TAKING THE OFF-RAMP

Arizona's Last Sheep Herd?

It could have been a scene from "The Twilight Zone." At dawn, in the deep forest near Mormon Lake, an undulating wave of sheep was seen nibbling on weeds and sage. Moving with them was a Basque shepherd, wearing bright red and green, and holding a wooden crook in his hand.

Time was in Arizona that such sights were commonplace. Fifty years ago, 2 million sheep roamed the Arizona range on federal lease allotments and on private pastures. By 2001, only 20,000 remained on non-Indian land, mainly due to cheaper imports from Australia and New Zealand. As for Basque shepherds, they were nowhere to be seen, Flagstaff old-timers reported. In the boom days of yesteryear, Basque shepherds drove large herds from winter pasture in the Salt River Valley north on the storied sheep trail through Bloody Basin, across the Verde River and up onto the Mogollon Rim for the summer. There the animals would be sheared and sent to market. Ewes would give birth and the ancient cycle would repeat itself. "It was a way of life," one sheepman recalled, "and it is fading fast." Coconino National Forest staffers regret this trend for an

The State Lepidoptera

Did you know Arizona has a state butterfly? Yes, the Two-tailed Swallowtail (Papilio multicaudatus) has that distinction.

Oatman's Fairies and Enchanted Garden

When I was a child, my grandmother told me I should always have fairies and angels around me as something good," says Mary Ann Lopez. She took her grandma's advice.

Today Lopez runs the Enchanted Garden gift shop in Oatman, a former mining camp in the mountains south-west of Kingman. Her inventory includes dolls, clowns and other whimsical items, especially fairies. Built around an outdoor garden, the gift shop is filled with the dreamy sound of piped-in Andean music, adding to the fantasy atmosphere.

Ask Lopez her theory about the existence of fairies, and she'll describe her time as a girl helping tend her grandmother's tea garden at the family's Michigan home. The plants and flowers took up most of a city block.

interesting reason. A noxious weed called leafy spurge is consuming thousands of acres of pasture on the Mogollon Rim, and while the weed poisons cattle, sheep grow strong on it. "Here's hoping that sheep can hold on a while longer," one ranger said. "It's better than killing weeds with herbicides."

A legacy of the boom days of Basque sheepherding survives, though, carved on the aspen trees in the San Francisco Peaks near Flagstaff: religious and amorous designs and messages etched by lonely shepherds decades ago.

"I stepped carefully because I didn't want to crush a fairy," recalls Lopez. "My grandmother gave me something to believe in. A lot of children don't have that now."

Lopez and Oatman are a perfect fit-a town that refuses to die and a woman, who, by her own charming admission, refuses to grow up. Information: (928) 768-5938.

THIS MONTH IN ARIZONA

1887 Two masked men staged the first train holdup in Arizona history, stealing $20,000 from a Southern Pacific passen-ger train 17 miles east of Tucson.

1888 Prescott public schools closed their doors due to lack of funds.

1897 The woman suffrage bill was reintroduced in the Legislature, and this time was referred to the committee on mines and mining, where it died.

1903 The 22nd Territorial Legislature decided that physicians must have a license before practicing medicine, and ordered every school to buy an American flag.

1908 Tucson officials required that saloons close at midnight.

1911 The Tucson city marshal announced that all bicycle riders must ring a bell when approaching an intersection or face a punishment of $50 or 50 days in jail.

Ranch Memories

TO LEARN ABOUT the history of ranch life in Santa Cruz County, visit the Rancher's Heritage Center at the old Nogales courthouse, built in 1904.

The story is told through articles, old photographs and maps on 4-by-8-foot boards. Topics include how ranching got started, the movies filmed at ranches in the county and dude ranching.

Open the first Saturday of each month or by appointment; (520) 394-2919.

Jack Snow's Navajos

The Navajo Nation Museum at Window Rock remains one of the country's best yet littleknown repositories for information and photographs about the Navajo way of life. Its archives include the photo collection of Milton "Jack" Snow, a Bureau of Indian Affairs photographer during the 1930s and '40s, whose job was to chronicle the Navajos. His photos depict the Navajo lifestyle of that period. "He was amazingly prolific,"

says Geoffrey Brown, director of the museum. "I doubt anyone else has produced so much imagery of one people. We don't even know how many images we have - somewhere between 40,000 and 80,000."

The museum, which boasts a staff of 17, features changing exhibits covering various aspects of Navajo culture, art and history. Guided tours are available. Information: (928) 871-7941.

Arizona's Own Kokopelli Winery

In 1990, Don Minchella, a third-generation winemaker, retired from his post as a secondary school principal and ventured from Michigan to southern Arizona to plant crops of organic wine grapes at his Bonita Valley vineyard. Four years later he bottled his first batch of wine. The Kokopelli Winery, named after the humpbacked flute player who originated from ancient rock art, has since become the largestproducing winery in the state.

