in her gifts to Arizona. They should be jealously guarded lest they be taken over by the "improvers" and made over in the image of a thousand other places and by so doing become common. Your magazine exerts great influence in making people aware of what Arizona has to offer. I do hope your magazine will also let them know that they must be ever watchful and protect what they now have.

This, too, is "progress."

J. F. Carithers National Parks Association Carmel Valley, California

NORMAN NEVILLS:

My wife and I have just returned from a most exciting trip on the San Juan and Colorado Rivers with Gaylor Stavely of the Mexican Hat Expeditions. Immediately prior to our trip we received the ARIZONA HIGHWAYS issue of the Colorado River and were delighted to have it coincide with our trip. However, we were most surprised that in your detailed article on the historical "runners" of these rivers, you did not include the name of Norman Nevills, who initiated commercial trips down these rivers bringing the public into this inner-sanctum of nature's beauties for the first time. His daughter, Joan, and her husband, Gaylord Stavely, are now handling these trips in the same personalized vein of the original expeditions, and we believe some note should be made of Nevills' niche.

Harold Jovien Hollywood, California

I know you do not understand your song, Or why you sang. You only saw the sky Bright blue between the branches where you sit, And in your heart it woke an answering cry. Small bit of feathered helplessness, that you Find living such sweet joy, so humbles me, Whose faltering spirit failed and had to be Renewed by your sublime audacity. MAURINE BARCAL The little lizard sits upon a rock in the warın sun, And turns his head to look at me, and does not run; For he has learned that I am careful where I tread, To not molest his sunny rock or leafy bed. I think he likes me as he blinks his friendly eyes; And goes about his work, catching a million flies. Let him who will, invent and build his "better trap," He can't beat my little dragon, I'm sure about that!

IDA SMITH And God looked across the desert, And saw the barren places Stand majestic in their solitude, Where one might walk abroad At night to meditate. And God said, "It is good!"

GRACE BARKER WILSON An old house, like a song, has a melody. Upon its sills are scrolled mute notes of birth And death. Beneath its roof a family Has loved and laughed; its walls still echo mirth To those who wake and listen in the night; Each room is webbed with memories that hold The warmth of homespun hours; staunch, forthright It stands a trusted friend whose arms enfold. There dreams have flowered, hearthfires have been laid. Beside its open door the pears are ripe, And robins sing a welcome from the shade Of elms, where a man can sit and smoke his pipe. Old houses, wrapped in weather-seasoned bliss, Recall loved yesterdays, and April's kiss.

EMILY CAREY ALLEMAN The mesa waits, a tiger, clawsCactus sharp-in prickly draws; Watches land we fail to heed, Takes the shape of sharpest seed, Tumbleweed and puncturevine, Felinity in their design, And leaps the wind, from hill to lawn, Tiger, where the grasses fawn, Ever coming back to claim The city in the mesa's name.

REEVE SPENCER KELLEY

OPPOSITE PAGE

"GARDEN WALK, ARBORETUM AT SUPERIOR" BY JOSEF MUENCH. 4x5 Graphic View camera; Ektachrome; f.11 at 1/10th sec.; 5% Zeiss Tessar lens; May; lovely, sunny day. Scene: Boyce Thompson Southwestern Arboretum on U.S. 70 near Superior. The winding path bordered with the brilliant tones of the Flanders Poppies, made an irresistible setting for a picture, almost composition itself on a lovely spring day. The Southwestern Arboretum is one of Arizona's most interesting garden areas. Founded and endowed by the late Boyce Thompson, founder of the fabulously rich Magma Copper mine at Superior, the arboretum has been an experimental station for plants of the arid zones. "SUNRISE IN THE JOSHUA FOREST" BY JOSEF MUENCH. 4x5 Linhof Super Tecknika camera; Ektachrome; f.6.3 at 1/25th sec.; 5% Zeiss Tessar lens; April; early morning. Not far off U.S. 70 in the vicinity of Wickenburg; the trees silhouetted in early morning are the Joshua Tree-Yucca brevifolia. The sunrise hour, often only minutes that are just right for the camera, can be very exciting and with the ghostly forms of the Joshua Trees to add dramatic quality to the composition, the results are rewarding to the "early-bird" photographer. A sunrise in the desert country, when conditions are right, can be as brilliant and fiery as any sunset.