Arizona Highways, March 1976

              THE LAST CATTLE DRIVE
It takes food, and lots of it to feed a dozen or so cowboys on The
Last Cattle Drive which wound its way through Southern Arizona
in October and November as a bicentennial tribute to the American
cowboy. Above, cattle drive cook, Roger Stanley Aloysius O'Brien,
sets up his chuckwagon. Right, balladeer, Gene Callahan, gets some
steaming coffee. Below, pulled by a team of mules, "Cookie" O'Brien
makes his way through the countryside in search of another stopping
place. - PHOTOS BY JAMES TALLON
FRONT COVER
A window opens in the stormy
sky and Buddha Temple is bathed
in sunlight. Viewed from the
south rim. - DAViD MUENCH
Writer/ photographer Jim Tallon
pn The Last Cattle Drive.
From the Editor: At one point we planned a story entitled "Where have
all the cowboys gone?" We would assign Jim Tallon to do the article and pho­tography.
After discussing the matter with him, it appeared that it might take
a year or longer to seek out the working ranches and cowboys·around the state.
We agreed on an indefinite timetable; Jim would get going on the story, and
when he felt he had covered the subject, we would have a story.
Two hours after a meeting with Jim, two gentlemen came into the office
representing The Last Cattle Drive, a bicentennial salute to the American cow­boy
(pages 2-9). They outlined their plans and inquired about a story on their
effort. Great! We would do it.
We called Jim imrpediately and told him we had found the answer to our
questio~: the cowboys had gone on The Last Cattle Drive. Within days Jim
was on the trail. He spent 12 days on the month-long drive. He started riding
on horseback, but gave that up when he found his camper-van was more valu­able
for hauling photographic gear and for scouting the route ahead.
Jim Tallon · does more than write and photograph. He got involved in
working with the drive ... helping bring in horses, lugging firewood, transporting
people.
Jim came to Arizona from Kentucky. He headed for Flagstaff and worked
for a while on a ranch, then moved northward to the Grand Canyon area, where
he stayed for eight years as a guide. He hobnobbed with cowboys continually,
and became one himself during this period. But photography was his love. In
1964 he went to work for the Arizona Game and Fish Department as writer­editor
for its publications. Jim quickly became a leading wildlife photographer,
combining his photographic desires with the outdoors. Now a successful free­lancer
writer and photographer with more than 600 credits, Jim muses:
"Photography is my life, but writing is essential for my living. Writing is
hard work and there are days when I must walk away from the typewriter.
Sometimes I look out into the backyard, where my old lariat dangles from a
tree and serves as a swing for my three-year-old daughter ... and I wonder what
the cowboys are doing."
Well, Jim found out what some cowboys are doing. We think you'll like
his story.
Next Month: Our attention turns to the desert, which, when the climatic
conditions are right, bursts into a showy display of color that dazzles the native
and newcomer alike. Our color theme is the desert in bloom ... a portfolio of
dramatic spring color.
We will also discuss the adaptability of desert plants to the harsh and severe
desert environment, the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, the role of wagons
in settling the West, an organization dedicated to preserving abandoned military
posts, and the Tucson Festival Society's tribute to leading Southwestern artists.
ARIZON~ HIGHWAYS
March 1976
James E. Stevens,
Director of Publications
Tom C. Cooper, Editor
Vol. 52, No. 3
Wesley Holden, Associate Editor
Marvin Beck, Circulation Manager
Raul H. Castro, Governor of Arizona
In This Issue
2 The Last Cattle Drive
Arizona cowboys re-enact a cattle drive
as a bicentennial tribute.
10 The Unique Powers of Turquoise
Turquoise is more than adornment or a
measure of wealth.
12 Astronomy Comes Alive
The University of Arizona's new
Flandrau Planetarium opens.
l 6 Creati<>n of An
Arizona Landscape
A 16-page color portfolio of Arizona
scenery subjected to the elements.
34 Chris Comes to the Desert
Tennis queen Chris Evert adds another
dimension to tennis mania sweeping
the desert.
42 Texas Canyon: Rocks Everywhere
A look at the bizarre rock formations
along Interstate 10.
Arizona
Department of
Transportation
Wilham A. Ordway, Director
William N. Price, State Engineer
Board Members
Walter W. Surrett, Chairman, Payson
Walter A. Nelson, Vice Chairman, Sedona
John Houston, Member, Yuma
Len W. Mattice, Member, Pima
Robert M. Bracker, Member, Nogales
Bill Erdmann, Member, Casa Grande
Mrs. Ruth Reinhold, Member, Phoenix
Arizona Highways is published monthly by
the Arizona Department of Transportation.
Address: Arizona Highways, 2039 W. Lewis
Ave., Phoenix, Arizona 85009. $7.00 per year
in U.S. and possessions ; $8.00 elsewhere;
75 cents each. Second Class Postage paid at
Phoenix, Arizona, under Act of March 3,
1879. Copyrighted© · 1976, by the Arizona
Department of Transportation.
Allow five weeks for a change of address.
Send in the old as well as the new address
including zip code. Telephone (602)
258-6641.
The editors will not be responsible for unso­licited
manuscripts, photographs, art work
or other materials sent for editorial con-sideration.
·
The Last
Cattle Drive
Story and Photos by James Tallon
A red dawn spreads its soft light over
the Chiricahi.Ia Mountains of southeast­ern
Arizona and slowly, silently, the
morning sun appears and begins its job
of shortening shadows.
Below, on the fall-grass plain, there
is growing activity - activity of an
unusual nature for our day and age.
Horses whinny, cattle bawl and bandy­legged
cowboys ruri through a gamut of
words flavored especially for the ears of
high-strung horses and cantankerous
cows.
The camp cook burns himself, again,
and cries out in select Chinese ( with an
Irish accent). Fortunately, except for
the chuckwagon mules who flick their
ears forward, no one seems to under­stand.
"Yore bay filly got loose again last
night , Hondo ," a nighthawk says. "Why
th at sweet thing," Hondo replies, "I
guess I'll have to beat her."
A weather-pocked corral gate squeaks
open and ten horsemen push the remuda,
then the herd of cattle, through the open­ing.
Next comes the chuckwagon with
"Cookie" at . the reins. Between puffs
on his huge Erin corncob pipe, he sings
"I Was Born Under a Wanderin' Star.';
The. chuckwagon belongs up front, out
of the dust. Cookie will catch up, pass
the cattle and horses, and eyeball the
landscape for a suitable lunch stop.
Another day of "The Last Cattle
Drive" is underway!
The idea for this unusual Bicentennial
event to refocus the eyes of America on
a segment of frontier yesterday, was
born in the mind of Ed Overmyer, part­owner
and operator of the Triangle T
Guest Ranch at Dragoon, and a cow­boy's
cowboy. The idea was nourished
by a handful of fellow aficionados and
brought to maturity by good ol'fashioned
guts.
From the hundreds of cowboys, semi­cowboys
and non-cowboys who volun­teered
to ride herd on The Last Cattle
Drive, trail boss Overmyer selected 11
men. The long -experienced cowhands
were Hondo Cartmell, Bi.Id Lesley,
Thurston Comstock, Dick Brown, Ted
Gaylor and 81-year-old Mac McNeil.
Meals were spiced with considerably
more than just a touch of blarney by
cook Roger Stanley Aloysius O 'Brien,
while Gene Callahan, a cowboy and bal­ladeer,
Tony Russell, an actor and west­ern
artist, plus qualified trail hands
George Burkett, Jr., and Jerry Matthews
completed the roster. By the end of the
drive someone referred io them as the
"Magnificent Twelve." Although they
might individually be embarrassed by
such flowery prose, they earned it.
The drive took 30 days, followed a
winding 350-mile S-curve route, and
kept a town-to-town time schedule that
would make Amtrak envious. For the
uninitiated , the plan sounded simple ...
the cowboys knew differently . Compared
to old-time cattle drives , which lasted
about five months, The Last Cattle Drive
would be a short one. However, coupled
with obstacles created by modern man ,
it might better have been called "The
Toughest Cattle Drive." Towns had to
be detoured, fences cut and repaired,
freeways crossed and water and grass
Thurston Comstock uses a lariat to "push the cattle." t,,,.
A weary horse and drover (Mac McNeil) drag into camp after a long day on the range of southeastern Arizona.
