E-MAIL AND LETTERS

and e-mail

Spider Rock I thoroughly enjoyed the article "The Legend of Spider Rock" (October '01). It put me in mind of my visit to Canyon de Chelly a few years ago. My guide was Carmen Hunter, truly a gazelle as she pointed out the outstanding pictographs. She also took me to her ancestral hogan deep in the canyon. There I met her grandmother, an agile old lady who used the traditional way of entering and leaving the valley - via the cliff face climb, something I was incapable of doing although about 20 years her junior.

ERIC BEVERIDGE, Brooklyn, NY In the Spider Rock story, you refer to the Navajo ancestors as the "ancient ones." As I recall, didn't you, in a previous issue, indicate that the Navajo ancestors are called "ancient enemies?" I know it's frustrating having people pick all these nits out of your articles, but take comfort in knowing that you have so many avid readers who pay such close attention to your articles and your magazine.

MICHELE GREEN, Independence, MO Quite the contrary. The poor old editor loves it when the readers pick nits. It keeps us sharp. It's true we used the translation both ways. That's because in the absence of a written language, one has to depend on tradition, and various traditions interpret the meaning somewhat differently.

Sawmill Canyon I really enjoyed the photos of Sawmill Canyon (October '01). However, no matter how hard I try, I can't find a map or directions to this beautiful place. Could you please let others and me know the location of this hidden treasure?

DAVE BURGGRAAF, Scottsdale We deliberately kept the exact location of the canyon vague because it is accessible only to the best outback recreationists. Our intention was to show a very remote part of Arizona the vast majority will never see.

Chocolate Bits I enjoyed the article about the black entrepreneur Elizabeth Smith ("Hostess to the West," October '01). However, I can't believe that in 1897 Elizabeth's hungry folks devoured her decadent chocolate chip cookies. And I can't believe the "local children clamored for morsels of broken chocolate chip cookies.

She may have made delicious cookies, but chocolate chip cookies were introduced to American homemakers by the mythical Betty Crocker of General Mills, Minneapolis, Minnesota. The year It was 1939. I lived in Minnesota and was in high school at that time. We were all so thrilled with chocolate chips and the new cookie recipe. I remember it well. I was there.

PAT JOHNSON, Green Valley Elizabeth Smith used chips of chocolate in her cookies, not the droplets with the point on top that a big food company manufactures.

Tree Sizes I enjoyed the article "Hostess to the West" (October '01). I do have a question about the pictures on pages 34 and 35. Why are the trees in front of the hotel smaller in 1920 than they were in 1915?

DARYL HUEBNER, Manitowoc, WI We are assured by our crack research staff that the illusion is merely a matter of camera perspective.

Ask Readers I've been a subscriber for about nine years. I enjoy your magazine very much. It seems lately to run more to the outdoors persons. Nothing wrong with that, for them. I enjoy more of the old stories, history, Indians, lost gold (treasures). How would it be to take a few out of your first issues and use them in your present issues? Most of us would not have read them already. Ask your readers' opinions.

LOTIS W. LANGLEY, Nashville, NC The poor old editor likes those history and other frontier stories as well. We'll see what the readers say.

How can you publish a great magazine without commercial ads? Keep up the excellent work. Tell the poor old editor he's doing an excellent job and that he should be called "rich young editor" because of his rich ideas, photos, humor and stories, and because he caters to all-young and old.

JOSE ESTAPE, San Francisco, CA Wow, Jose, you are our kind of reader. Our goal is not to make as much money as we can, but to help people enjoy the wonders of Arizona.

Enjoyable Magazine I look forward every month to my copy of Arizona Highways. I especially enjoy the history of the area and the West a great deal. I enjoy your magazine more than any other I have ever received.

RUTH JEFFERS, Newman Lake, WA Special Shirt I have a T-shirt that says "If you're good, and say your prayers, when you die you'll go to Arizona."

PATTY CYR, East Hartford, CT

ARIZONA HIGHWAYS