ALAMO DAM

ALAMO DAM is being built primarily for flood control pur poses but its secondary recreational benefits may prove more valuable to Arizonans in time. The dam is being built in a narrow canyon on the Bill Williams River thirty-three miles east of Parker Dam, and 137 miles northwest of Phoenix. Short as rivers go less than forty miles the Bill Williams forms most of the boundary between Yuma and Mohave Counties. It is formed by the joining of the Big Sandy and Santa Maria Rivers several miles upstream from the damsite. Normally the Bill Williams is a shallow jeep-fordable stream, even running underground in places. But heavy sum mer cloudbursts in its 4,770 square mile drainage area send unbelievable torrents of muddy water down the river and into the Colorado River's Lake Havasu, just above Parker Dam. It is this often-serious flooding that the new dam is designed to prevent. The earth-filled dam will have a 975-foot crest length and rise 283 feet from the river bed to an elevation of 1,265 feet. The dammed flood waters will form a permanent narrow reservoir of 500 surface acres extending from the damsite to just above Alamo Crossing, three miles upstream. The reservoir area will have complete recreational facilities with picnic tables, trailer parking sites, a boat dock, and a swimming area. These facilities will be turned over to the State of Arizona after the project is completed.

ALAMO DAM/ TO OPEN VAST NEW RECREATIONAL & WILDLIFE AREA A PROJECT OF THE U.S. CORPS OF ENGINEERS FLOOD CONTROL PROJECT

The Ocotillo Game Management Area of 17,243 acres will surround the new reservoir, the Bill Williams upstream from the reservoir, and the lower portions of both the Big Sandy and the Santa Maria. Wildlife finds a favorable environment in the canyons and thick brush along the Bill Williams where that ordinarily scarce desert necessity, water, is always available. Ducks and geese rest here during migrations and desert bird life is abundant. Small game thrives along the river and countless game trails made by herds of burro and deer criss-cross the area. Many bighorn sheep are found several miles southwest in Yuma County's rugged and colorful Buckskin Mountains. Work on the fourteen-million-dollar Alamo project began in 1963 with the construction of the administrative area and the 38-mile paved access road from Wenden on U.S. 60-70. This road climbs gradually north from Wenden through thick young saguaro cactus forests on the south slopes of the Harcuvar Mountains. It winds through Cunningham Pass and into the flat desert country beyond. The land rolls more as the road ap proaches the damsite and the Buckskin Mountains. An admin istrative building and picnic area are located about one mile from the damsite. A curving road leads visitors the last mile to an overlook area. Here you may park your car, sit in the shade, and watch construction operations on the outlet tunnel several hun dred feet below in the river bed. However, with blasting and heavy construction work in progress, visitors are not allowed beyond this area. The concrete-lined tunnel now under con struction will be finished in April [1966]. The eight-million dollar dam will be completed in August of 1968 and recrea tional facilities will be open to the public some time after this date. The road from Wenden to the damsite has already been found by casual tourists. Many of these are pulling boats in the vain hopes that a body of water awaits them. They are several years too early. But the lure of a small fishing and boating reser voir in the desert is not the only reason for driving into this area. Hiking along the Bill Williams, in the desert, and in the rugged mountains, will please many. Desert roads lead to former mines and mining communities on both sides of the Bill Williams for those with four-wheel drive. Not many Arizonans are familiar with this beautiful and historic area, which was booming copper and silver country after the Civil War, but it is easily available now. And late in 1968 you can bring your boat along, too.

The town of Parker was born because of the proposed development of the agricultural valley in the Colorado River Indian Reservation. Parker has been slow in developing because reservation development has been slow. Now the reservation is flexing its economic muscles and a river tourist industry exists off-reservation. These events have brought the problems of progress to Parker and will bring more. The town council presently wrestling with these problems is a 7-member group of business and professional men and a housewife. Ken Hall, Stan North, Austen Haydis, and James Sanders are the businessmen. Mayor M. Sidney Boaz is a doctor and Councilman Thurman Simmons is a high-school history teacher. Mrs. Henrietta Reaves is the housewife, the only woman on the council, and the first Negro to serve.

Thus we have Parker after fifty-five years, a town of less than 2,000 (1960 population, 1,642), with another 2,000 in Parker Valley and still another 2,000 permanent residents along the river north of town. Real estate action along the river, both on and off-reservation, is going to increase both the resident and visiting population. Whither Parker in the near future?

