Desert Day - February

The sun rose yawning over the mountains spreading a luminous, warm light over the desert foothills. There was a chill in the air but the sun soon took care of that. The sky was translucent blue and the atmosphere so clear distance seemed to fade into nothing and the mountains stood out sharply engraved against the blue of the sky. The plants of the desert were so vivid they seemed unreal.

As the sun rose to midday position, the air grew warmer and justified all the nice things said in travel literature about our winter climate.

A lazy winter afternoon in the desert! Strings of riders followed vagrant desert trails so close yet so far from civilization. Who said this is the machine age?

Evening, and the stars came out and darkness and silence enveloped the desert foothills and the day ended.

It was a February day in the desert, a day long to be remembered. . . . R.C.

"DESERT DAY FEBRUARY" BY RAY MANLEY. This photograph shows a group of guests from the White Stallion Guest Ranch, sixteen miles north of Tucson, enjoying a refreshing and restful ride through the desert in the warm, winter sunshine of a February afternoon. There are a number of guest ranches to be found in the desert foothill areas around Tucson Guests, who come from all over the country, consider these rides one of the popular features of a stay at an Arizona guest ranch. Most Arizona guest ranches are in operation from October through May. Some remain open throughout the year. 5x7 Linhof camera; Ektachrome; f. 18 at 1/60th sec.; 210mm Symmar lens; February.

"FAIR TIME IS FUN TIME"

The Arizona State Fair, which we feature in this issue, is, to be sure, a lot of fun, but it is also very educational to visitors. The Fair, in a way, is a mirror in which our great state reflects itself. Hundreds and hundreds of our good citizens work arduously for months to get together all the ingredients to make a striking and vivid portrait of the state. Like the song says: "All the boys and girls will be there." And a lot of chickens, cows, horses, sheep, birds, flowers, gems from the stoves and sewing machine, minerals, science achievements, paintings, photographs, and people. Two of the people who were at the Fair last year were Dorothy and Howard Henriques, a charming couple and comparative newcomers to the state, who tell us this month what they learned about Arizona from attending the State Fair. They learned a whole lot. Dorothy learned enough to give this advice to the ladies: "Wear your walking shoes." She's right! The Fair is big, big! (Since last November the Henriques family has moved to New Orleans. Howard transferred from GE Computer in Phoenix to Boeing in New Orleans. Louisiana's gain, our loss!) In another feature herein we introduce you to Scottsdale artist, Philip C. Curtis. Not that Curtis needs an introduction. His work is gaining an increasingly wider and appreciative audience and is earning high praise from critics throughout the country. We think he's great! Our last feature this month concerns itself with the MGM Cinerama classic, "How The West Was Won." You'll find the Arizona sequences really out of this world. Of course, that's the way Arizona is, but it takes the big, big, big screen to make us realize it. . . R.C.

COLOR CLASSICS FROM ARIZONA HIGHWAYS THIS ISSUE

35mm. slides in 2" mounts, 1 to 15 slides, 40c each; 16 to 49 slides, 35c each; 50 or more, 3 for $1.00. Catalog of previous slides issued available on request. Address: ARIZONA HIGHWAYS, 2039 West Lewis Avenue, Phoenix, Arizona, 85009.

AR-79 The Hat, cov. 1; DS-112 Desert Day February, cov. 2 and p. 1; IN-113 The Empty Land, cov. 3; DS-113 Saguaro Solitude, cov. 4; TC-46 Arizona State Fair Avenue of Flags, p. 8; TC-47 Agriculture Display, p. 8; TC-48 Miss Arizona Indian Contest, p. 9; TC-49 Indian Dance Group, p. 9; TC-50 Home Economics Display, p. 9; AR-80 The Fight, p. 19; AR-81 The Meeting, p. 20; AR-82 Picnic, p. 21; AR-83 The Fall, p. 22; AR-84 Drummer, p. 23; AR-85 Wait at the Station, p. 24-25; AR-86 Farewell, p. 26; AR-87 The Little Daisy, p. 27; AR-88 Fiddler, p. 28; AR-89 First Class, p. 29; AR-90 Voyage, p. 30; GT-13 Gold City, p. 40-41; MV-36 Through Monument Valley, p. 40; DS-114 Train Through the Foothills, p. 40-41; DS-115 Desert Journey, p. 40-41; V-91 Wagon Train Through Badlands, p. 41.

ARIZONA HIGHWAYS

VOL. XXXIX No. 11 NOVEMBER, 1963 RAYMOND CARLSON, Editor GEORGE M. AVEY, Art Editor JAMES E. STEVENS, Business Manager

LEGEND

DESERT DAY FEBRUARY RIDING IN THE DESERT IS ONE OF THE JOYS OF A WINTER VISIT IN WE LEARNED ABOUT ARIZONA. BY ATTENDING THE ARIZONA STATE FAIR ANNUAL STATE FAIR IN NOVEMBER SHOWS RESOURCES OF THE STATE 4 JOURNEY TO A FAR COUNTRY PRESENTING THE ART WORK OF PHILIP C. CURTIS OF SCOTTSDALE 14 HOW THE WEST WAS WON. M-G-M CINERAMA FEATURES ARIZONA SCENES IN CLASSIC FILM 38

PAUL FANNIN

Governor of Arizona ARIZONA HIGHWAY COMMISSION Wilbur F. Asbury, Chairman Bryant Whiting, Vice-Chairman. Arthur F. Black, Member Stanley W. Coon, Member K. William Holbrook, Member. Justin Herman, State Highway Director William N. Price, State Highway Engineer. Phoenix Springerville Kingman Duncan Patagonia Phoenix Phoenix ARIZONA HIGHWAYS is published monthly by the Arizona Highway Department a few miles north of the confluence of the Gila and Salt in Arizona. Address: ARIZONA HIGHWAYS, 2039 W. Lewis Ave., Phoenix, Arizona, 85009. $4.00 per year in U.S. and possessions; $5.00 elsewhere; 50 cents each. Second Class Postage paid at Phoenix, Arizona, under Act of March 3, 1879. Copyrighted, 1963, by the Arizona Highway Department. Allow five weeks for change of address. Be sure to send in the old as well as the new address.

FRONT COVER

"THE HAT" from a painting by Philip C. Curtis, used through the courtesy of Alexander W. Dannenbaum, Jr., of New York City. Of this painting John Russell, Art Critic, Sunday Times, London, has written: "These pictures could be marked 'Charm For Sale.' If they aren't, it's because Curtis knows how to give a twist of disquiet to nearly all of his images. Take the pretty girl "The Hat,' who has got all dressed up in the empty house and has nothing to do but play patience. When we look at her more than once we realize that she is in an agony of loneliness."