Springerville, The Gateway to the White Mountains

No doubt, thousands who have been in White Mountain district will again visit our section of the country during the coming summer and fall, and especially through the fishing and hunting season. Many others who have heard of the White Mountains and Blue Range, will very likely come into this section during this coming year, because the businessmen of our town are getting letters of inquiry from many parts of Arizona, and from many points in California, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri and many eastern states. Even those who have spent a number of summers in the mountain sections of Colrado, which is recognized as amongst the best recreation centers of the nation, are beginning to inquire about the White Mountains and Blue Range. So no doubt, Arizona will reap a big benefit by having outside money spent in its summer recreational centers as well as in its winter recreational centers.

There are 350 miles of trout streams in the White Mountain district, and these streams are now being stocked from two large fish hatcheries operated by the State Game Department. During 1929 probably there will be approximately 3,500,000 trout placed in our White Mountain and Blue Range streams. Fishing is improving year, due to the fact that for the past three or four years the number of trout placed in our streams has been increased. During the summer flocks of wild turkey and deer may be seen thruout this mountain section.

During the hunting season in the fall there is excellent shooting in this section. The large game preserve of nearly a million acres in southern Greenlee county, a large portion of which is tributary to Springerville, is a big asset. Because of this game preserve the hunting if wild turkey and deer in the fall of the year may be considered a permanent proposition.

There are hundreds of tourists coming into this Springerville-White Mountain section who neither fish nor hun. They enjoy the beauties of the mountains; they like the fir, spruce, yellow pine and quaking aspen trees; they enjoy the wild flowers of which over two hundred varieties have been found growing together over a very small area of possibly a mile square. The running streams mean more to them from a scenic standpoint than they do from the standpoint of trout fishing.

One reason why the White Mountains are so popular is the fact that they are not so rough and rugged as many mountains in the west. Persons who have been into the mountain recreation grounds of other states in the west, say that there are no prettier mountains to be found anywhere than these White Mountains of Arizona. The country is rather more rolling than rugged. Now, in the Blue Range adjoining the White Mountains one will again find the very rough and rugged mountains, so that we have a combination of two different types of mountains within a very short distance from Springerville. Many persons make it a point to stay at the hotels in Springerville, because can take the different highways into different sections o fthe White Mountains and therefore have variety of places to visit They can fish at one time on White River and its tributaries, another on Black River and its tributaries. and at another time on the Little Colorado and its tributaries. Besides that, many of them enjoy swimming or fishing in Becker's Lake, which is two miles from Springerville.

Beautiful drives from Springerville into different mountain sections can be made over the Rice-Springerville Highway, and there is no prettier drive than that section of this road which lies between Springerville and McNary. They can also drive over the Coronado Trail via Nutrioso and Alpine and through the large game preserve directly to Hannagan Meadow, or over the El Paso Grand Canyon Route through Alpine and Luna, New Mexico.

Besides the trout fishing, the beautiful scenery and the hunting, and also the beautiful drives through the White Mountains and Blue Range, there are many other points of interest which can be visited from Springerville over good roads and without difficulty.

There is the Bottomless Crater Salt Lake just over the line in New Mexico and a short distance from Highway No. 70. This little lake is located in the heart of an extinct volcano. It is so salty that it is impossible for a human being to sink, and the depth of the lake has never been ascertained, although heavyweights have been let down in the water several thousand feet.

We also have the 50 extinct volcanoes and the lava beds which are only a few minutes drive from Springerville. It is only a short drive to the Rainbow Petrifed Forest and the Painted Desert, and in one day's drive from Springerville one may visit the Grand Canyon.

From Springerville one may visit the Inscription Rock and return the same day. It is only a few hours drive into the heart of the Apache Indian Reserva-tion through the big lumber town of McNary The Apaches are mostly located along the Rice-Springerville Highway or adjacent thereto.

A very interesting trip is from Spring-erville down the Blue into the very heart of the most rugged section of the Blue Range. This is enjoyed very much by those who do not care for all the com-forts of travel, but wish to get away from the general run of things. Another interesting trip by horseback is to the Valley of Dwarfed Trees, which is lo-cated at the foot of Mts. Ord and Baldy at an elevation of 10,000 feet.

Within this park are to be found many fir and spruce trees normal in diameter but dwarfed in height with their lower branches spreading out over the ground forming hundreds and hundreds of cone-like trees. A trip up Mts. Ord and Baldy by horseback is very interesting, because from this point one may look over into Old Mexico, a distance of several hun-dred miles, and it is not uncommon to find deep snow banks under the ledges near the summit of these peaks so that one may throw snowballs and build snowmen in the summer time, while wild flowers grow in profusion to the very edges of these snowdrifts.

Springerville has just completed the runways of a very good airport. This is one of the very best locations for an air-port in all of northern Arizona. The longest runway is over three-fourths of a mile, while there are three other short-er runways. Many tourists contemplat-ing a visit to the White Mountains dur-ing this summer and fall have advised the Springerville Chamber of Commerce that they intend to fly from far distant points as well as nearer points within our own state to Springerville, from where they expect to go by automobile into different sections of the moun-tains.