NEW ROAD TO KINOLAND

new road to kinoland PHOTOGRAPHS BY THE AUTHOR

Our neighbor south of the border, Sonora, Mexico, has completed the final link of blacktop between Sonoyta and Santa Ana. This road is part of the Kino Mission Trail and offers a most exciting and historically rewarding two-day trip. It takes you into a world where language, people, customs, food and even the countryside are different. This 222-mile trip (returning via Nogales) will give you the feeling of having traveled into a distant land, remote and free. This is Mexico off the beaten path, a land where time seems to stand still.

Our journey begins at the U.S.-Mexico border where Lukeville, Arizona, and Sonoyta, Sonora, join. You may find the border station at Lukeville moderately busy with the signing through of fishermen on their way to Puerto Peñasco. Here you are issued your Tourist Card. You may also wish to take out a short term car insurance policy. The usual U.S. accident policy is not valid in Mexico. All this may not take over a half hour unless you should arrive at Lukeville at siesta time. Then just relax and in a little while you will be on your way.

As you leave Sonoyta, take the highway to the left. This is the junction with the road that goes south to Puerto Peñasco. Also at this point is where the main highway goes westward to Mexicali. There are no tourist accommodations at Sonoyta. For twenty-five miles out of Sonoyta, the highway passes alongside rugged granite mountains where the foothills are covered with Organ Pipe cactus. Here you will see great specimens of this plant reaching their slender stalks skyward.

The road gradually drops into a vast valley, green with many varieties of cacti. This is open range country, so watch out for livestock which graze along the highway.

The first settlement you come to is Tajitos. Be sure to stop in this quaint village for a little while. About half of the adobe buildings are in ruins but off to the south of the highway you will see an ancient arrastra. This primitive device is used in a gold mining operation. The old miner who operates this crude mill is very friendly and will let you take pictures of his blindfolded burro as it makes its endless way around the arrastra, dragging the heavy stones used to pulverize the ore.

From Tajitos you have a twenty-five mile drive to Caborca. As you approach Caborca, you will see smoke plumes from several cotton gins. Caborca is a large town located in one of northern Sonora's major agricultural areas. The main crops are cotton, barley, wheat and corn. Irrigation is from wells. Drive on through Caborca to the east end of town and check in at the modern Amelia Motel. This is Caborca's only motel. It is air-conditioned and has a large swimming pool. Rates are nominal for the excellently furnished rooms.

Caborca has the usual buildings and homes made of adobe. In some cases in the business area some paint has been applied, but for sheer contrast, nothing quite matches the two beautiful modern homes of Manuel and Francisco Monreal. These unusual homes are directly across the street from the motel. It is difficult to associate the grandeur of their ultra-modern design with the surrounding structures.

Many of the stores in Caborca are stocked with inter-esting wares of all kinds but do not expect to find “turista shops.” This area has yet to be developed to tourist-catering. This is Mexico, off the beaten path, yet close to home.

You are in the very heart of the Kino Mission country at Caborca. The old mission of Caborca is down at the end of a dusty road at the south end of town. The best time of the day to visit the mission in Caborca is late afternoon, when the sun casts its soft light on the face of the mission, and its intricate façade stands out in bold relief. Some years ago the river near the town undermined the back part of the mission and part of the building was carried away in the flood waters. This portion of the mission has been rebuilt, and if you will ask the caretaker, he will be glad to unlock the massive, weathered door and show you the interesting interior. Be sure to climb the narrow, time-worn stairs to the bell towers. The bullet-scarred exterior walls of the mission date from 1857 when the residents barracaded themselves and defended the town against a group of invading American free-booters. The plaque mounted outside the door commem-orates the event.

Plan to leave Caborca in the morning for the second half of your trip. Be sure to check your gasoline supply. There is a fine modern gas station in town and another one just outside Caborca as you leave driving east on the main road. Pitiquito is the next town just eight miles on. At Pitiquito you will see another interesting mission.

The next twenty-one miles on the new blacktop will bring you to Altar. The mission at Altar is not a very impressive structure as missions go, but the village itself is interesting. Just across the little square in front of the church is a soft drink stand, and the man there will direct you to the road to Oquitoa and Tubutama. This is a side trip off the highway but most interesting.

