Little America Grows

(Opposite page) The main buildings of Little America are nestled among native and transplanted shrubs. This view looks north toward the majestic San Francisco Peaks.

(Opposite page below) A fire warms guests arriving at Little America during the cooler months.

Massive chandeliers decorate the banquet room, which seats up to 800 for convention dining.

Photographs by Peter Bloomer

Flagstaff's Little America GROWS

To many businesses, a tree is just a tree nice to have around, but they don't dominate or dictate the architectural planning or development. But in the case of Little America, a travel and convention center in Flagstaff, trees and the surrounding environment are paramount.

In fact, trees dictated the positioning of the five structures and the surrounding walkways at the attractive Flagstaff facility. And even though nature has blessed Northern Arizona and the Flagstaff area with an abundance of pine, 5000 additional trees and shrubs were brought in to further enhance the environment!

The reaction to Little America has not only been one of great economic success for the developers, but has brought raves from environmentalists, landscape architects, and the general public. In August, the Governor's Commission on Arizona Environment honored the Flagstaff facility with its highest award. The certificate read, in part: In presenting [this] Certificate of Appreciation, the highest award of the Governor's Commission on Arizona Environment, we hereby express our gratitude to Little America for outstanding efforts and contributions to the protection and enhancement of Arizona's environment.

This award was specifically prompted by your conscious concern for aesthetics in the design, siting, construction and landscaping of Little America, which far exceed normal requirements for commercial operations.

We understand that the particular location of Little America was selected not for its commercial potential alone, but also because of its natural beauty. Great care was taken to design, site and construct buildings and parking areas so as to fell a minimum number of trees and blend into the setting, after which a vigorous landscaping program was implemented to improve the natural environment.

Many of the 5000 new plantings were actually done by Mr. and Mrs. Earl Holding, principal owners of Little America, and their Flagstaff manager, Robert Button.

The Flagstaff facility is one of five motel-hotel-travel centers four of them named Little America owned principally by the Holdings. There are two in Wyoming, one at Cheyenne and one in the western part of the state at the community appropriately called "Little America." The third is in Salt Lake City, and the fourth is the popular Westgate Hotel in San Diego. On the drawing boards are major facilities for Tucson and Scottsdale.

Holding, 49, is something of a human dynamo. He is a 1950 graduate of the University of Utah with a degree in civil engineering. For a brief period he worked as a construction engineer for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. He soon planted his first trees a 3500-fruit-tree orchard in Salt Lake City. Within months he entered the motel business at Little America, Wyoming, by purchasing a small interest in the operation. In 1959 he purchased complete interest. "This is a barren part of Wyoming, so we planted several hundred trees and hauled water 20 miles by truck to water them. We wanted to make the place an oasis in the western Wyoming desert," Holding recalls.

In 1965 he constructed Little America at Cheyenne, including a nine-hole golf course and two lakes. Then came the trees 12,000 of them!

During 1966 he purchased controlling interest in a facility occupying a city block in Salt Lake City, Little America; it has repeatedly won landscaping awards. Currently, Holding is adding a 16-story highrise hotel.

A year later he purchased the Mobil Oil refinery at Casper, Wyoming.

Then came plans for the Flagstaff facility. Holding wanted to locate the travel and convention center along Interstate 40 on the southeast edge of the city on land owned by Lonnie Wilkerson. Holding approached Wilkerson in an attempt to purchase 37 acres to begin construction. Wilkerson balked. “I didn't want just another motel on that beautiful land,” Wilkerson recalls. Holding was convincing. Little America at Flagstaff wouldn't be just another structure; it would blend in and even enhance the area, he promised. Furthermore, Little America would provide a major convention facility badly needed in northern Arizona. Wilkerson agreed to the sale, and construction was begun in 1971 and the facility opened in June of 1973.

In 1974 Holding purchased the Westgate Hotel in San Diego, rated as one of the three best hotels in the world.

And this past summer, Holding completed the purchase of Sinclair Oil Company, including the refinery in Sinclair, Wyoming, its crude and finished product pipeline, and 1200 service stations in 16 Midwestern and Rocky Mountain regions.