Some answer can be found in a book issued by the U. S. Department of the Interior in January, 1964: The Lower Colorado River Land Use Plan, a Report of the Lower Colorado River Land Use Advisory Committee. The foreword states that: "The Lower Colorado River Land Use Plan is a far-reaching program for conservation and recreation development along 265 miles of the Lower Colorado River, encompassing both banks of the river from the southern edge of the Lake Mead National Recreational Area to the Mexican border." Parker is in the middle of this great development on some of its finest recreational water and has an excellent road system connecting it with southwestern metropolitan centers. Gross annual revenues from recreation are expected to be $200 million when the program is completed. Investments by private enterprise are expected to range from $300 million to $500 million in this period. New communities are expected to spring up in this area, but Parker, located in its center, is a going town with many facilities already available. M. Penn Phillips has said that his "Big River" development across the river in California would be felt seriously and favorably in Parker. The Indian agricultural development is a steady and reliable economic factor. Arizona is planning state parks along the river near Parker Dam and along the entire stretch of Lake Havasu below Lake Havasu City to the dam. Regardless of Parker's future status, the little desert town on the big beautiful river is going to have to live with change for some time.

LAKE HAVASU—A PARADISE FOR CRUISERS AND WILDLIFE

The Colorado River above Parker Dam is not only a river, but a great lake, a canyon, and a swamp. Combining the unlikely combination of blue water and the always-colorful desert, it affords the peace and solitude found in rare, relatively roadless areas. Only by cruising it leisurely in a boat can it be known, and the annual Black Meadow Landing Cruise is the ideal getacquainted opportunity.

Black Meadow is a resort on the California side of Lake Havasu, a few miles north of Parker Dam. It is reached by road from Parker. Early in May each year the resort sponsors a twoday 110-mile cruise to Needles, California, and return.

Boats leave in groups of 25-30 early on a Saturday morning with competent guides in charge. Havasu's blue-green waters extend behind Parker Dam for thirty miles and range from one-quarter to three miles wide. As you leave Black Meadow keep an eye on the Arizona shore for the bighorn sheep who roam this area. Soon you'll pass Pilot Rock, a small island on the Arizona side. Colorado River steamboat captains used it as a guide to navigation well into this century. You will not see Chemehuevi Valley but cruise over it as Havasu now covers this Indian country. The old steamboat landings of the last century are also gone without a trace.

The new community of Lake Havasu City is in the background as you enter Thompson's Bay. Pacific Catamarans with their tall blue sails may be racing on this wide stretch of water. Your group may stop to refuel and look over the new town or you may cross over to Havasu Landing in California for your gas stop. Shortly after leaving the latter the water narrows and you are out of the lake proper and into Mohave Canyon, or Topock Gorge, as it is often called. This ten-mile stretch of river is narrow as it flows through solid rock. As you enter the canyon the going is tricky as your guide picks a route through The sandbars. The Mohave Canyon shorelines of rock and sand run a wild range of desert hues and the play of light and shadow gives the viewer a dazzling corridor of color. Cruise past Blankenship Bend and stop at Picture Rock on the Arizona shore to see the old Indian petroglyphs. Halfway through the canyon you come to Devil's Elbow, the great canyon within a canyon, and one of the most impressive sights on the trip. The river makes two ninety degree turns here in a half mile, rushing deep and fast through tall black walls. Sandbars on the lower end of the Elbow make a pleasant lunching spot as you look up river at this awesome sight.

The river is narrow above the Elbow but widens as you pass into the flatter country to the north. Next you pass under U.S. 66 and the Santa Fe Railroad bridges and stop at Shorty's Camp, in Arizona, at the lower end of Topock Swamp. The swamp is a great body of water backed up by the constrictive walls of Mohave Canyon. Fishermen and bird watchers will want to stop or mark this place for future visits. The fishing is excellent and the variety of bird life fantastic. Topock Swamp is part of the 22,000-acre Havasu Lake National Wildlife Refuge. It covers the swamp and the river down through Mohave Canyon. The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service publishes a list of 232 species of birds recorded here since 1943. And another fifty-one species are considered as casual or accidental visitors.

If the swamp doesn't detain you at once, join your group and cruise up river past the Reclamation levee keeping the swamp in bounds to your right. At last you enter the Needles, California, Marina, and find a hot barbecue dinner waiting and a pleasant sleep ahead before you make the return trip the next day. The cruise ended, you won't have seen it all. Fortunately, this will take many more exploratory cruises on your own.

THE HEAT

I saw the heat On fairy feet Go dancing, shimmering Down the street I heard her cadence Vibrant beat A victory song Of lust complete I saw the shadows In retreat Their coolness silent In defeat Her burning power My strength deletes This passion of The deadly heat.

ROUGH COUNTRY

This is rough country God made it, Man named it, Nature owns'it, Time has toned it; This is rough country.