Plan on about four hours for this side trip. Almost immediately after leaving Altar you will have an irriga-tion canal to keep you company for the thirty-one mile trip to Tubutama. Every few miles you will come to a water control gate on the canal. Usually there are a few farmers dwelling at these points and you will receive a friendly wave from them as you pass by. Ten miles out of Altar will bring you opposite Oquitoa to your left. A narrow but well traveled road leads to the village.

The mission at Oquitoa is built on a little hill over-looking the village. Of the five missions in this area, Oquitoa is the only mission surrounded by a graveyard. Many of the monuments are so large they seem to dwarf the church itself. After visiting the mission, drive to the north end of the village and you will find an old water-wheel and mill that was used long ago. A slow drive down the orange tree lined main street will about end the pleas-ant stop in the quaint old village.

As you approach Tubutama you will notice more and more water in the canal. The canal is fed from a huge reservoir just southwest of Tubutama. When you get near the reservoir, the road forks sharply to the right and leads you up and alongside the reservoir. Here is a view that you will long remember. A deep blue lake in the fore-ground, a vast saucer-shaped plain, thickly covered with a dense growth of organ pipe and saguaro, and sitting in the center, the white mission of Tubutama.

All roads in the village of Tubutama lead to the plaza, and gracing the north side of the plaza stands the most beautiful of the old missions. Tubutama mission is very old. The interior of the church is also the most colorful and most complete of the missions in this section.

The village of Tubutama has minor hotel facilities as well as a small cafe and a gasoline pump. However to locate these services, it may be necessary to find an English-speaking Mexican who can direct you. You will find the streets here to be quite clean and you may even see a Mexican lady sweeping, far out into the street from her front door, to help keep the village nice and tidy.

As you make your way back to Altar, you may find it interesting to pause a few moments at one of the several little farms that you you pass. If you look into any of the open wells you will find them to be quite large in diameter as well as deep. These wells are all dug by hand. Frequently the family wash is done right at the well where the practical use of the “old oaken bucket” still prevails.

The scenery on the fifty mile stretch to Santa Ana is not impressive and the relaxing ride on the blacktop will be welcome. Much of the road construction and upkeep is done by hand labor and you may observe some of the work being done the “hard way.” At Magdalena, eleven miles north of Santa Ana, stands the mission Ignacio de Caborca. It is near the highway on the north side of Magdalena. However, as missions go, it is not as impressive as others from an architectural point of view. The caretaker there will be glad to show you around and explain its background. From here you continue on to Nogales and complete the trip through this interesting and colorful land of Kino.

ARIZONA and the WEST

Yer in 1894," by Donald M. Powell, reference librarian at the University of Arizona, and "The Tunnel: A Fragment of Railroad History in Arizona Territory," by William B. Beatty, a geologist with the Stanford Research Institute of Menlo Park, California.

Hastings' article tells the factual story of the Camp Grant massacre of 1871 when citizens of Tucson attacked a group of Apache Indian families encamped near the town under a peaceful agreement with the military. Powell's article was a prelude to his recently published book, The Peralta Grant, which tells the full story of James A. Reavis, the man who almost succeeded in obtaining vast and valuable tracts of Arizona lands under false pretenses. Beatty's brief article concerns attempts to build a tunnel for a small railroad that was to serve a mining camp in Arizona in the 1880's.

The third issue of ARIZONA and the WEST presented highly readable articles on two popular subjects Indians in the West, and Wyatt Earp and his cohorts in Tombstone. "The Indians in the West: A Challenge for Historians," written by Jack D. Forbes, professor of history at Citrus College, Azusa, California, is a plea for a reinterpretation of American Indians by modern historians. Forbes considers the Indians a vital factor in the history of the American West and views them as men not savages with a well-defined civilization and culture, who fought to save their land and way of life.