Recently, Holding acquired 350 acres for a development in Tucson which will include an 18-hole golf course, tennis courts, and six swimming pools. He intends to begin construction on that travel and convention facility in 1977. He also has purchased 60 acres of land in Scottsdale for a facility there.

When Holding isn't buying or building, he finds time to serve as vice chairman of the board of governors of the U.S. Postal Service. He is also immediate past president of the Independent Refiners Association of America.

Holding has done more than merely plant trees at the Flagstaff center to attract and please the public. The 248-room motel is elegantly decorated; for example, counter tops are imported marble from Portugal. Draperies are made of velvet. Holding's wife, Carol, personally decorated the rooms.

A large lobby is dominated by a fireplace which glows around the clock during colder months. Dominating the cocktail lounge is a “Tiffany Tree” made of 3000 multi-panelled stained-glass leaves. Stained glass windows featuring Arizona scenes are also abundant.

Small meeting rooms are available, in addition to the massive banquet room, which can seat 800 persons. A coffee shop and gift shop are open 24 hours a day.

The facilities at Flagstaff's Little America have made it the social hub for area residents. On an average Sunday morning, more than 500 persons enjoy brunch there. Special Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Mother's Day meals are prepared — and to be assured of dining you better be there early!

Nearby is the Little America service station with 62 gas pumps serving both passenger cars and trucks. It is believed to be one of the largest of its kind in the world.

The Flagstaff facility is not yet complete. Four hundred additional acres of forest behind the present facility have been purchased, and tentative plans call for an 18-hole golf course to be constructed there. Also planned are tennis courts and other recreational facilities.

A walk around Flagstaff's Little America says something about Holding, the developer. Sidewalks bend here and there to accommodate the pine trees. Buildings are placed at angles again, to accommodate the trees. “Not many things in nature happen in squares and rectangles, so we just wiggled our buildings in among the trees,” Holding says.

The juggling of buildings, the protection and enhancement of the environment have worked. Arizonans are now comparing Little America at Flagstaff with the Arizona Inn in Tucson and the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix. And that's good company.

Photographs by Peter Bloomer

Bookshelf

by Donald M. Powell Head, Special Collections, The University of Arizona Library, Tucson.

Inquiries about any of those titles should be directed to the book publisher, not ARIZONA HIGHWAYS The Day of the Horse. Bernard Carbutt. Northland Press, Post Office Box N, Flagstaff, AZ 86001; 1976. 81 pp., $10.50.

The accomplished author/artist Ber-nard Carbutt was born, as were many of us older readers, at the tail end of the horse-drawn era. All during his life horses fascinated him, and before his death last year he recorded that fascination and nostalgia in this handsome book.

This is not Arizona (nor even the Southwest as we think of it), for the locale is Los Angeles of the late 'teens and early 20s. The same sights and sounds were familiar to all of us whether we were brought up in Phoenix, Albuquerque, or Chicago carriages still appeared on the streets of cities and country towns; the iceman still made his rounds on hot sum-mer days in a horse-drawn wagon trailed by a crowd of kids. The junk man col-lected up and down the street, a string of bells tied across the wagon box. The fruit and vegetable man still peddled from a wagon drawn by a patient horse, and the milkman used the same transportation for his noisy early morning rounds.

All this has been recorded by Carbutt in his words and his delightful drawings. Flagstaff's famed Northland Press pre-sents it in their usual appealing format.

Arizona Cook Book Indian, Mexican, Western, Arizona Products, Backpack-ing-Camping, Patio-Barbecue. [Compiled by] Al and Mildred Fischer. Golden West Publishers, 4113 North Longview, Phoe-nix, AZ 85014; 1974. 144 pp., $3.00.

This only recently came to attention, and it is recommended if you like good food and like to cook. The authors say they have spent twenty-five years collect-ing authentic recipes. They have covered the field.

There is no agreement among cooks about such things as chili, guacamole, fry bread, gazpacho, and many other foods Arizona-Southwestern. So our authors wisely give us choices five recipes for fry bread, four for gazpacho, half a dozen variants of guacamole, and so on. Then there are such exotics as acorn stew, cow-boy appetizer, pinto bean fudge, and bars of iron and wheels of steel for the back-packer.

It's fun to read and fun to cook from. Try it: you'll like it! New, expanded edi-tions are promised for the future.