OUR MOON

Our moon is dollar moon takes dollars to reach, and dollars to touch, and dollars to find our moon is such.

GHOST TOWN CEMETERY

Fragrant lilac blooming on the hill Whose loving hands placed you there Besides a loved one's grave? The seasons have come and gone And time has erased to faint traces Inscription on marble headstone and simple slat; The vault has crumbled And weeds have overgrown the graves For mourners joined the mourned Long years ago Whose loving hands placed you there Fragrant lilac blooming on the hill?

EXPLORERS

To igloos of the north, Over low slopes Of the horizon, In wind-whipping boats They appeared From under the clouds With far talk. Above air tides Going forth, Over the vast slope Of space, New explorers are steering From under the clouds With star talk.

GRAND CANYON SAYINGS (CONTINUED):

I just read one of your Grand Canyon "Famous First Sayings." It brought to mind the story my mother tells of the time she brought her mother fresh from the farm back east to view the wonders of Grand Canyon. Grandma peered over the edge, gave a disdainful sniff and said: "Humph can't grow corn down there!"

OF MINES AND MINERS:

First as a newsstand purchaser, then as a subscriber, I have long been and am an everpleased reader who looks forward to each new issue.

My reasons are several; the fascination of Arizona's rich scenery so well pictured; the familiarity and warmth of feeling with which your contributors write of their subjects, thus permitting me a rewarding feeling of personal involvement; and, always, a recall of that sense of discovery and wide spirit we have found in the people and the very air of Arizona when we have visited and vacationed in parts of your state.

Of the many facets of Arizona's past, one which I have found interesting in other reading is the story of mines, of miners and their lives, their wealth and poverty. The Super stition Mountains east of Phoenix are unusually rich in such history and legend. It may be that your editorial plans leave no room for coverage of this topic but, if they do, I would ask the pleasure of reading a feature or two about that area and seeing it pictured.

If you cannot, then perhaps you could suggest a few titles on the subject that I might find in the library or a book store somewhere.

area. Some things that we have enjoyed are: "The Lost Dutchman Mine" by Sims Ely, William Morrow & Co. Inc., 1953. Also "Superstition Treasures" by Travis Marlowe, P. O. Box 99, Apache Junction, Arizona. $2.00 softback, $3.50 hardback.

IN LOVE WITH THE WEST:

Even when I was teaching in the East (at Wellesley College, a girl's school near Boston) and in love with the autumn beauty of Vermont and New Hampshire, your ARIZONA HIGHWAYS fascinated me: as an European (I am French, from Paris) I could not believe such landscapes and plants could exist on earth! So, I took the bus and visited Arizona one summer during our vacation. Result: I fell in love with the West and now am teaching in California. I never miss a copy of ARIZONA HIGHWAYS, which goes to France, to my family. Once I looked at it so much, so admiringly, it remains all printed in my memory. My nephews, nieces, brothers, sisters, cousins are all thrilled with Arizona and all of them dream now of visiting it.

CALENDARS AND OUR CHRISTMAS ISSUE

Calls are now coming in thanking us for the beautiful and interesting calendars which you gave such quick service to and which we used as gifts. We feel that the people will give this new venture a boost each year.

Now comes the Christmas edition which can be used as Christmas cards.

After fifty years in the printing business and now retired, I feel qualified to state that no finer application of ink to paper is done by any firm and full credit to the engravers and photographers as well.

OPPOSITE PAGE

"IN BILL WILLIAMS ARM LAKE HAVASU" JOSEF MUENCH. Photo was taken in the Bill Williams Arm of Lake Havasu just a short distance above Parker Dam on the Arizona side. Late afternoon light is painting the surrounding shoreline, bringing out the warm desert colors. At the present time further up the Bill Williams River at Alamo Crossing a dam is under construction to control silt flow into the lake. 4x5 Linhof camera; Ektachrome; f.14 at 1/25th sec,; 6" Xenar lens; September; sunny day, late afternoon.

BACK COVER

"DEVIL'S ELBOW LAKE HAVASU" IVAN DRYER. Aerial view of "Devil's Elbow" on upper Lake Havasu (looking south toward Lake Havasu City) rock formations are the "Needles" located just south of Topock Swamp, south of U. S. 66. This picture was taken at 4:00 p.m. on a day when the temperature reached 117° in the shade. Blue lake and chocolate colored desert mountains blend with each other to form a most pleasing scene. Hasselblad camera; Professional Ektachrome (E-3); f.11 at 1/200th sec.; 80mm Ektar lens; early July; bright afternoon sun; Meter reading 400; ASA rating 64.