The cattle drive was treated to all kinds
of weather, including the aftermath of
a hailstorm.
Bud Lesley rides back into camp for a
lunch break.
The Last Cattle Drive participants pose for a group portrait. KNEELING, FROM THE LEFT, Mac McNeil, Thurston Comstock, Ted
Gaylor, Dick Brown. STANDING, Roger Stanley Aloysius O'Brien, Bud Lesley, George Burkett, Jr., Gene Callahan, organizer
Ed Overmyer, Jerry Matthews, Hondo Cartmell and Tony Russell. Sitting on the chuckwagon is Harold Atkins.
for 250 cattle begged from landowners
all along the route.
The Last Cattle Drive left Willcox,
Arizona, amid more fanfare than the
beginning of the Pony Express. It
ambled through the ghost town of Dos
Cabezas, over a shoulder of the Chiri­cahua
Mountains, down Turkey Creek,
through the development of Sunizona,
swung westward at Elfrida, then across
the yucca flats and around the southern
tip of the Dragoon Mountains into
Tombstone.
Wyatt Earp never saw that town live­lier
( without a genuine shooting). As
usual, the chuckwagon was ahead of
the herd. A group of Tombstone vigi­lantes
blocked the road, telling them,
"You can't bring them cattle through
town!" Backed up by a line of shoulder­to-
shoulder cowboys, the argument grew
until a hot-headed vigilante drew his
gun and fired! Cookie's shotgun roared
in return and the dramatic "shootout"
that followed left the entire band of
vigilantes demolished while not a single
cowboy was scratched. Then, to the
cheers of hundreds of spectators, The
Last Cattle Drive came to Tombstone.
It was a gala celebration and nobody
enjoyed the next day's "cowboy barbe­cue"
any more than the vigilantes.
Moving on, the drive went westward
toward Sierra Vista, then northward to
Benson, parellelled the San Pedro River,
Ed Overmyer organized and directed
the drive.
skirted the Rincon and Santa Catalina
mountains arid trailed westward into San
Manuel arid Oracle.
Overmyer called his men "drovers,"
the 19th Century tag for cowboys. Each
morning the drive started with an Over­myer~
shout; "Move 'em out, drovers."
The push was from daylight to dark ...
and often beyond. Though bodies some­times
wavered, that intangible power -
enthusiasm - was always strong. If the
food ... mostly the three B's (beef,
beans apd biscuits) ... got a Ii ttle black,
Cookie's standard comment was, "When
it's ~mokin' it's cookin' . . . when it's
burned, it's done!"
Sleeping on the ground puts kinks in
a man's back and the weather wasn't
always kind either. "I jest cari't sleep
in a wet bedroll,'.' said Bud Lesl,ey one
stormy night. "Well, will you shut up
and let a man who can!" came a voice
out of the wet blackness. In the snow
and .sleet the next day a cowboy shud­dered.
Bis buddy asked, '.'Cold?"
"Naw," was his reply, "I'm just practic­ing
my dan'cin' lessons." Balladeer Gene
Callahan composed "The. Last Cattle
Drive" song, but it was another hand
who chirped, off ~key, to the time of "If
The Ocean Were Whisky"
"Oh, it rained south of Willcox
And it snowed on the hill.
The dust biew at Elfrida ·
And the sun burned us . . .
Oracle •
San•
'6 ,oL---- _ -·.-- ~~nuel
''o .
.. . Hey! What rhymes with hill?"
After almost a month on the trail they
turned the herd southward toward the
stockyards northwest of Tucson. On the
last leg Overmyer suggested, "I think it
fitting that only the original cowboys
take this herd into town." But it wasn't
to be. From the very beginning hundreds
of eager individuals with access to horses
had tagged along, some for a day, some
for a weekend.
Most of them were novice "cowboys"
and "cowgitls" who got in the way of
themselves and the drovers. And now,
more than ever, teenagers riding bare­back
and other horsefolks in western
garb swelled the ranks. Yet among all
those cattle and all those people it was
easy to pick out the "Magnificent
Twelve." They sat taller in the saddle!
The Last Cattle Drive was both
unique and traditional. Gerald Ford,
President of the United States, sent a
telegram cheering the drovers on, and
Arizona Governor Raul Castro honored
the drive by a proclamation.
And old Mac McNeil, who had spent
most of his 81 years in the saddle and
rode every mile from Willcox to Tucson
seemed to have captured the flavor of
the experience when he reflected, "We
had peaches on the drive. Old-time
cowboys loved peaches." D D D
CS> ."4 1------------------
@ ~ I ?
~ I c,:, .
S;:;:
I o
I
• Sunizona
I
I
------------1
I
I
I
I
,-
1
I
_. _I
Tombstone •
I
~ Nogaies __________ _l1 ________ _ ------------
The route of the 30-day cattle drive wound through southeastern Arizona.
5
Thurston Comstock displays his roping ability. The drovers on the drive were
qualified cowboys, picked for their stamina and ability.
TRAIL'S END
Editorial note:
Today, cattle are shipped swiftly and
economically by rail or truck ... not
slowly and expensively by hoof. The day
of driving "five dollar cows to f arty dol­lar
markets" is over. Railroad cars and
cattle trucks not only avoid the possi­bility
of stampedes, but eliminate weight
loss and the incredible amount of uncer­tainty
that is a part of every cattle drive.
But the motives behind ''The Last Cattle
Drive" were different. It was a Bicen­tennial
tribute to the American cowboy,
an attempt to refocus the eyes of
America on a segment of frontier yes­terday,
and an effort to raise money for
the Muscular Dystrophy Association
through the sale of cattle at the end of
the drive. The economic plight of their
efforts was perhaps best depicted by
Arizona Republic columnist Paul Dean
in his article of Thursday, December 4,
1975:
The Last Cattle Drive stumbled into
Tucson in great pain.
Not from drovers' chafed thighs. Not
from sore-hooved, irritable horses and
cattle. Not from sun blisters, sweat
rashes, boot sores or forearms clawed
A stop for lunch was a welcomed break.
Tony Russell waits for his coffee to cool.
through shirtsleeves by wait-a-minute
scrub ....
The agony was fearing, then hearing,
that this Bicentennial beef drive was a
five-figure flop with no money for its
chosen charity ....
Six hundred souvenir T-shirts and
3,500 commemorative booklets left
with the drive and the majority were
returned to Tucson unsold.
Profits were in pennies and outnum­bered
by leftover beans when a Benson
barbecue failed.
Other dinners and dances and a
During a weekencf, break on the drive, the drovers rode into Tombstone for recreation and revitalization.
The land was dry, and drovers and cattle ate their share of dust. Bud Lesley relaxes in the saddle and
takes a pinch of snuff.
roping contest in San Manuel, Sierra
Vista and Catalina raised only $2,300
- less than the cost of a dozen healthy
Herefords.
Pledges of donated cattle fell through.
Promises of publicity help faded. Offers
of promotion went out-of-town when
the herd moved into town.
Ed Overmyer, dust-throated trail
boss for the drive, rode into Nelson's
Livestock Auction at Tucson with 236
head when there should have been 300
according to en route promises.
An account book in his mind said he
would lose $12,000 ....
Hondo Cartmell and horse pause at a
water tank.
"Cattle Drive Profits Doubted By
Backers," reported one black headline.
"Drive Herd Auctioned At Loss,"
moaned another.
The reports went across Arizona and
into Nevada, California, Utah, Colo­rado
and Mexico.
And, by all that's fickle in human
response, the negative produced the
positive.
Sympathy donations began pouring
into the drive's financial headquarters
(Union Bank of Tucson, Willcox
Branch).
Men who remembered cowboys, and
kids starting to adore their lore from
books, sent money by cash and check
and bank draft.
Don Laughlin, no cowboy but opera­tor
of the Ri versicle Casino, Nev.,
mailed Overmyer a check for $500.
Arizonans sought out the chuck­wagon
that accompanied the drive and
wanted to autograph it, even if their sig­nature
would cost them a $1 donation.
Its canvas now carried 300 names.
Where can I buy one of those $2.50
booklets? The library has dwindled to
1,500 copies.
Where can I get one of those $3
Sid Wilson of Tombstone, in his nineties, periodically visited the cattle drive, perhaps
reliving moments of days gone by.
