The Hub of Southern Arizona

Tucson's popularity as a resort area, retire-ment community, and convention center has resulted not only from its unparalleled climate but also from its position as the hub of a vast area containing many of the West's most significant attractions. Perhaps no other city in the world is surrounded by such a collection of interesting places to visit.

On a map of Arizona, draw a circle with a circumference extending one hundred miles in every direction from Tucson and within it you will discover an almost unbelievable variety of natural, historical, and man-made attractions.

Portions of two great national forests thrive in the area. Five national monuments and one national memorial lure visitors. Six lakes of varying size stand within the one hundred mile circle. More than two dozen famous guest ranches dot the region. Two major military establishments are included. At least a dozen picturesque ghost towns are accessible. Parts of six Indian Reservations exist inside the circle.

At least four spectacular, wooded canyons, a handful of notable mountain peaks, and three spectacular waterfalls (which flow erratically, depending on the season) are located near Tucson. Historical sites are too numerous to allow enumeration.

If the hundred-mile circle were to be sliced in four to represent points of the compass, each of the resulting regions would include its own significant attractions.

Immediately west of Tucson stands Tucson's "sister community" of Ajo, only other Pima County municipality large enough to merit the title "city." Near it is one of the biggest open pit copper mines in Arizona. Also in the western sector lies Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. There, just about every variety of Sonoran Desert growth thrives among virgin mountain ranges. Adjacent stands the Papago Indian Reservation, second largest tribal reserve in Arizona. Within its two and one-half million acres are eleven districts containing dozens of small villages with a total population of more than eight thousand. In the spring, the reserva-tion is one of the state's most prolific producers of colorful wildflowers.

Atop a sacred Papago mountain, Kitt Peak, stands one of man's largest astronomical centers. A fine paved road allows visitors to ascend to see the world's biggest solar telescope and seven other important stellar research facilities that are a part of the Kitt Peak National Observa-tory. A new museum is now open to visitors. At the foot of Kitt Peak, Ajo Road allows access to Mexican fishing areas on the coast of the Gulf of California.

Beautiful Tucson Mountain Park provides a border for the city on its western periphery. There, amid Arizona's most vigorous forest of Saguaro cacti, is located a seldom-visited "annex" of the Saguaro National Monument. Nearby is famed Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum with its rare collection of desert flora and fauna, and Old Tucson, famous movie loca-tion. "A" Mountain boasts a paved road allow-ing a most spectacular view of modern Tucson especially at night.

South of Tucson is San Xavier Mission, one of the most famous and intriguing of all Franciscan religious shrines. Indians still attend masses there, and visitors are welcome. Madera Canyon, with its vast and unspoiled recreation area teeming with significant varieties of birds - is also south of Tucson. Dense growths of the Coronado National Forest cling to the canyon, and a bright stream winds among the trees. Not far away is the famous ghost town of Helvetia, where only a handful of buildings but countless shafts and tunnels remind of the era when the Santa Rita Mountains echoed to the miner's pick.

Tumacacori National Monument and Tubac, two of Arizona's most revered historical sites, are along the main highway south of Tucson.