Last year Minchella moved the operation 200 miles north to historic downtown Chandler, opening the doors in May 2001. Situated in a 1919 bank building, complete with the original etched Messler & Co. safe door, the winery now offers its 23 wines directly to the public. Minchella also opened a European-style bistro offering specialty sandwiches, soups, bruschetta, crostini and

Don't Leave Nature Without It

What's the best way to store food items while camping to avoid possible dangerous encounters with bears? When riding cross-country on horseback, is it better to picket horses or to hobble them? Should you travel single file or spread out the members of your group as you hike? Is it better to leave your fire ring and lean-to for the next campers, or should you dismantle everything and let those who come later create their own camping spot? All these questions and more are answered in the "Leave No Trace Skills and Ethics" series of booklets produced by the U.S. Department of the Interior, the Forest Service, National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Outdoor Leadership School. The Leave No Trace idea requires that visitors to outdoor areas follow six principles to care for nature.

They are: Plan Ahead and Prepare; Camp and Travel on Durable Surfaces; Pack It In, Pack It Out and Properly Dispose of What You Can't Pack Out; Leave What You Find; Minimize Use and Impact of Fires; and Protect and Conserve Water Resources.

Order the pamphlets by calling toll-free (800) 332-4100, or from the Leave No Trace Web site, www.LNT.org. You may also order a condensed version of the princi-ples printed on a handy indexcard-sized stiff plastic tag to attach to a jacket or a backpack.

desserts. If you can't make it for lunch, try the afternoon nosh option from 2 to 6 P.M. It's a plate of artisan bread, cheese, olives, nuts and chocolates accompanied by favorite Kokopelli vintages. The Kokopelli Winery and Café is open daily at 35 W. Boston St. Information: (480) 792-6927.

Seriously Silly Cowboy Golf Art

“I have serious inclinations as a painter, but I'm stereotyped now,” says 46-year-old Russell Houston. “I have these scenes I want to paint. But people are always asking, “When's the next cowboy golf painting coming out?” Cowboy golf? Yes. It's a recent category of Western art with Houston as creator and sole practitioner. Picture a cowboy taking a swing at a golf ball on a cow pie, or lining up a putt with a bull about to charge his south end, and you get the idea.

The latter was Houston's first venture into the genre in 1993, and the original sold for $5,800. These days his prints are available at 200 stores nationwide. Phone orders come from around the country one out of four from Texas and the world.

Sometimes when his wife, Kristi, answers the phone at their White Mountains home adjacent to a ranch once owned by John Wayne, the party on the other end has already seen their sales brochure and is laughing into the receiver.

“I know it's corny,” admits the bashful Houston. “It's kind of like painting a mustache on the Mona Lisa,” he says.

Houston accepts visitors at his studio in Eagar by appoint-

World of Science

Now those who join their local science museum may take advantage of free admission to 250 science and technology centers around the globe. The Association of Science-Technology Centers Inc. links aquariums and museums in 40 countries. Arizona Science Center in Phoenix, Flandrau Science Center and Planetarium in Tucson and Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff offer ASTC's Passport Program as a perk of yearly membership.

For example, a $75 family membership to Arizona Science Center allows two adults and two children under 18 admission to, say, The Imaginarium in Anchorage, Alaska, or the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History in New Haven, Connecticut, or any of the member museums. Information: www.astc.org or (202) 783-7200.

Question of the Month

What does the name “Arizona” mean, and where did it come from?

The truth is no one knows for sure, but it seems the name evolved from two Tohono O'odham words, ali and shonak, which together mean “small springs.” That name didn't roll off the Spanish tongue easily, so they called it Arissona. Anglo cowboys came along and adjusted the word to fit their own mouths and it became Arizona.

AMELIA EARHART TOUCHES DOWN IN MCNEAL

Ever hear of McNeal, a hamlet in Sulphur Springs Valley, southeast of Tombstone? Many Arizonans haven't either. But everyone has heard of its most famous visitor Amelia Earhart.

On September 12, 1928, the aviator was heading to California when her French biplane experienced engine trouble.

She sputtered out of the sky and touched down in the desert behind McNeal's post office.

“I heard a noise and looked outside,” teacher Fred Stolp remembered years later. “There was the first aircraft I've ever seen. Lindbergh had just flown the Atlantic and he was our hero, and here was an aircraft about to land in McNeal. My, we were excited.” The thrill grew when word spread the pilot was Earhart, even then a well-known flier.

Schoolkids came running, the Ladies Aid Society took her to lunch, and mechanics fixed her plane. Earhart was friendly but not talkative, and cool as the morning about her unplanned landing.

She paid with a $10 check and wouldn't accept change, saying, “Leave it as credit for the next time I'm in McNeal.” The men shoved off her plane, which needed three tries to clear the mesquites. Earhart waved as she flew off, leaving a lifetime of memories with those she met.