Tack is hung on fences overnight for drying.
T-shirts? There are only 125 left.
Overmyer's deficit dwindled. It
evened. Figures fattened and went in a
better direction.
And Wednesday (December 3) , at
Tucson's Aztec Inn, Overmyer handed
Bob Fitzpatrick, a regional director for
the Muscular Dystrophy Association, a
cattle drive check for $1 ,800.
It's not over yet.
Spurred by the belated response,
Overmyer and some of his hands are
saddling up again.
This time they will be pushing a full
movie of the drive, filmed by Castle
Productions of Tucson.
It will have a $2-a-seat premiere.
. . . with a well-promoted barbecue
. ... and a well-advertised auction of
some spurs, saddles, hats and boots
marinated to considerable value by
being part of the last drive ....
"We've beaten challenge, felt failure,
found a new challenge and beaten that,"
said Overmyer. "We feel good, real
good, better than good."
Overmyer is a man of the rough life,
harsh work and tough companions. He
does not easily put emotions into words.
But in his new high when everything
Trail boss Ed Overmyer ponders for a
moment . .. perhaps worrying about the
next day's obstacles.
seemed down and done, there is this
thought:
Overmyer's Bicentennial drive sought
to enshrine the American cowboy, his
spirit, generosity and understanding of
basic things. It has achieved this by
inspiring the same qualities inherited
by citizen~ who now choose to live and
ride and love the same country. D D
The Last Cattle Drive has reached
the trail's end, but the spirit of the men
who rode in it goes on. The spirit of
the west ... the spirit of America ...
has transcended generations.
~Tony Russell, left, and Mac McNeil relax at the end of day. The wide-open spaces of southeastern Arizona provided
The topic of discussion is none other than roping cattle. a dramatic backdrop for The Last Cattle Drive.
The Unique
Powers of Turquoise
by Shaaron Cosner
Anselmus de Boot, court physician to
a seventeenth century emperor, found
himself, one night, traveling a very nar­row
and dangerous road . His horse
stumbled. De Boot was thrown to the
ground and, while neither he nor his
horse were injured, he found that a piece
of turquoise from his ring had broken
off.
Another time, while lifting a heavy
pole, he felt a sudden stabbing pain in
his side and heard his ribs crack. His
injury was only a sprain but this time,
his turquoise had broken into two pieces.
He began to believe the legends which
said turquoise would not only protect
its owner's horse from tiring, from the ill
effects of drinking cold water when over­heated
and make him more sure-footed,
but it would also protect the wearer
from falls and injury.
Today, De Boot would be astonished
to see turquoise owners taking their
stones for granted or oblivious to the
magical properties they possess. Do they
know, for instance, that turquoise also
protects its owners from falls over cliffs
or from crumbling walls? The logic is
simple, according to one physician who
practiced centuries ago. "Whoever wears
a turquoise so that it, or its gold setting,"
he said, "touches the skin, may fall from
any height and the stone attracts to itself
the whole force of the blow, so that it
cracks and the person is safe."
10
Remember now, these are magical
powers supposedly possessed by tur­quoise.
Remember this especially before
jumping from a high cliff clutching your
turquoise.
Russians once believed that turquoise
would protect them from fatal wounds.
Arabian and Persian turquoise owners
believed it could dispel fear and protect
the wearer from drownings, lightning
and snake and scorpion bites. The peo­ple
of India believed the stone averted
evil, brought about the favor of Princes
and banished unpleasant dreams. The
Kings of Damascus, meanwhile, were
convinced that turquoise stones worn on
the neck and hands would keep them
from being killed. "Have you ever seen
turquoise on the hands of a dead man?"
they asked, ignoring skeptics who sug­gested
it had probably been stolen.
With all the wonderful medicinal
properties attributed to the turquoise,
it is a wonder its owner ever manages to
die and leave it to someone else. Tur­quoise
has been recommended as a cure
for melancholy, hernias, vague swell­ings,
flatulence, dyspepsia, cancerous
sores and insanity. It can, some say,
remove poison and heat from the liver.
Having trouble with ulcers? Turquoise
can help there and also relieve and pre­vent
headaches. The priest in The Exor­cist
missed his chance when he ignored
the properties of turquoise. He must not
have known that it will drive away pains
"caused by demoniacal or evil influ~
ences."
Turquoise is effective when treating
all diseases of the head and heart,
according to legend, and combined with
other ingredients, will relieve pains
caused by assault and epilepsy. When
cut into shavings and moistened, the
stone helps feebleness and nausea.
When it comes to eye problems, how­ever,
turquoise really excels. Broken
membranes iri your eye? Turquoise can
"glue" them back together. It is said to
have the power to repress growths such
as warts and pustules. It "brightens and
refreshes the vision when looked at
fixedly," and can be used as an eye salve.
In Afghanistan it is said that when a
turquoise ring is dipped in water and
applied to the eye, it will cure cataracts.
If you happen to be driving at night in
Arabia or Persia, turquoise can cure
night blindness as well as increase the
luster of the eyes and prevent fluid from
falling from them.
Turquoise is very perceptive. An old
proverb stated,
"The sympathizing Turquoise true
doth tell by looking pale, the wearer
is not well."
Turquoise owners today might do well
to heed this old proverb and save a few
doctor bills! If their turquoise becomes
moist and changes color there is a
chance it is in the presence of disease
or poison. If the stone does grow pale
on the finger of a sickly person, by trans­ferring
it to a healthy relative or friend
he at least saves the ring as the beautiful
blue color will be restored. It is said that
once the owner of a turquoise ring died
and immediately the turquoise lost its
luster. A relative therefore passed up an
offer to buy the faded ring but soon
regretted his actions because as soon as
another person bought it, the stone
regained its color. It could happen to
you.
The sensitive turquoise is also a mar­velous
barometer of character. In Ger­many,
when given to a lover, its color
will remain the same as long as the lover
is true. The turquoise cannot be fooled.
It will fade if the love fades. It also is
said to lose all power and color when
worn by an immodest or lewd person
but lest everyone rush to hide their
faded turquoise it must also be pointed
out that it loses color when the weather
changes! It will also subtly change color
during the day so that the very observant
may use it as a sun dial. Have you ever
found yourself without a clock? The tur­quoise
can strike the hour correctly
against a glass when held suspended
from a thread between the thumb and
index finger.
For those of you who are early risers,
if you look at your turquoise first thing,
you will pass a fortunate day and be
liked by everybody. For those of you
who can't make it up that early, the
owner who looks at the moon and his
turquoise on the first day after a new
moon, may not be so popular but he
will escape evil and become the master
of fabulous wealth. The Indians have
long known of turquoise's ability to
bring wealth to its owner. The Navajo
have regarded it as a good luck charm
and Navajo gamblers visiting Las Vegas
might hold a piece of turquoise for luck
as did their forefathers .
The Navajo were also said to have
believed that a sheep fetish with eyes of
turquoise would free the shepherd's
flock from disease, wild animal attacks
and accidental death. The Navajo who
wanted to own many horses, carried tur­quoise
carved like a horse. When he
needed rain, the Navajo made an offer­ing
of turquoise to the nearest river; if
the wind spirit got out of hand while
looking for turquoise, an offering would
appease him. A piece of turquoise
attached to a Navajo's gun or bow would
send the shot straight to the target.
Too long has the turquoise been
taken for granted - known only as ,.I
another pretty face-a symbol of wealth.
Wearers must look beyond its beauty
and become secure in the knowledge
that their investment will increase ten-fold
by bringing them health, wealth,
good fortune and freedom from crum­bling
walls.
If one believes these myths and
legends, then surely no other stone in
the world can do all the above, plus
inspire young girls to good and sincere
thoughts, bring boldness and gracious­ness
at the same time to its owner, recon­cile
fighting husbands and wives, cheer
and comfort the heart and insure liberty
and justice for all. D D D
11
Astronomy
Comes Alive
by Ellen Hale
You lean back in the reclining seat
and survey the complex instrument
panel before you. Flashing digits to the
right, buttons and levers to the left.
