TAKING THE OFF-RAMP

Blue Blasts

On May 11, 1901, the Mohave County Miner reported that plumes of dust and smoke were sighted over the turquoise mines. The mines would give up beautiful gems only if explosives were used.

A volcanic eruption in A.D. 1064 or 1065 created the Sunset Crater cinder cone. As a national monument, it now enjoys protection from Hollywood producers and other threats.

An Artistic Mission

For those who appreciate religious art, the small museum and kiva at St. Michaels Mission near Window Rock offer two unusual objects. Among the museum's artifacts hangs a 6-by-7-foot Navajo rug, woven in 1936, depicting Christ's crucifixion. The work itself is striking for both its haunting beauty and the skill of the weaver. However, knowing the rug was created by Adzan Yazzie, wife of one-time Navajo tribal chairman Chee Dodge, adds to its interest.

Another don't-miss attraction at the St. Michaels Mission prayer chapel is a 16-foot statue by German woodcarver Ludwig Schumacher. Titled “The Redemption of Human Kind—the American Pieta,” the figure depicts two men lowering Christ from the cross into the arms of his mother, Mary. Schumacher carved it in 1990 from a single juniper trunk he found on Mount Graham. He chose the dead tree for its unusual size and chiseled the entire work where it stood, still upright, using only one hammer and

Hollywood vs. Sunset Crater

It survived volcanic eruptions, but Hollywood nearly blew Sunset Crater to bits. In 1928, a production crew set up shop at the volcanic crater, northeast of Flagstaff in northern Arizona, to film the movie Avalanche, based on a Zane Grey story. One of the scenes called for detonating a large dynamite charge on the crater's edge, thus engulfing a stagecoach in debris.

Harold S. Colton, founder of Flagstaff's Museum of Northern Arizona, heard of the plans and was aghast. Allying with the local Rotary Club and the Flagstaff Chamber of Commerce, he stopped the moviemakers and launched a campaign to win federal protection for the crater. Colton succeeded, and on June 6, 1930, the crater became a national monument that today attracts 170,000 visitors a year.

12 chisels. No power tools touched the wood until he severed the carved trunk from its roots with a chainsaw. He then moved it to St. Michaels. The school built a prayer chapel around the statue in the Navajo traditional sunken kiva style. The museum, which is owned and maintained by St. Michaels Mission and School on the Navajo Indian Reservation, is open 9 A.M. to 5 P.M. (Mountain Daylight Saving Time), Memorial Day through Labor Day, and by appointment. The prayer chapel is open 24 hours daily. Information: (928) 871-4171.

LIFE IN ARIZONA 1 8 9 0 s - 1 9 5 0 s PEARL HART, YUMA TERRITORIAL PRISON'S MOST FAMOUS GUEST

Little-known facts about stage robber Pearl Hart, Yuma Territorial Prison's most famous “guest”: She loved smoking marijuana and cigars; she once made a living singing for tips in saloons; she was probably a drug addict. Within a few weeks of being sent to the pen in 1899, Pearl, according to the Yuma Sun, was “a morphine fiend of the most depraved character and at present is rather hard to get along with.” Oh, and one more thing: Pearl was never convicted of robbing that stage. She did the deed, no question. But the jury bought Pearl's teary claim of temporary insanity, caused by her mother's illness.

The angry judge lectured jurors on their decision and ordered Pearl to stand trial again, this time for stealing driver Henry Bacon's pistol. And she was convicted.

Little-known facts, part two: Pearl Hart Bywater was discovered living in anonymity at Dripping Springs near Globe in the 1950s. She died there, an inveterate cigar-smoker to the end, in 1956. She was 85.

The Gov Said “Cheese”

The most photographed individual in Arizona history is not some gorgeous Venus or handsome Adonis. Nope, the prize poser was an overweight, balding, middle-aged man with an unruly mustache. George W.P. Hunt helped write the Arizona constitution and became the first state governor in 1912. Defeated in 1918's gubernatorial race, he left

An Apple a Day...

Although Arizona is far from Washington state's wetter climes, America's favorite fruit doesn't mind. From midAugust to late October, you can pick apples at the state's pickyour-own apple orchards or grab boxes of your favorite varieties at country stores and farmers markets, where you will also find apple bread, apple pie, apple butter, apple cider, fruit preserves and apple-smoked meats.

U-PICK ORCHARDS

Apple Annie's Orchard, 2081 W. Hardy Road, Willcox; (520) 384-2084.

Date Creek Ranch, U.S. Route 93, Milepost 177.5, Wickenburg; (928) 776-8877.

COUNTRY STORES

Apple Barn, 555 N. Ft. Grant Road, Willcox; (520) 384-4072.

Briggs and Eggers Orchard, 27197 S. Brookerson Road, Willcox; (520) 384-2539.

Arizona for a post as the U.S. ambassador to Siam (now Thailand) before returning to win the Arizona governorship again and again - for a total of seven terms. And he got it all on film.

The shutter clicked as Hunt squinted in the Arizona sunshine with miners, society ladies, Indians, federal officials and citizens visiting the state c Capitol. In 1901, he posed pushing a hand mower on the lawn of the brand-new copper-domed building. Today, photographs of the governor with potential voters crowd the walls of his restored office in the Arizona Capitol. Thousands more photographs, fastened with triangular corner tabs to black photo album pages and carefully labeled by Hunt's secretaries, challenge archivists at the Arizona State Archives. “He had his photograph taken with everybody who lived in Arizona,” they joke. No dam, road, state building project, dedication or celebration escaped being photographed with

Purveyors of Pie

Don't pass through the tiny mountain community of Strawberry, named for its wild berries, north of Payson, without stopping at Strawberry Lodge to taste its famous homemade pies.

Jean Turner, owner and former chef of the lodge, remembers a woman coming in one day and Governor Hunt. Nor did he spurn snapshots that didn't include him. Hunt himself may have snapped the fuzzy, fading photos of Siam and Egypt. And whenever he met the mother of a serviceman in the Great War, he asked her to send him a picture of her son. Hundreds did.

You can see some of Hunt's huge collection of photos at the Arizona Capitol Museum. Information: (602) 542-4675.

asking for a strawberry pie. When Turner told her it wasn't strawberry season yet, the woman angrily demanded, “Haven't you ever heard of frozen strawberries?” Turner was horrified. The lodge chefs prefer to bake with in-season fruit. Their apple pie is the most-requested; buttermilk is second. “But when strawberries are in season, from June into fall, the strawberry pie is pretty popular, too,” says Turner, who continued the pie-making tradition when she and her late husband bought the lodge 34 years ago. “We do all the baking here on the premises.” Strawberry Lodge is open seven days a week. Information: (928) 476-3333.

Question of the Month

What is a razorback sucker?

The razorback sucker (Xyrauchen texanus) is an endangered native Arizona fish that once thrived in the state's rivers and larger streams. Now part of the Phoenix Zoo's conservation and education program, the 3-foot fish has a distinctive keel-edged, bony hump that rises on the back directly behind the head and stops at the dorsal fin. The zoo's program also protects two other native fish, the bonytail chub and the desert pupfish.