The First Bishop of Sonora Antonio de los Reyes, O.F.M. Albert Stagg. Uni-versity of Arizona Press, Post Office Box 3398, Tucson, AZ 85722; 1976. 109 pp., $4.50 (paperbound), $11.50 (cloth-bound).

Antonio de los Reyes came from Spain to Mexico in 1763 a simple Franciscan friar; from there he volunteered for the Sonora missions after the Jesuit expulsion of 1767. But neither simplicity nor humil-ity were part of his character and very shortly he was proposing reform and reorganization of the missions, proposals which fell ill on the ears in Querétaro. After three years on the frontier he was appointed procurator, liaison between the college and the viceroy, and in Mexico City he made a friend and ally of José de Gálvez, inspector general. When the college at Querétaro rejected Reyes' reforms and ordered him to cease writing, he arranged to return to Spain but not, as he told his superiors was his purpose, to his home convent at Cartegena. Instead he resolved, and with the backing of Gál-vez' strong position at court, did appeal directly to the king. Carlos III heard him with interest. He recommended the Reyes reforms to the Pope and in 1870 approved the creation of the bishopric of Sonora, that Mexican state bordering with present-day Arizona, with Antonio de los Reyes its first bishop.

Reyes returned to Mexico accompanied by his nephew Antonio Almada, who was to found that famous family at Alamos, Sonora. Arizpe had been desig-nated the episcopal seat and raised to the rank of a city but Reyes found it primi-tive and disagreeable. He preferred Ala-mos and he settled there.

His term as bishop was largely unsuccessful. Sonora was a land harassed and impoverished by the Apache. Spain's hold on Mexico was slipping. It is doubtful if the Jesuits could have maintained the momentum of the mission system. Reyes' reforms, the establishment of custodies, met with resistance, even open opposi-tion, and there were never enough missionaries. His most lasting achieve-ment was the church at Alamos which he did not see completed. He was impa-tient and imperious, but his record and his writing (much of which is translated here) show that he had the true mission-ary spirit as friend and champion of the Indian until his death in 1787. English-language literature on the his-tory of Sonora is limited, and few illustrious Sonorans have had adequate biographies. Stagg fills some of this want in this well researched and well written life of its first bishop, a Franciscan whom he correctly characterizes as more a Jesuit manqué than a true disciple of Saint Francis.

Black Powder and Hand Steel Miners and Machines on the Old Western Frontier. Otis E. Young, Jr., with Robert Lenon. University of Oklahoma Press, 1005 Asp Ave., Norman, OK 73069; 1976. 196 pp., $9.95.

Black powder, the Bickford fuse, wire rope, and the steam engine made pos-sible the great boom of mining that took place over the West after the Civil War. This is how they did it, the Cornishmen and the Irish, from Arizona and New Mexico to Idaho and Montana. Young opens his book with a chapter on those hardy men from across the sea who drilled the holes, blasted, and mucked work that was dangerous and dirty.

Explosive powder had been experi-mented with for many years, but in 1831 Bickford in England developed the first really effective fuse which made possible the firing of rounds, a series of adjacent blasts that broke out rock or ore by the ton rather than by the hundredweight. This was followed by more efficient drill-ing and the introduction of the Cornish pump which drained astonishing quanti-ties of water from the mines and made possible mining at great depths.

Into his lively account of how it was done in the West author Young has woven the stories of some of the great strikes, especially those in Arizona and Nevada. It is illustrated with photographs, and drawings by Buck O'Donnell. A glos-sary defining some of the special and technical mining terms would have been useful and saved a number of trips to the unabridged dictionary.