Countdown starts and the roar of blast­off
begins. Within seconds you have
escaped · Earth's gravity and are sailing
langorously through space. ·space Lab,
an abandoned remnant of the 1970's,
drifts eerily past the window. Suddenly
yow destination appears. The gigantic
banded planet of Jupiter looms close,
filling the blackness of space. · The Red
Spot is an ocean of thrashing and whiri­ing
crimson. You do not land there, but
instead head for the rocky safety of her
largest moon and eventually settle
among the vapors of Ganymede.
Hundreds of people have made the
trip to Ganymede and hundreds more
12
are going, several times a day, six days
a week. They depart from a unique star­ship
in Tucson - one that never le~ves
the ground and yet travels to worlds and
universes light years away. ·
The travel agent is the University of
Arizona and its spaceship is the new
Grace H. Flandrau Planetarium. Set on
UA's campus among Tucson's many
astronomical attractions, the plane­tarium
serves as a. bridge between the
technical language of science and its
understanding by the public.
But it is more tll~n just that.
The Flandrau Planetarium is a world
of worlds. It is a dine machine of the
imagination. An infinite venture into
new . ways of entertainment, education
and art. ·
Built with funds left UA by the late
Mrs. Flandtau, a longtime Tucson win­ter
visitor, the planetarium opened in
December ancl has been j:)usy ever since.
THE TUCSON METEORITE
WEIGHT: 636 KG · 1400 lBS.
PLEASE TOUCH
lOANED BY THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
w,1,~10H11c.
The Tucson Meteorite, weighing
1,400 pounds, frames a young visitor in
the planetarium's exhibit area. It is the
only known ring meteor in existence,
and is on loan indefinitely from the
Smithsonian Institution. - RAY MANLEY
The domed theater attracts a regular
stream of visitors, as do the displays and
exhibit halls. And people are quickly
cliscovering this is no usual planetarium.
It offers rio ordinary sky show, nothing
along the lines of the typical plane­tarium
production.
Instead, recent advances in equip­ment
and instrument design and a new
approach to planetarium philosophy
allow Director 0. Richard Norton to
reproduce the "real world" more con­vincingly
than ever before.
"It isn't the type of production you
normally associate with a planetarium.
It's a real theater of human experience,"
Norton says.
"Science is a very human activity, a
very aesthetic and beautiful experience.
But it's been out of touch too Jong. The
Flandrau Planetarium offers the perfect
environment for communicating science
to a nonscience-oriented public through
I
An extensive exhibit area surrounds the domed planetarium interior. - RAY MANLEY
the universal language of art."
Programs are shown on a dome
50 feet in diameter that is lined with
perforated aluminum and serves as a
giant round projection screen. The
dumbbell-shaped projector lights up the
screen with 9,000 stars, all displayed
with unprecedented accuracy of position
and magnitude. The Pleiades cluster,
visible to the naked eye as only seven
stars, becomes a very realistic 17 when
viewed with binoculars.
Like all planetarium projectors, the
UA instrument reproduces the motions
and positions of the sun, moon, planets
and stars over any period of time - past,
present or future. It rests on a hydraulic
lift that lowers into a basement chamber
to allow use of the atmospherium pro­jector,
a device created by Norton and
one of only two in existence.
While the planetarium envelops
viewers in night's dark shroud, the
atmospherium plunges them into a 180-
degree motion picture of anything that
can be recorded on film. They swim in a
drop of water, stream along with mito­chrondria
in a single cell, drift lazily in a
summer cloud.
Both projectors are backed by more
than 100 auxiliary projectors that encir­cle
the theater and provide a wide range
of special effects. A hot sizzling meteor
whizzes across the sky. A supernova
explosion splashes the screen with
Fourth of July fireworks.
Yet if the planetarium's visual system
is awesome, its sound system leaves
viewers speechless. An omniphonic
speaker design with built-in memory
channels sound around the theater.
Water gurgles past. A bee buzzes.
Thirty-three speakers orchestrate a con­cert-
hall production of Beethoven's
Ninth Symphony.
A small rise at one side of the theater
provides the stage for live performing
artists. Norton champions the merging
of the arts and sciences and stresses
that his productions will rely heavily on
theatrical techniques to highlight the
drama of the subject and to color the
shows.
In addition to the major productions
in the theater, the facility features dis­plays
in optical sciences, space sciences
and stellar astronbmy - areas for which
both Tucson and UA are known. Dials
whir, knobs turn and levers lift as visi­tors
play among the "please touch"
exhibits.
Here too, one can use a 16-inch tele­scope
to observe the night sky. By day it
tracks the sun and produces a solar
image on a television monitor. A helio­stat
mirror on the roof catches the sun's
rays, passes them through a narrow slit
and forms a magnificent solar spectrum
inside. Nearby, a smaller self-operated
13
AA projector is used to outline popular
constellations. - KEITH KNOWLTON
._The planetarium's control panel looks
like instrumentation for a large com­mercial
jet. - KEITH KNOWLTON
TPlanetarium director 0. Richard Nor­ton
explains the working part of the
planetarium's projection system.
- RAY MANLEY
planetarium shows the current Tucson
star scene.
A model of the Milky Way hangs
close to what may be the largest pano­rama
of the galaxy anywhere. Spacecraft
views of the planets, a working model
of the solar system and other attractions
fill the area. A meteorite exhibit features
the famous ringed Tucson Meteorite, on
indefinite loan from the Smithsonian
Institution in· Washington.
Down the hall , light from a stained
glass window bathes the qmidors and
bookstore in a rainbow of color that
shows the violets, blues, greens, yellows
and .reds of the visible spectrum. A mas-sive
color mural depicting the history
of astronomy covers a nearby wall.
~n the basement, optics shops, dark­rooms,
classroom facilities and labora­tories
supply UA scientists with research
room and the planetarium staff with
work space.
Like the universe itself, the Flandrau
Planetarium's potential is endless. Dis­plays
and exhibit halls allow students
and public to explore the mysteries of
nature and the universe. The theater
lifts the complex explanations of astron­omy
and science frorq the pages of a
book and places them in three-dimen­sional
view. Suddenly the horizon coor-
Beginning with the interestingly-designed exterior, the Flandrau Planetarium is most
unusual. - RAY MANLEY '
dinate system makes sense and altitude
and azimuth, meridian circles and celes­tial
equators are more than just concepts.
The planetarium is open Tuesday
through Friday, from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.
and 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. with theater per­tormances
at 4:30 p.m., 7:30 p.m. and
8 :45 p.m. Weekends it is open from
1 p.m. to 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.
with performances at 1: 30 p.m., 3 p.rri.,
4:30 p.m., 7 :30 p.m. and 8:45 p.in. It
i~ closed Mondays and holidays. Cost is
$2 for adults and $1 for children 16
years and under. Shows change every
three or four months. For program infor­mation.
call (602) 884-4556. D D D
16
@Jeatjon ff an
c5Irizolfl,tu ~anr{~/i!!JJe
Weather in Arizona can dramatically change a familiar
landscape, giving it new dimensions. On a particular morning in 1971
the desert was a most unusual place. In fact, it was almost eerie. Gone
were the familiar sounds of birds and animals. A cactus wren was seen
sneaking a look from her nest at the strange ... no, bizarre landscape. It
was as though she could not believe her eyes. A little farther ahead a
small cottontail dared not move. He seemed to be mystified ... frozen
in his tracks. This was not the desert they knew!
The desert had, overnight, been transformed into a win­ter
wonderland that the wren and the rabbit had never seen before, nor
would they see again, in their lifetime. The Tucson area had felt the
brunt of a December cold front. This was not just a few snow flurries,
but a full-fledged storm that left a rare 7-inch mantle of white. The wren
and the rabbit seemed to have one thing in common ... they were capti­vated
by the environmental change that was before them.
The Grand Canyon is always an awesome sight with its
cavernous inner gorge and labyrinth of side canyons . The sheer 12 to
18 mile distance between the canyon's north and south rims and near
one mile depth is overwhelming, But when Mother Nature displays some
Text continued on page 33.
An unforgettable sunset.
- HERB AND DOROTHY MC LAUGHLIN
FOLLOWING PANEL Pages 18-19 -
Cloud-capped Monument Valley at
sundown. - JOSEF MUENCH
,·
·,
·'
20
.li..The sun bursts through building
thunderheads. - JAMES TALLON
~ A winter storm breaks up.
- JOSEF MUENCH
..,. The glow of sunset silhouettes yuccas.