The article concerning the Earps and Tombstone was reprinted from the old Arizona Historical Review of April, 1929. The original article, "It All Happened in Tombstone," was written by John P. Clum, who was editor of the newspaper, Tombstone Epitaph, when the famous gun-battle occurred between the three Earp brothers and their friend "Doc" Holliday, and the Clanton-McLowery clan. A highly informative and interesting annotation of the old article which corrects many fallacies in the Clum account is presented by John D. Gilchriese, a Californian who has been engaged for ten years in research on the careers of the Earp brothers and is presently completing a two-volume work on them.Other articles in the third issue include: "The Beginnings of the Tombstone School, 1879-1893," by Matia McClelland Burk, an Arizona schoolteacher; "The Nuecestown Raid of 1875: A Border Incident," by Professor William M. Hager of Del Mar College, Corpus Christi, Texas; an annotated bibliography of articles in the Arizona Quarterly, 1945-1958, concerning Southwestern history; and a reprint of a letter from an early resident of the Gila Valley to a Tucson businessman. It tells of the "shooting up" of several stores and buildings in the area by such well-known gunmen as Johnny Ringo, Ike Clanton and Joe Hill. The reprinted letter of 1880 was annotated by William A. Duffen, Tucson history teacher.

The Tombstone school article tells of the early schools, principals, and students in the early hectic days of Tombstone; while the Hager article relates the raiding of a South Texas town by Mexican bandits during the turbulent 1870's.

California's Dudley Gordon, who is currently writing a biography of C. F. Lummis the dynamic cultural pioneer wrote one of the major articles in the fourth issue of ARIZONA and the WEST. The article, "Charles Fletcher Lummis, Cultural Pioneer of the Southwest," presented a graphic picture of Lummis the man, and told of his literary career, cultural achievements and contributions to the Southwest. The issue also carried Paul G. Hubbard's account of "Life in the Arizona Territorial Prison, 1876-1910." Hubbard, chairman of the history department at Arizona State University, wrote a detailed article on the prison at Yuma from its establishment in 1876 until its close in 1910. Now only a ruin, Hubbard describes the physical plant as it was, discusses the administration, the inmates, and all phases of the difficulties encountered in this early-day institution.

Also included in the fourth issue was an article by Louis Bernard Schmidt, professor emeritus of history at Iowa State University, which cited many phases of agriculture yet to be researched. His article was titled: "Agriculture in the West As a Field of Historical Study."

Other fourth issue articles were: "The Skirmish at Mesilla," a descriptive account of a brief battle between Union and Confederate forces in New Mexico during the Civil War, by Martin Hardwick Hall, associate professor of history at McNeese State College, Lake Charles, Louisiana; an article containing "Some Suggestive Characteristics of Early Western Journalism," by the recently retired librarian of Michigan State University, Jackson E. Towne; an extremely interesting paper about the Butterfield stage line, prepared by Raymond A. Mulligan, professor of sociology at the University of Arizona, and titled "Down the Old Butterfield Trail"; and an article about the historic little town of Tubac, Arizona, and modern-day efforts by interested persons to restore the town for posterity.

