E-MAIL AND LETTERS

and e-mail

Inept Editor More than two months ago, I complained about the originality of “Cowboy Story” in Humor. I told you that I’ve heard that song before. Now, in the February 2001 issue, although I’m unfamiliar with it, “Dance Lessons” smacks of a contrived entry. Can’t you differentiate between fact and fiction? For an editor to be “poor and old” is no crime. Substituting indifferent and inept are horses of a different color.

I hope this poor old editor is not that kind of horse.

Blessed Editor Bless the “poor old editor” and please pat him on the back for many of us “poor old dears” still enjoy a bit of humor along with the great photos and articles of and about your great state.

We enjoy Arizona Highways as always. We think you are still the greatest editor!

Wow. It's not often readers think of the poor old editor in complimentary terms. This could establish a nice new trend.

Mistress Mine A few clarifications to add to your February '01 “Back Road Adventure” from Cave Creek to Seven Springs past the Mistress Mine. The name Mistress Mine was my idea. A mine, like a mistress, was something that you put a lot of money into and get little back. The claim was patented in 1883 by Alexander Steinegger. I agreed with Larry, the grandson of Alexander, to lease the claim and furnish everything to restore it like an old mining camp. The old shaft and tunnels were caved in. I started to build the mining camp by having old phone poles cut into lumber by sawmills. I dismantled old buildings in Cave Creek, board by board. I can't begin to tell you how many bags of concrete I mixed, countless hours on backhoe work, hauling 35 tons of rock for the rock shop, traveling all over Arizona to acquire turn-of-the-century mining machinery, and putting in five years of hard work. Ron, the monk, worked for me part time as a laborer and ran jeep tours. When I discovered black marble on the mine I am working on now, I sold my interests back to Larry Steinegger. I sold the rock shop concession to Ron, and Larry rented him the buildings. Your article says the Mistress Mine was an 1868 mining camp. The earliest mining claim filed in Cave Creek was in 1868, but they found the old miner in the hole with an arrow stuck in him, and it wasn't the Steinegger Mine. The machinery of the mine dates from 1880 to 1910. And the patented date on the claim was 1883.

La Posada The article about the La Posada restaurant in the February issue (“Taking the Off-ramp”) was very good and it’s nice to see the great lady architect and designer, Mary Colter, given the credit. I just wish there had been a bit of credit also for the Fred Harvey enterprise which kept the excellence of early West dining at a peak. Fred Harvey probably never met Colter as he died before she was in the Harvey employ, but Fred Harvey as much as anyone brought decorum and civility to the Southwest and his sons maintained that same standard.

For a fuller treatment of La Posada and Mary Colter, watch for the September '01 issue.

Coatimundi Remembered As I was reading “Coatimundi Search” (February '01), it brought to mind my time in Phoenix as a teenager in the '70s. A tame coatimundi lived in the house behind us. He would walk along the top of our wooden fence and we would give him snacks of vegetables or fruit. If our small dog was in the yard, the coati would dangle his paw just out of reach and, of course, this would drive our dog crazy. The coati was on a long leash, which is why he could never get into anyone's yard. He was quite a character.

New Layout I really love the new layout of the magazine. I have been a faithful subscriber since 1987, and have kept every issue! But this new layout is more friendly and easier on the eye than ever before.JULY 2001 VOL. 77, NO. 7

ARIZONA HIGHWAYS