- JOSEF MUENCH
T Where a thunderstorm and the desert
meet. - DAVID MUENCH
... Clearing storm, Red Rock Canyon,
Southern Nevada . - DAVID MUENCH
T Storm brewing over Lake Powell.
- WILLIS PETERSON
FOLLOWING PANEL Pages 24-25 -
Winter's delicate blanket. The
Goosenecks on the San Juan River,
Southern Utah. - DAVID MUENCH
A Storm clouds and horses. White
Mountain Apache Reservation.
- JAMES TALLON
... Desert cloudburst. Lukachukai
Mountains, Northeastern Arizona.
- JOSEF MUENCH
T Billowy clouds glow in twilight over
Phoenix. - JERRY JACKA
23
~ An early morning mist in the White
Mountains. - ARTHUR TWOMEY
.,. A bristlecone pine peers through fog .
- DAVID MUENCH
T Fog lingers on the desert. Challa cactus
in the for eground. - DA YID MUENCH
T Fog rolls over the Grand Can yon rim.
- JAMES TALLON
28
A Indian paintbrush caught in early snow.
- JAMES TALLON
"'4 Late light and heavy clouds in
Monument Valley. - JOSEF MUENCH
~ A sea of fog lingers in the Grand
Canyon. - DAVID MUENCH
T Winter sunset from the South Rim,
Grand Canyon. - JOSEF MUENCH
,1 'I ,,.
I
,j
,,
t I • •• ''·
J.. Snow capped piling. - JAMES TALLON
<1111 Weather plays tricks on the desert.
Near Sunfl.ower, along State Route 87.
- EARL PETROFF
..,_ Winter's delicate cloak. Prickly pear
cactus pads. - DAVID MUENCH
T A blanket of fog in the Grand Canyon
simulates a rolling sea.
- JOSEF MUENCH
J
..
ARIZONA LANDSCAPE from page 16.
of her other wonders, .as she does from time to time, the scene becomes
spectacular. On rare occasions the massive gorge is filled rim-to-rim
with a sea of fog ... as though there were no abyss at all. Again, one
might witness the drama of a thunderstorm, complete with lightning and
rainbow, down inside the Grand Canyon. And all the while you are
enjoying warm sunshine along the rim.
Between Arizona's southern deserts and its northern high
plateau country lies a 200-mile-long area bounded by the red rocks of
Oak Creek Canyon on the west, the White Mountains on the east and
connected by the 7,000 foot high escarpment called the Mogollon Rim.
To witness a sudden summer thunderstorm ... here, surrounded by
the largest stand of ponderosa pine in the world, is an event not soon
forgotten. With surprising speed the little cottonball clouds on the
horizon gather into a darkening mass. You can actually see them boiling
as they approach the rim's edge ... 10,000 feet of turmoil. The wind
blows, rain spits down - occasionally accompanied by hail, lightning
splits the air, the wind shifts, the front passes, the violence is over. Within
10 minutes the late afternoon sun will again be warming the forest and a
summer ground fog will creep silently among the pines.
Arizona has some of the most wondrous landscapes in
the world. But, perhaps an even greater wonder is Arizona's dramatic
weather in its creation of tomorrow's landscape.
-The Editors
A mantle of frost near Church Rock
in Monument Valley. - DAVID MUENCH
33
Chris Comes
to the Desert
by Marjel DeLauer
There's a tennis explosion in the
United States today, and Arizona has
more than its share of the fallout. Part
of the big bang is the excitement of Chris
Evert, the world's Number 1 ranked
woman tennis player, signing with the
Phoenix Racquets. As soon as the
announcement was made the office tele­phone
at the Arizona-based World
Team Tennis club rang off the hook with
fans wanting season tickets. ·
Although her contract reportedly
made her the highest-paid player in
WTT, Chris said that it wasn't the
money that influenced her decision to
sign with the Phoenix team, but rather
the chance afforded her "to be ;ible to
compete against the best players such
as Billie Jean King, Martina N avratiiova,
and Evonne Goo\agong, who are already
playing team tennis. It also allows me
to be with my best friend, Kristien Kem­mer-
Shaw. I like all the other players on
the team, too . . . it's like being with
family."
Family is important to Chris. She is
one of five children, and all of the Evert
brothers and sisters play tennis. Their
father, Jimmy Evert, is a teaching pro
in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and still
finds time to continue to coach Chris.
World Team Tennis spokesman, Steve
Lurie, says of Chris, "She has tremen­dous
powers of concentration.You must
remember that in tennis it's not just
physical ability that is important. Your
mental ability to determine where the
next ball will land and how you are
going to return it, hopefully to your
opponent's weakness, is the real strength
of your game.
"I remember in Fort Laμderdale in
1973, she was playing a final in a tour-
34
nament against Billie Jean King, and
this was a match that Chris won six-love,
six-one, and for some reason she had
a little bit of difficulty winning the final
game and one of the local fans yelled;
'Come on, Chris, win it!' and for once
in her life she actually responded and
said, 'I'm try-i-n-g!' It brought down the
house!" ·
Arizona's World Team Tennis mania
began in February, 1975, when ener­getic,
young Phoenix businessman Jim
Walker landeq one of the ten WTT
franchises . The Phoenix Racquets ros­ter
reads like a who's who in the sports
world with Tony Roche, former Wim­bledon
semifinalist in men's singles, and
former Number 2 ranked player in the
world; Kristien Kemmer-Shaw called
the Golden Goddess of Tennis and win­ner
of the 1975 Ms. America Doubles
Championship; Andrew Pattison, who
reached the quarterfinals of the U.S.
Open Tennis Championship at Forest
Hills; Jeff Austin, former UCLA star
and considered one of the strongest
Number 3 players in WTT; and Phoe­nix's
own Stephanie Tolleson, 1975 Pan
American Doubles Champion.
Until recently tennis was considered
to be more or less a rich man's sport
with minor audience participation and
reaction. Spectators to tournament ten­nis
were expected to remain totally silent
dμring a match, with just a spattering
of polite applause when a point was
made by a player. Team Tennis encour­ages
the audience t9 become involved
arid root for their team just as they
would in any other sport. The excite­ment
that has been generated in World
Team Tennis has been as spectacular as
the players participating have been out-
Chris Evert, the queen of tennis and~
the No. 1 ranked woman player in the
world, has signed to play World Team
Tennis with the Phoenix Racquets.
- PAUL MARKOW
standing. Spurred on by the success of
the match between Billie Jean King and
Bobbie Riggs, which was held in the
Astrodome in Houston, Texas, and dr~w
over 30,000 spectators as well as a tele­vision
audience numbering in the mil­lions,
World Team Tennis held its first
series game on May 6, 1974, in Phila­delphia
and drew 10,000 fans.
A different scoring format of using
points per game for each team enabled
even the neophytes to keep track of the
winners.
More than 80,000 fans watched the
Phoenix Racquets in 1975. With six­teen
home games scheduled, beginning
the first week in May at the Phoenix
Coliseum, Chris Evert on the team, ·arid
the draft rights to Rod Laver, it seems
safe to say that the attendance for 197 6
will be much higher.
Enthusiasm for the game in Arizona
doesn't stop with the pros. Larry Piper,
Tennis Coordinator for the Phoenix
Parks and Recreation Department says
that the state is a tennis paradise.
"In just eight weeks, last fall, instruc­tors
from the Parks and Recreation
Department in Phoenix, coached more
than 13,000 players," says Piper: "The
beauty of the game is that anyone from
eight to eighty can play. There is no
great expense involved for equipment,
and it doesn't take too much time out of
anyone's life. Golf or skiing, aside from
the distance involved in traveling, take
a day .. . but a tennis match can be over
in an hour. It's marvelous exercise arid
the entire faμiily can join in the fun."
Most tennis courts are open year­round
in Arizona. Jn the City of Phoenix
there are 263 public courts, including
John Newcombe reaches for a shot in the 1974 American Airlines tourney in
Tucson, an event he won. - LEWIS PORTNOY
118 which are lighted for evening play.
There are at least 50 public courts in
Tucson, and many of them are lighted at
night. If you are planning a visit to Ari­zona,
and your favorite resort doesn't
have tennis facilities, contact the local
Chamber of Commerce or the Parks and
Recreation Department.