The ruins of Tumacacori and the old church at Tubac continue to attract more visitors each year. Little Pena Blanca Lake is not far away. Nogales, quaint town divided by the international border fence, is at the southern tip of the state sixty-six miles below Tucson. That part of Nogales across the border in Mexico is one of Arizona's top attractions. Some of the most beautiful ranch country in Arizona is located in the Sonoita-Patagonia region south of Tucson. On its edge stands Fort Huachuca, the nation's largest electronic proving ground. Pretty, new Parker Canyon Lake is due south. Trout abound there. Close by, on the Mexican border, stands Coronado National Memorial, an idyllic spot deep in a green canyon. A rugged road leads to the top of a peak from where, the visitor can see "half of Mexico and half of Arizona" while tracing the route by which the Spanish first ventured north out of Mexico City. Driving east of Tucson visitors can tour the campus of the University of Arizona, now the nation's twenty-eighth largest educational insti tution. Old Fort Lowell, with its authentic historic furnishings, is near at hand. If the season is "wet," a trip to Tanque Verde Falls is a must. Located on private property deep in a canyon of the Tanque Verde Wash, this waterfall often sends torrents over a high cliff. Saguaro National Monument, with its fine stand of big Saguaro cactus "trees," and Colossal Cave, one Of the world's driest, most colorful, and most extensive caverns, can both be visited by driving a few miles east of Tucson. Tombstone, "the town too tough to die," is another famous attraction east of Tucson. The highway winds through huge Lavender Pit Copper Mine, continuing on the rocky crags of Cochise Stronghold, last hiding place of the outlaw Apache chief. Chiricahua National Monument is also within the hundred-mile circle. Its strange and often grotesque rock formations are worth a trip into the region. Not far away, in one of ten Coronado National Forest regions surrounding Tucson, stands handsome Mount Graham. On its top is beautiful Riggs Flat Lake. At its foot is the town of Safford and a green checkerboard of cultivated fields. North of Tucson are a similar number of attractions. Sabino Canyon, one of the largest and most beautiful in the Santa Catalina Mountains; Mount Lemmon with its summer homes and winter snow bowl, and the Pinal Pioneer Parkway, featuring miles of desert growth plainly marked with signs to introduce each species to travellers. Along this route stands the Tom Mix Memorial, marking the spot where the famed cowboy movie star met death in a highway tragedy. Picacho Peak also rises against the northern sky near Tucson. The dark, graceful formation marks the location of Arizona's only Civil War battle. Farther along, Casa Grande National Monument features the ruins of buildings erected by a strange conglomeration of prehistoric men. Big copper mines are in evidence at San Manuel, Superior, Globe, Miami, and Christmas all within one hundred miles of the Old Pueblo. Not far from Superior is the Southwest Arboretum with its collection of desert plants. Coolidge Dam contains San Carlos Lake which in turn contains record largemouth black bass and channel catfish. The Superstition Mountains and rough, but spectacular Apache Trail road are all within the "Tucson circle," as are four Indian preserves, the Gila River, Maricopa, San Carlos, and Fort Apache Reservations. - Stan Jones

PHOTOGRAPHS BY RAY MANLEY

To make this desert unique in the world. The live exhibits include many insects, reptiles, mammals and birds, and an underground tunnel reveals the subterranean activities of desert-dwelling animals and snakes. Nature trails traverse the area among typical and rare regional plants and cacti, all labelled for identification. Each year the Museum adds to its exhibits and carries on active research and educational programs. Of special interest to local home owners are the recently installed displays of desert vegetation suitable for gardens and patios. Tucson scored an outstanding educational and scientific coup in 1958 when nearby Kitt Peak was chosen as the location for America's most advanced astronomical observatory. This epoch-making decision launched the city into an important orbit in Space Age investigations. Perched atop a 6,875-foot desert mountain, the $12,000,000 installation is the first government project of its kind, and is operated by the American Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy on a lease from the National Science Foundation.

Kitt Peak's sky-piercing equipment consists of three reflecting telescopes, the largest having an 80-inch mirror, and the University of Arizona's 36-inch Steward Telescope. But most remarkable is the revolutionary McMath Solar Telescope, largest instrument for observing the sun in existence. Plans are under way for a mammoth 150-inch reflector, and an eventual radio-controlled telescope in space, 20,000 miles from the earth's surface. Kitt Peak National Observatory is open to the public daily and is accessible from Tucson by fifty-three miles of a paved scenic highway. It is a busy place the year 'round with a permanent personnel of 140, and the facilities available to qualified visiting scientists of all nationalities. A modern headquarters building, containing offices, laboratories, and workshops covers an entire block in the city adjacent to the University campus.

Religion has always played a significant role in Tucson's life, and the Old Pueblo's religious heritage dates back to the intrepid Spanish missionary priests who brought Christianity and European civilization to the Indians. This continuing ecclesiastical vigor is attested by the number of new religious structures rising in all parts of the city. Today there are some 230 churches, synagogues, chapels, missions and houses of prayer embracing more than fifty denominations. Many of these operate schools, community centers, and charitable organizations. Tucson's church architecture is as wide ranging as the creeds, and varies from the traditional to startling experimental styles. But it is not only in religion that the city exhibits this rich diversity. There is also an exceptionally broad spectrum of cultural activities. Due to the unprecedented influx of new residents, a large proportion of Tucsonians are people from every part of the world. Although they happily adapt themselves to the congenial pattern of life in the desert Southwest, they have brought with them some of the customs, habits and ways of their former homes. For example, the large number of those of Mexican extraction make Tucson, in part, a bilingual city, and