Yours Sincerely TWO VIEWS

Editor: Could not let your September article on the Apache Trail pass without comment. We made the mistake of going from Apache Junction to Tonto National Monument on May 31, 1976, Memorial Day afternoon. The road you spoke of as "not well traveled at all" was a one-way freeway back to Apache Junction. The boaters and campers going west seemed to care little about other drivers, whipping around corners with trailers in tow. We were almost sideswiped many times, and often forced over against the canyon wall while boaters rushed downward. The traffic remained heavy all the way to Roosevelt Dam. Your article quoted George Wharton James as saying the trail "requires vigilance almost every minute." How true! We had to exercise so much vigilance that we could not enjoy the scenery. A few glimpses of gem-like lakes are all that remain. Tonto's Lower Dwelling was a haven of serenity after the ordeal. Therefore, to future travelers of the Apache Trail, we offer these tips: Go during the week, when boaters are at home. Travel early in the day, to avoid those few who may be returning in the afternoon. Be prepared to be vigilant. Needless to say, we continued on to Phoenix via Globe! Thanks for a beautiful magazine. Catherine & Charles Vadovic Houston, TX Editor: As a former 12-year resident of Arizona (1960-1971), I look forward to receiving each monthly edition of ARIZONA HIGHWAYS. I particularly enjoyed the article by Joseph Stocker concerning the Apache Trail called "The Glory Road" (September, 1976). I "did" the trail almost weekly while working on my Master's Degree in Desert Ecology at Arizona State University, and came to appreciate and respect each of its treacherous curves. Only when I had reached the bottom of Fish Creek Hill could I again breathe easily. Let us hope that this most scenic portion of Arizona forever remains undeveloped and unspoiled so that the generations that follow can enjoy its unique and magnificent beauty.

Gregory J. Odegard Greenville, DE Yes, the Apache Trail evokes as many different responses from motorists as there are curves on the road. It can get crowded. It can be dangerous. It can also be one of the most scenic and memorable drives in our entire state. -The Editor

CHAUVINISTIC EDITORS!

Editor: Your articles, photographs, paintings, and drawings are always outstanding and a source of great pleasure to me. But I must take exception to a typical male chauvinistic statement made in your September issue's article on the ArizonaSonora Desert Museum: "A visit here [the Small Animal Room] always brings squeals of fear from the girls and exclamations of delight from the boys. . . ."

Now, you know and I know that not all girls squeal in fear nor all boys exclaim in delight upon seeing snakes and insects. Girls often exclaim and boys often squeal. I think that your magazine, as well as the rest of the public media, must undertake some responsibility in not perpetuating human male and female stereotypes. In spite of this small criticism, my appreciation for ARIZONA HIGHWAYS is boundless.

Margaret G. O'Hornett Tucson We apologize. Let's hope our little girl readers will forgive us. We've made notes to ourselves reading, "Thou shalt not be chauvinistic!" - The Editor

CORRECTION

Editor: This is in response to your article on the Apache Trail in the September 1976 issue of your magazine. On page 6 you write about the so-called Skull or Skeleton Cave. I am a Yavapai Indian from Ft. McDowell. The people who were slaughtered in Skeleton Cave were not Apache, they were my people, they were Yavapai. My own grandfather died in there. Nobody but one woman survived the shooting. And this woman jumped off the cliff and broke her hip. She was left lying there because she was believed dead by the soldiers. My grandmother and several other people with small kids left the cave before the soldiers came up to it. Mike Burns was a little boy when the soldiers kidnapped him not very far away from the cave. They forced him to show them the cave. Otherwise they might I never have found it. Mike Burns' parents died in there.

John Williams Ft. McDowell Indian Reservation Historians have often erroneously confused the Yavapai and Apache, as we did unintentionally. Perhaps your letter will help set the record straight. We thank you for the correction. The Editor

IGNORANCE IS NO EXCUSE

Editor: I'm sure those cats on page 32 of the September issue would rather be called ocelots! Surely you and your staff know what every school child in and around Tucson knows that there are no leopards in the area covered by the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. Other than that, the article was well written and accurate for the most part.

Edna Raine Tucson Judging by the dozens of letters we received correcting our mistake, everybody except our editors noticed the difference. We'll try harder. The Editor (Opposite page) Tenacity of life in a barren land. Coral Pink Dunes State Park, southern Utah. Willis Peterson (Back cover) After a sudden summer hailstorm, mist and late afternoon sun filter through the forest on the Mogollon Rim. Willis Peterson

35mm COLOR SLIDES

This issue: 35mm slides in 2" mounts, 1 to 15 slides, 40¢ each, 16 to 49 slides, 35¢ each, 50 or more, 3 for $1.00. Allow three weeks for delivery. Address: Slide Department, Arizona Highways, 2039 West Lewis Avenue, Phoenix, Arizona 85009.