Tucson is also becoming a world
recognized tennis mecca. Robert Shel­ton,
of Los Bravos de Tenis, the group
which sponsored the U.S.-Venezuela
match in Tucson last October, said that
had we won the Davis Cup match with
Mexico the United States team would
have played South Africa later this
month at Margaret Court's Racquet
Club Ranch in Tucson.
The Racquet Club Ranch in Tucson
is the largest tennis facility in the West
at the present time, with 34 lighted
courts, including a stadium court that
It took a fish-eye lens to record the 9,000 fans jamming Margaret
Court's Racquet Club Ranch in Tucson for the 1974 American
Airlines Tennis Tournament. - ART SEITZ
36
The Wickenburg Inn Tennis and Guest
Ranch northwest of Phoenix looks like
a Spanish village with a tennis flair.
can be arranged to seat approximately
9,000 fans. Fred Stolle, former U.S.
Open singles and doubles champion and
the man who started the fantastic string
of Davis Cup victories for Australia,
is also associated with the Ranch as
Director of Tennis Activities and gives
weekly clinics.
The Wickenburg Inn, in Wickenburg,
has been called by experts "The Wim­bledon
of Wickenburg." Inn manager
An artist's model of Phoenix's Tennis-in-the-Round where tennis
buffs play against a machine.
Jose Catalan and tennis pro Larry Stan­ley
host scores of tennis greats and
celebrities at the high-desert hideaway,
which also boasts of being a wildlife
preserve; an arts and crafts center; and
contains an 8,000 volume library; a
rodeo arena; and 4,700 acres of desert
with year-round temperatures from 7
to 15 cjegrees cooler than Phoenix.
Where else in the world, except Lake
Havasu City, could you stroll leisurely
across the real London Bridge, refresh
yourself in a typical English Tavern,
and then walk just a few yards farther
and play a few sets of tennis under a
cloudless, desert sky? The new London
Bridge Racquet Club has enabled tennis
to take its place with golf, fishing, boat­ing,
sailing and water skiing as a major
recreational attraction at this amazing
resort community. Resident tennis pro­fessional
and general manager Dean
Rosemary Casals in action during the 197 3 Virginia Slims tourney
at Margaret Court's Racquet Club Ranch in Tucson. - BERNIE ROTH
Nielson is the man to contact for infor­mation.
One of the most glamorous tennis
resorts in the world is John Gardiner's
Tennis Ranch located on Arizona's
famous landmark, Camelback Moun­tain,
overlooking Paradise Valley. The
facilities include 24 championship ten­nis
courts, one of the most complete
teaching courts including a closed cir­cuit
television system, motion picture
The new London Bridge Racquet Club
in Lake Havasu City is in sight of the
famous London landmark.
37
~ Phoenix native Stephanie Tolleson is a
popular member of the Phoenix
Racquets World Team Tennis entry.
- MICHAEL NUNLEY
"ffFormer Australian great Ken Rosewall
gives pointers to television's David
Frost at John Gardiner's Tennis Ranch
in Paradise Valley. - NYLE LEATHAM
38
screening room and many other unique
training aids. It's a celebrity's home
away from home, with personalities like
Johnny Carson, Merv Griffin, Liza
Minnelli, and Bob and Rosemary Stack,
waiting their turn for lessons from tennis
pro Bill Foulk or one of his staff.
Another unique and exciting tennis
facility in the Phoenix area is the new
Camelback Racquet Club. Featuring the
only indoor courts in Arizona; with air­conditioning
in the summer and con­trolled
heat in the winter, the club has
been popular for tournament play. The
club's ten outdoor courts are walled, not
fenced. This type of construction is
unique and a first for tennis in that the
indoor tennis building and the sunken,
walled outdoor courts are handicrafted
in the traditional adobe look of the
Southwest. William F . Tull, well known
American tennis player, is the designer
and director ... Joe Taylor is the pro­fessional.
The Tempe Racquet and Swim Club
boasts of dynamic programs, with some­thing
for everyone in the family. There
are 31 courts, 29 of which are illumi­nated
for evening play. For non-tennis
players, there are two indoor, air-con­ditioned
racquetball/handball courts, an
Olympic-size pool, and full size outdoor,
lighted, basketball/volleyball court.
Members of the young and friendly staff
will arrange matches for new members,
out-of-town guests, or out-of-town visi­tors.
Both the University of Arizona at
Tucson; and Arizona State University
at Tempe, feature dynamic tennis pro­grams.
The U. of A. has added ten new
courts, all illuminated, to their twelve
old ones, and all are available to the
public during non-school periods.
A.S.U.'s new $300,000 tennis complex,
Whitman Center, was inade possible
through gifts from the Whitman Foun­dation
and the Sun Devil Club.
There's tennis, tennis, everywhere,
but if you really want to round out your
game try Phoenix's Tennis-in-the­Round!
This new complex is just what
the name infers. Each player has a
chance to practice his or her game with­out
the benefit of another player. A
mechanical arm provides the competi­tion.
Owners say the facility is so suc­cessful
that they intend to open another
one in Tucson.
Tennis is big business. Last year the
sport generated more than 1.25 billion
dollars in the United States in sales of
equipment, clothes, lessons, new courts
and tennis club memberships. But what
a wonderful way to cure your ulcers and
keep in shape! With 85 to 90 percent
of the maximum number of sunshine
hours available in Arizona, the dry­desert
air, and the magnificent facilities
available, Arizona is tennis paradise.
DOD
• Some of the several hundred tennis
courts operated in the Phoenix .area.
Many are lighted for evening play.
- MARKOW PHOTOGRAPHY
"ffThe Camelback Racquet Club features
indoor and outdoor facilities. Adobe
walls add a Southwestern flair.
- NEIL KOPPES
FOLLOWING PANEL, Pages 40-41 -
Tennis mania in the desert is epitomized
by this aerial view of Ken Rosewall's
home, foreground, complete with a
rooftop tennis court. The development
is John Gardiner's Tennis Ranch on
the north side of Came/back Mountain
in the Phoenix metropolitan area.
- LANDIS AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY
39
Looking like father and son, these
stacked granite boulders gradually wear
away under the subtle forces of erosion.
Texas Canyon:
Rocks,
Rocks
Every\Vhere
Text by Robert Jones
Photographs by P. K. Weis
Born deep in the fiery depths of the
earth and thrust to the surface by
unfathomed forces, Texas Canyon's
granite monoliths stand today as silent
sentinels along Interstate 10 between
Benson and Willcox in Southeastern
Arizona.
Jointed by internal stresses and
attacked incessantly by weathering,
these beautifully shaped and regally
arranged pedestal rocks create a small
but spectacular scenic area on the slopes
of the Little Dragoon Mountains. They
have stood for millennia in seemingly
unchanging form yet appear ready to
tumble thunderously down upon pas­sersby.
How many travelers have won­dered
about their creation and marveled
at their beauty?
The. Canyon looks as though some
child-giant has been playing blocks on
the mountain slope. Close fitting, geo­metrically
stacked bould.ers weighing
tens of tons seem precariously balan.ced
like some huge western Stonehenge. This
rock garden of beauty is, however, the
creation of Mother Nature. The exposed
surface of the granite mass that makes
up Texas Canyon is only ten and a half
miles long and a half-dozen miles wide.
It overlooks the San Pedro Valley to the
west, while the ancient Pre-Cambrian
twin peaks of the Dos Cabezas Moun­tains
to the east stand in stark relief over
the Willcox Playa, unique landmark for
astronauts in space. South is Cochise
Stronghold, deep in the heart of the same
type of 70-million-year-old granite com­prising
the Canyon area.
Texas Canyon granite is formed and
structured as quartz monzonite, an
important igneous rock type in th~
Southwest which is closely associat~g
with commercial deposits of ore mi~~
erals. In the hills surrounding the
canyon are mines for silver, copper,
tungsten, and other metals. Johnson
Camp, once a thriving mining commu­nity,
is nearby.
Quartz monzonite granite is rock
from the bowels of the earth, forming as
a huge molten mass perhaps 20 miles
Interstate 10 bisects the boulder-strewn area between Benson and Willcox known as Texas Canyon.
, A rest stop nearby allows motorists to pause and view the scene or to walk among the boulders.
43
under the crust. The mass cools over
eons of time as it is slowly thrust toward
the surface, distorting the crust while
surface erosion peels away the overbur­den.
