Sunshine & Horses

Less than an hour by paved highway, and is managed by the United States Forest Service under its multiple-use policy. But recreation takes first place and the Santa Catalinas had 1,200,000 visitors in 1963. Amid the summit pines, firs and aspens, in a climate similar to southern Canada, are summer cabin colonies, youth organization camps, campgrounds and picnic areas, a rustic resort village, hiking and riding trails, trout fishing, and the Mount Lemmon Snow Bowl, southernmost developed winter sports center in continental United States. The surburban Sabino and Bear Canyon recreational areas at the base of the Santa Catalinas are also maintained by the Forest Service with the cooperation of Pima County. Furthermore, the County has two areas of its own: the 6625-acre Tucson Mountain Park, west of the city, and Colossal Cave, a sizeable limestone cavern, a few miles east.So in winter it's possible to play a round of golf in the morning and ski before dark, and to picnic among the cool pine forests in summer and have al fresco Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner in the desert. In fact, every day of the year offers exceptional opportunities for recreation and a variety of sports, for both active participants and spectators. The Tucson Open Golf Tournament in February draws the best pros from all parts of the country, and in the fall thousands jam the University Stadium to watch the home games of the U. of A. Wildcats. The Old Pueblo is spring training headquarters for the American League Cleveland Indians, and their exhibition baseball games are well attended, while the bullfights at Nogales, Sonora, draw enthusiastic Sunday afternoon crowds from north of the border. There is thoroughbred and quarter-horse racing from November to May, and greyhound races are held during the winter at two courses. Tennis, swimming, horseback riding, and motor exploring are favorite year-round pastimes, while just plain loafing in the sun is rated highly. Then, on Tucson's calendar of events are frequent horse shows, dog shows, cat shows, bird shows, home shows, Mexican fiestas and Indian ceremonials.

Tucson's birth and reason for being was because of a strategic location at the crossroads of major routes of travel.

From Indian trails to jet planes is a big jump in two centuries, but the city still maintains its importance as a transportation center. Transcontinental and north-south U. S. highways meet, and the new Interstate 10 passes through. The latter is well on its way to being a completely divided, controlled access east-west freeway across Arizona. Tucson is on the Southern Pacific Railway's through route from Chicago and New Orleans to Los Angeles, and is served by national and local bus lines. The city's International Airport is used by six airlines with regularly scheduled cross-continent flights and direct service to Mexico City. The new airport building, completed last year at a cost of $3,500,000, is one of the most efficient, modern and attractive in the United States. It has added another touch of cosmopolitanism to the Old Pueblo.

So, all in all, Tucson is a vital and progressive city, with a quickened pulse beat the year round. No longer do Tucsonians lead a seasonable double lifeenergetic in winter and easygoing in summer. Stores, office buildings, theatres and restaurants are now artificially cooled, and air-conditioned homes and automobiles have extracted the sting from desert heat. The peaceful and quiet summer siesta is a thing of the past.

But the feel and tempo of the enduring desert still dominates, and the city spreads across the floor of the basin and into the mountain foothills with an open-air spaciousness that hasn't yet crowded nature out. With room to spare Tucson is a horizontal oneand two-story community which has been immune to the high-rise epidemic now sweeping through the world's cities. But, with the rapid increase in population, perhaps Tucson's personality will eventually be lost in the standardized mold of modern urbanization. During the past year a seventeen-story luxury apartment house was added to the city's skyline and a twenty-story bank and office building is now rising in the downtown area. Zoning for high-rise construction has also been approved for outlying business centers.

But no matter what the future brings, people will always be drawn to this city to play, work and live in the desert sunshine. For, after all, there is only one Tucson.