The publication of the fourth issue marked the close of Carroll's first year as editor of a historical journal, which he observed by busily planning for the first issueof Volume two. Carroll, a young man who looks even younger than his years, is not one to rest on laurels already received. He constantly strives to find ways to improve ARIZONA and the WEST and in addition, to find a little time to spend working on a one-volume biography of George Washington which he started writing before he came to Arizona shortly after sharing the 1958 Pulitzer Prize for his work on Douglas Southall Freeman's 7-volume biography of George Washington. In addition to the Washington book to be published by Alfred P. Knopf-Carroll also is planning a volume to be called The Great American West: A Regional History. But his activities do not halt here. He is a member of the editorial board of Academic Reprints, a publishing enterprise which issues articles of outstanding value in the field of history and related subjects. He is a member of the University of Arizona publications committee, headed by Dr. Jack L. Cross, director of the University of Arizona Press; and is a member of the advisory committee of the Arizona Pioneers' Historical Society. He was appointed by Arizona Governor Paul Fannin to serve on the state's Civil War Centennial Committee, and works closely with Mrs. Alice B. Good, director of the State Library and Archives in Phoenix. He is chairman of the committee on historical collections at the University of Arizona Library and is in demand as a speaker at academic institutions and organizations throughout the West from Texas to California. Carroll also holds memberships in many professional historical associations and a number of historical societies, such as the ones in Montana, Texas and Wyoming, and he is a member of a number of the 20-odd "Corrals" of "Westerners," an informal association of lay and professional historians. Those closely associated with Carroll know him to be a man interested in every facet of history in the state of Arizona. He seemingly cannot say "No" to anyone seeking his help on any project that has even a remote tie with the history of Western America. Whether it is a plea to help save the historic site of Old Fort Lowell or a request to help stimulate interest in the preservation or restoration of old Arizona Territory communities like Tubac and Tombstone, Carroll finds the time to lend his active aid and support. Soon after his arrival at the University of Arizona he aided in organizing a history club for students and a chapter of the national history honorary, Phi Alpha Theta. His enthusiasm for anything historical and his lively and highly interesting and informative lectures in the classrooms at the University of Arizona have resulted in many students becoming intensely interested in history history as a living, breathing subject rather than a dullrequired course full of dates, geographic locations, and men long since dead. To stimulate interest in the history of the West is one of Carroll's many goals. He is acutely aware of the vast amount of historical research yet to be done in the state of Arizona alone, and he points to the great strides made in the state of anthropology and archaeology and comments, "Arizona has had a great number of professional anthropologists and archaeologists at work in the state but few professional historians." As to opportunities for historical research in Arizona, Carroll cites the absence of any serious study of the mining bonanzas at Tombstone and other sites; the absence of any worthwhile biographies of interesting Arizona personalities such as Colonel Henry Hooker and the Vail brothers, early Arizona ranchers; Charles D. Poston, the "father of Arizona"; and Governor George W. P. Hunt. He also points out that no serious study of the development of towns has been made, nor a complete account of activities of the United States Army m Arizona Territory. Also missing is any attention to the development of diversified agriculture in Arizona in the twentieth century. It's a good safe bet that with Carroll's enthusiasm which has proven to be highly contagious these topics and many more neglected ones will soon be undertaken, researched and recorded. It's hard to be around John Alexander Carroll and not catch his modern-day "pioneer spirit" concerning Arizona and the West.

Subscriptions to ARIZONA and the WEST Volume Two (four issues)

Published in 1960 should be sent to: ARIZONA and the WEST, Library 318, University of Arizona, Tucson. Total cost for four issues is $5.00.

A limited number of complete sets of Volume One (four issues published in 1959) is also available at the regular subscription price of $5.00.

Moved on by wind each time they stop To rest themselves a minute In roadside ditch, black shadow filled, Or field with moonlight in it, Tired tumbleweeds go stumbling past, Keeping me awake With the little lonesome sounds They can't help but make.

Arroyos sleep in darkness; dim shadows brim the canyon wall. Coyote, on the mesa's rim, wakes the morning with his call.

He sings survival hymns of praise, this humble dusty chorister, and serenades emerging blaze of dawn beyond the juniper.

He makes a gift of solitude to all who hear his lonely cry. Foxy-featured, smiling, shrewd, he barks the sun into the sky.

Then with a sidewise loping grace Coyote ambles on his way. The west would be a duller place without this waker of the day!

Night leans on dark horizons And melts in nothingness, While only faintest star beams Leave watching me to guess The depths of the far stretches, Or distances to Mars, As darkness shrouds the landscape, And heals the desert scars.

What chase here ensues only you can know Or what the prize should the victory be gained, Yet a kind of excitement tends to show A challenge unlike others you have feigned.

Too swift is this pace for the bakery truck, Or the uniformed man who brings the mail, And such fleeting feet would require no luck For catching rabbits or squirrels or quail.

Nor is it the cat across the street who Played fox to the whims of your younger days Nor the Boston bull, nor the Kerry Blue, Where conquest ended in opposite ways.

Or could it be that this whimper reveals A rocket's tail you will overtake soon, Forsaking the chasing of earthbound wheels To stake out your claim on the canine moon?

In ancient Rome when Publius, young and brash, Set out to buy himself a chariot, Was it required that he have the cash Or did some money lender help him carry it? And did he pony up (excuse the pun!) Each month in currency inflated? The office where he paid, was there but one-? Or many-all "conveniently located"?