As the mass cools, the quartz and
feldspar minerals making up the bulk
of the granite, crystallize into interlock­ing
patterns which give structural
strength and decorative beauty to the
rock mass. The same forces that thrust
the rock to the surface also fracture it,
providing joints and cracks which serve
as natural avenues of attack for the ever­present
forces of erosion.
Other cracks result from the normal
shrinkage of the molten mass as it cools.
Interestingly, as granite cools and
cracks, those cracks assume an angular
pattern of more or less parallel and right
angle joints and fissures. Geologists call
this fracture planing and it accounts for
the overall structural appearance of the
formation . This creates a geometric
design which 1s carried to the extreme
in the shape of many individual nearly
cubic granite blocks.
Cracks and joints allow rain water
to invade the formation eveh before it
is wholely exposed. These rain waters,
sometimes rather acidic, carry on an
inexorably slow dissolution of the min­erals
in the granite. Not only does the
water enlarge the jointed openings, but
it accumulates where joints intersect.
This results in a greater than average
dissolution at these points, rounding the
angular boulders into almost spheroidal
shapes in many cases. Spheroidal
weathering is common in granite and
when these rounded blocks stand alone
they seem about to fall at any moment.
Nature's carefully tuned sense of bal­ance,
however, seldom allows this to
happen. The upper exposed surfaces
erode away faster than the more guarded
. undersides. Erosion is hastened by the
alternating heating of the rocks in the
day and cooling of their surfaces at
night, resulting in a scaling action called
exfoliation by geologists.
During the entire weathering process
the Achilles' Heel of granite is the min-era!
feldspar, comprising some 60 per­cent
of its mass. Feldspar dissolves
readily into clay, releasing the more
resistant quartz grains. Close examina­tion
of a boulder surface shows these
quartz grains standing out in relief.
Together, the released quartz and feld­spar
clay form an alluvium which tends
to fill the joints and cracks of. the rock
providing a haven for small plants and
shrubs to take root. This is a self­destructive
process as the plants release
acids and their roots tend to wedge the
rock further apart.
To the beholder, Texas Canyon seems
timeless, its lifespan infinite. The inex­orable
forces of erosion which have
contributed so mightily to its beauty are,
however, exacting their toll - a finite
limit to the Canyon's life. Over millennia
to come Nature will continue her rest­less
creativity, re-molding the landscape
as she follows her timeiess blueprint to
delight Man's senses while leaving us
awed and inspired by her beauty.
DOD
The odd-shaped monolith has a hard spot (the tip pointing upward) which resists erosion better than the rest of the rock.~
The rising sun silhouettes these boulders. Note the joints where the
rocks touch, and how erosion works more rapidly in these areas.
44
ARIZONI\~~ HIGHWAYS
Edited by
CLARA LEE TANNER
Renowned authority on
Indian arts and crafts
Available
May 1, 1976
Plus $1 additional for
postage and handling.
A new, all color, 176 page
hardbound edition of the
beautiful arts and crafts of
the Indians of Arizona and
the southwest.
1Jaskets
Jerold Collings
~ewelry
Robert Ashton and
David Neumann
GJiachinas
Barton Wright
Pottery
Richard Spivey
G\Veaving
Joe Ben Wheat --
Each chapter explores the history of the
craft, its significance to the Indian
today, and current trends in design
and marketing. The text is authorita­tive,
yet interestingly presented in
laymen's language, and supported
with over 300 illustrations in the
ARIZONA HIGHWAYS tradition.
The book is 9 x 12 inches, has a
handsome silver embossed hard
cover, a dust jacket, and is sturdily
packaged for mailing.
Order directly from:
BOOK DEPARTMENT
ARIZONA HIGHWAYS
2039 West Lewis Avenue
Phoenix, Ariz. 85009
by Donald M. Powell
Head, Special Collections,
The University of Arizona Library,
Tucson.
Inquiries about any of these titles should
be directed to the book publisher, not
ARIZONA HIGHWAYS.
The Railroads of Arizona. Volume 1,
The Southern Roads. By . David F.
Myrick. Howell-North Books, Berke­ley,
CA., 1975. 477 pp. $19.50.
A book to gladden the hearts of his­torians
and rail buffs alike. From the
coming of the rails opposite Yuma in
early 1877 to the 1970s My,rick traces
the history of southern Arizona rail­roads
- and there were a surprising
number of them in addition to the
Southern Pacific - in absorbing detail
accompanied by dozens and dozens of
fascinating photographs. The pictures
and their captions alone provide a fine
evening's browsing, but the text is
equally interesting. Myrick has spent
many years doing the research for this
big book, and the results justify the toil.
The Southern Pacific, of course, h·as
had other chroniclers, but its Arizona
history and operations have not been
told in such detail. Here for the first time
is the full story of the El Paso and South­western
which was born of Phelps
Dodge arid Bis bee's need for transporta­tion
of ores and which eventually
stretched from Tucson to El Paso and
ori into New Mexico before it was
absorbed by the S.P. And then there was
the Tucson to Twin Buttes railroad, the
Arizona Narrow Gauge that got
nowhere, the Tucson and Nogales road,
the short lines around Yuma, and the
line that finally brought trains to Tomb­stone.
This, remember, is only the southern
Arizona rail story. The author tells us
that happily there are two more volumes
to come.
Tales of the Superstitions: The Origins
of the Lost Dutchman Legerid. By
Robert Blair. Tempe: Arizona His­torical
Foundation, 1975. 180 pp.
$8.95 cloth; $4.95 paper.
Perhaps the subtitle of this book
should have been "The Lost Dutchman
Legend Laid to Rest." For the first tirrie
scholarship and careful research have
been applied to one of Arizona's favorite
romances and the inescapable conclu­sion
is that there never was a Lost
Dutchman mine - as some geologists
have been telling us all along.
But there was a Dutchman. He was
real enough but scarcely the figure
. legend has painted him. And we now
know h1s name was correctly Jacob
Waltz, for Robert Blair has gone to great
pains to uncover the records of his appli­cation
for citizenship, and he has found
a petition Waltz and other miners signed
requesting military protection in the
Prescott area in 18 64.
Blair is able to spot Waltz in various
places around Arizona at definite times
and concludes that he was always a
prospector who never made it rich and
that he spent his last years in Phoenix
living on the ragged edge of poverty.
The mine legend developed only after
his death when Julia Thomas desper­ately
and unsuccessfully searched for
the mine which Blair suggests he may
have invented for her ears.
The book also sweeps the cobwebs of
romance from the Peralta Mine - it was
real enough, too - and its eritanglemerit
with the Dutchman and the story of the
Baron of Arizona; the Peralta mine,
however, was nowhere near the Super­stition
Mountains. It all makes as
absorbing reading as the legendary
accounts the book supersedes, for Blair
not only . knows how to do historical
research but how to write easily read­able
prose.
Child of the Hogan. By Ray Baldwin
Louis. Provo, Utah, Brigham Young
University Press, 1957. 89 pp. $6.95
cloth; $3.95 paper.
This is an unusual and appealing
book, a combination of poetry, prose
and pictures. The writing is that of a
young Navajo, graduate of BYU and
now Public Relations Officer for the
Navajo Nation, remembering the old
ways he was taught by his grandmother
as a child and telling their special mean-irig
for him as a way of life. Most of it
is apparently culled from writing he did
while in college. It is strong and sensi­tive
and controlled. "Listen," he begins,
"Hear my heart. Feel the power of my
soul." There is quiet here. There is
thought and beauty. The black and
white photographs complement the
moods of the text.
"In the back of our minds
Lie those wonderful times
We have built in a world of our own
They are ours now to keep,
To dream of when we sleep -
The blossoming of seeds we have
sown."
THE ..
UNCHANGING HOPI
The Unchanging Hopi: An Artist's
Iriterpretation in Scraichboard Draw­irigs
and Text. By Barton Wright.
Northland Press, Flagstaff, Arizona
1975. 109 pp. $12.50.
Barton Wright, curator of the
Museum of Northern Arizona, has long
been known as an authority on the Hopi
and their religious practices. Now he
reveals himself as an accomplished artist
in this handsome new book from North­land
Press. The scratch board technique,
essentially black India ink over a gesso
ground on cardboard, allows the artist
to reveal the white ground and achieve
startling black and white contrasts.
