E-MAIL AND LETTERS

off-ramp Fig Newton's Law

Ever since biblical days, figs have played a role in legend and lore. From fig trees in Greek mythology to deftly positioned leaves in European art, many cultures have laid claim to famous figsand Arizona is no exception.

Back in 1891, Arizona homesteader William Henry Bartlett harvested the first enormous fig crop from his orchards at Sahuaro Ranch in Glendale. Later that same year, the first Fig Newton cookie rolled out of the ovens of Kennedy Biscuit Works (now Nabisco) near Newton, Massachusetts.

Call it coincidence, but legend has it that Bartlett, a wealthy, well-connected grain broker from Illinois, solicited help from baking industry friends to come up with a marketable product for his figs. Voila! They gave the world the Fig Newton.

The Arizona Daily Gazette of May 3, 1891, heralded Sahuaro Ranch as one of the finest fruit-packing farms in the United States: "It may not be a myth to say that the Bartlett orchard is the largest fig orchard in the United States, in truth it is five times larger than any known orchard in North America and if we were to judge in actual results, it is far superior in all other respects. There are now in bearing about 14,000 trees. . . ." Today, 13 of the ranch's 14

The Mystery of "The Cowboy Prayer"

Without a hike, attendees of the Cowboy Poets Gathering at Sharlot Hall Museum in Prescott (Aug. 15-17) will miss a piece of local poetic lore. In Prescott National Forest, a four-line poem, dubbed "The Cowboy Prayer," puzzles local hikers who pass the granite rock face carved with the poem near an intermittent stream.

I let my saddle fall My weary horse I tend Lord I hear you call For I've reached the end [LEFT AND BELOW] As photographed in 1898, the main house at Glendale's Sahuaro Ranch featured a relaxing porch and a lush garden. The ranch's fruitpacking shed was the first stop for harvested figs on the way to filling Fig Newtons made in Massachusetts. Both buildings remain on site today.

the original buildings remain, including the main house and fruit-packing shed. Owned by the city of Glendale, the ranch operates as a living museum, where visitors who give a fig can learn how Bartlett's homestead figured in the Salt River Valley's early agricultural history. Information: (623) 930-4200.

Casual Dress Day?

At 122 degrees, June 26, 1990, was the hottest day recorded in Phoenix. Businessmen could still be seen heading out to lunch wearing longsleeved white shirts and ties. They did, however, abandon their jackets.

No one knows the poem's age or who patiently scratched it into the rock, but there are theories about both. One unlikely story connects it with 1920s and '30s movie star Tom Mix, who lived and made some of his Westerns in the Granite Dells area, 10 miles away.

Concerning the verse's vintage, some old-timers think they remember it going back to the 1930s or 1940s, but can't be sure.

The letters are fading, and lichen has obscured some of them. It won't be many years until the poem is completely illegible, and another puzzle from Arizona's past will be gone forever.

THIS MONTH IN ARIZONA

1775 Col. Hugo O'Conor, Commandant Inspector General of the Interior Provinces of New Spain, establishes the Presidio of San Agustin del Tucson on behalf of the Spanish monarchy.

1856 Two hundredsixty Arizona citizens hold a convention in Tucson. They want Congress to create a Territorial government. Congress does not agree.

1860 Tucson Judge Mark A. Aldrich resigns out of disgust because citizens refuse to file criminal complaints.

1868 Mrs. Mary A Gray arrives in Arizona. She is believed to be the first Anglo woman to enter the valley north of the Salt River.

1888 A Tucson stagecoach passenger tracks and kills robber Bill Brazelton after recognizing Brazelton's horse by its crooked hoof, a tip from Dave Nimitz. A Brazelton associate, Nimitz agreed to spill only if Brazelton was killed and unable to seek revenge.