As a long-time reader of your magazine and as a faithful customer of your Color Classics slides, I was rather astonished to read your slide listings in your January issue. "SF-14 San Francisco Peaks from the Mill Pond, cov. 1 ." etc., etc. Of course, you can expect anything to happen during a hectic holiday season.35mm. slides in 2" mounts, 1 to 15 slides, 400 each; 16 to 49 slides, 35 each; 50 or more, 3 for $1.00. Catalogue of previous slides issued available on request. Address: ARIZONA HIGHWAYS, Phoenix, Arizona.

CB-80, Flaming Prickly Pear, cov. 1; DS-73, Ocotillo-Red Banners of Spring, cov. 2; DS74, Thirsty Desert in Bloom, cov. 3; DS-75, Spring in the Ajo Mountains, cov. 4; CO-21, The Placid Colorado, p. 7; L-76, Canyon Lake Panorama, p. 8; L-77, Roosevelt Lake-Good Fishing Waters, p. 8; SM-8, Spring DisplaySuperstition Mountains, p. 15; CB-81, Arizona Queen of the Night, p. 16; CB-82, Chartreuse Hedgehog, p. 16; CB-83, Staghorn Cholla Closeup, p. 16; CB-84, Midnight Ladies, p. 16; CB-85, Eagle Claws, p. 17; CB86, Cane Cholla, p. 17; CB-87, Nipple Cactus, p. 17; CB-88, Fishhook Cactus, p. 17; DS-76, Desert Garden, center spread; CB-89, Silver Cholla, p. 20; CB-90, Strawberry Hedgehog, p. 20; CB-91, Beavertail Cactus, p. 20; CB-92, White Easter Lily, p. 20; CB-93, Barrel Cactus, p. 21; CB-94, Strawberry Hedgehog Closeup, p. 21; CB-95, Staghorn Cholla, p. 21; CB-96, Chartreuse Barrel, p. 21; DS-77, Moonlight and Saguaro Blossoms, p. 22; RI-16, Along Horton Creek, p. 29; RI-17, Inviting Mountain Pool, p. 30.

Since your splendid publication has reached such a high standard of perfection, it is both a distinction as well as an honor to be accorded space in its pages.The Orpheus Male Chorus is deeply aware of such honor, and is therefore most grateful and appreciative of the magnificent article about us, which appeared in the Jan. 1961 issue and was so masterfully written, and beautifully illustrated. Your writer Joseph Stacey is to be congratulated on such an extraordinary article.

We feel that this panegyric will enhance our reputation to a considerable degree and will make Orpheus known truly world-wide. Copies of the fine issue have been sent to the Deutscher Saengerbund, of which we are an overseas member; to the Wiener Maennergesangverein (Vienna Male Chorus), of which our director Ralph Hess is an honorary member; to singing organizations in far off S.W. Africa and Japan; and to other organizations and individuals with whom we correspond.

I enjoyed your bass fishing article in your January issue very much. Mr. Niehuis is a fine writer and knows his subject. Sometime before summer (when we are coming your way on our vacation) we'd like to see a feature by Mr. Niehuis on "how to fish for bass in Arizona." Some pointers to an ardent fisherman but a stranger to your bass fishing waters would be helpful.

"TUMACACORI" BY ESTHER HENDERSON. The Sobaípuri Indians of Tumacácori traveled a hundred miles to invite and lead Padre Kino to their village in 1691. Although they were ignorant of Christianity, they prepared a special ramada for Kino's altar and begged him for instructions. By 1698 the ranch had grown under Kino's personal direction and the mission was dedicated to San Cayetano. After the Pima revolt of 1751 the mission was moved and renamed San José de Tumacácori. The present buildings were built by the Franciscans at the beginning of the nineteenth century. By the middle of the century the government took the jurisdiction of the missions away from the Franciscans. Within a few years the secular priests also departed. The Apaches raided and began the destruction of the church which was completed later by treasure hunters. The Mission of Tumacácori is a typical church of the Spanish colonial period and has been preserved by a presidential proclamation as a National Monument in 1908. The Monument is forty-eight miles south of Tucson on U.S. 89. In taking this photograph, the photographer used a 5x7 Deardorff View camera, Ektachrome, Goerz Dagor lens, f.32 at 15th second.