Wright has used the technique to great
advantage to picture the Hopi as they
were and are. Each drawing is accom­panied
by a brief, informative text.
It is not strictly true, as Wright points
out, that the Hopi are unchanging in
spite of their conservatism and adher~
ence io traditional culture. In his intro­duction,
he points out that, "The Hopis
... have achieved the admirable quality
of one-way glass, casually reflecting for
the intruder's edification his own images
and desires, while they continue their
own activities behind this successful
screen." in this sense, then, they are
unchanging.
47
~
Sincerely
Editor:
Your cover on the January 197 6 issue
is very unpatriotic. It is sacrilegious to
portray our founding fathers as glass
figures. They represent subversion of
our American ideals. They were not, as
you say "artistically combined in a
studio photograph." The photo looks
contrived. I cannot believe you would
put such a scene on the cover of the
magazine which represents the natural
beauty of our state.
Debbie Zeller
Tucson
. .. obviously we disagree , or we
wouldn't have run the "Spirit of '76"
subject on our cover. The "spirit fig­ures"
have been created in oil ( origi­nally),
water color, tempera, wood,
metal, and finally faceted quartz by lapi­dary
Jerry Muchna. And the cover w11s
contrived, as stated in the caption, since
there was no other way of symbolizing
the "Spirit of '76" marching across the
sand dunes of Arizona. - The Editor
Editor:
A request for a correction regarding
your article "Artistry in Quartz" page
47, January '76, ARIZONA HIGHWAYS.
The original painting of Archibald
Willard's "Spirit of '76" hangs in the
main lobby of the city hall of Cleveland,
Ohio. Mr. Willard was an Ohioan and
the original painting has hung in Cleve­land
for years .
Although there has been some con­troversy
over the original during the
bicentennial, most historians agree that
Cleveland's claim is valid.
Even if you don't ac<::ept my opinion,
I suggest you contact Mayor Ralph Perk
of Cleveland or the Cleveland Historical
Society for proof.
I believe some statement to the effect
that Cleveland, Ohio, claims this paint­ing
should be printed in an upcoming
copy of your book.
George Taylor
Cleveland, OH
. the January cover was an unusual
departure for ARIZONA HIGHWAYS. It
caused a great deal of favorable com­ment.
Then came Mr. Taylor's letter
(printed above) and we began to check
our facts. According to Mrs. Virginia
48
Gamage, a historian/researcher in Mar­blehead,
MA., artist Archibald Willard
made several sketches prior to 187 5,
the year he did the now famous "Spirit
of '76" painting. "He was encouraged
to do the painting to commemorate the
1876 centennial," according to Mrs .
Gamage. After the centennial celebra­tion,
a private citizen purchased the
painting for the City of Marblehead
where it hangs today. It has been used
by the U. S. Postal Service for stamp
designs, and by the U. S. Treasury
Departm e nt.
Mrs. Gamage , a member of the city
and st(lte bicentennial commissions in
her state, says that Mr. Willard did
between 12 and 14 other versions of
the painting.
One was the version, commissioned
in 1912, which hangs in the Main
Rotunda of the Cleveland City Hall .
Cle veland officials indicate that the
painting was presented to the city in
1917. It apparently is a slightly difkr­ent
version than the one hanging in Mar­blehead,
but both are 8 x 10 feet in
size. As to which is "original", it can be
stated that there are several "original"
Willard paintings in existence with the
same "Spirit of '76" theme , but the
"original, original" is the 1875 version
in Massachusetts.
Anyway, the "Spirit of '76", regard­less
of its version and regardless of
where it hangs, is a magnificent piece
of art in the American tradition.
- The Editor
Editor:
I never thought I'd be writing to the
folks at ARIZONA HIGHWAYS to tell them
they goofed, put after reading the cap­tion
for the photograph on page 7, top
right, of the January, 1976 issue, I
couldn' t let the error go unnoticed. The
photograph was taken at Wupatki
National Monument; the caption gives
reference to "an excavated ball court,"
which is incorrect.
The photo shows the "amphitheater"
at Wμpatki, not the ball court which
is further to the right outside of the pic­ture.
Somebody forgot to do their home­work
- the ball court is distinctly oval­elliptical
compared to the circular shape
of the amphitheater in the photograph.
I spent two years working on my mas­ter's
thesis, titled "A Re-evaluation of
the Southwestern Ball-Court theory", so
I know I did my homework!
Now that I said my two-bits worth, I
want to close by saying "Congrats" on
another beautiful issue of ARIZONA HIGH­w
A YS - this one heralds in the bicen­tennial
year in a colorful way!
Denise Green
Winslow
you certainly did do your home­work!
And we did a little ''homework"
on our own to clarify a few points. We
contacted John Wise, Park Superinten­dent
at Wupatki. He states: The amphi­theater
pictured was excavated in the
l 920's. The "ball court," which is
another 200 yards or so to the north
(right of the picture) was excavated
about 1964-65. - The Editor
OPPOSITE PAGE - Summer storm (:md
rainbow over the Tonto Basin.
- DARWIN VAN CAMPEN
BACK COVER - Frost cloaks an ancient
bristlecone pine on the San Francisco
Peaks near Flagstaff, - DAVID MUENCH
35mm COLOR SLIDES
This issue: 35mm slides in 2" mounts, l to
15 slides , 40¢ each , 16 to 49 slides, 35¢ each ,
50 or more, 3 for $1. 00 . Allow three weeks
for delivery. Address : Slide Department,
Arizona Highways , 2039 Wes t Lewis Avenue ,
Phoen ix, Arizona 85009,
GC -298
CR-51
CR-52
CR-53
ST-19
SF-72
CR-54
CR-55
CR-5 6
CR-57
CR -58
S-131
MV-117
ST-20
ST-21
ST -22
Y-31
ST -23
ST-24
ST-25
ST -26
CL -36
UM -40
WH-200
GC -299
CB -26 0
T-35
MV-118
WD-353
GC-300
WS-70
CB-261
GC-301
MV-119
SPT-6
SPT-7
Canyon Mood . .. . ................ .. Go v. 1
Setting Up the Chuck Wagon ...... . .. Go v. 2
Come and Get It! .... ........... . .. Gov . 2
Searching For the Next Stop ......... Go v. 2
Summer Storm ...... . . ........... .. Gov . 3
Frost Covered Bristlecone ........... . Gov. 4
Pushin g the Cattle . . .. • .... . .. •... .... p. 3
Keeping In Practice .. , . ...... .. • ... . . p. 8
Res ting Saddles ...... .. ..•..•..•.... p. 9
Trail Boss ........ . ... . . ......... ... p. 9
Wide Open Spaces . . ........ . •.... . .. p. 9
An Unforgettable Sunset ... . .......... p. 17
Monument Valley Sunset . · ....... . • . p. 18 -19
Winter Storm ...... , ................ p. 20
Building Thunderheads ..... . ....... . . p. 20
Where the Thunderstorm Meets ...•... . p. 20
Yucca Silhouettes ......... . .....•.... p. 21
Clearing Storm . . .. . ................. p. 22
Bre wi ng Storm . . . . ........ . ..•.•.... p. 22
Storm Clouds and Horse s . . .. ..•.... .. . p. 23
De sert Cloudburst . . ... .. . ........... p. 23
Billowy Clouds . ...........• . ........ p. 23
Winter's Blanket ... . ..• . ..... • .... p. 24-25
Early Morn in g Mist .. . .....•..•...... . p. 26
Rolling Fog . .................... . . .. p. 26
Teddy Bear Chol la ... ................. p. 26
Bristlecone in the Fo g . . .. .. . . .. • .... p. 27
Late Li ght in Monument Vall ey .. . . .. .. p. 28
Indian Paintbrush ..... . .. .. ... .. ... .. p. 28
Gr and Canyon in a Sea of Fog .... . .... p. 29
Weather Plays a Tri ck ............... . p. 30
Prickly Pear .... , . . .. .. . .... .. · ... . .. p. 31
Fog Blankets the Grand Canyon ........ p. 31
A Mantle of Frost ..... . ... .... ..... .. p. 32
Chris Eve rt - Queen of Tennis ........ p. 35
Ken Rose wa ll 's Home ...... . .... . . . p. 40-41