The Coconino sun., 1919-01-31
FLAGSTAFF BOARD OF TRADE
Continued from Page One)

nng was proposed aerial mail ant passenger service which the govern ment is planning. It directly con cerns Flagstaff in that a trial anC pathfinding flight will be made in tn, next few weeks calling for stop 1T Flag and possibly the use of the towr as headquarters for a few days while data of the surrounding territory i! gathered. The board of trade was in receipt of letter some weeks ago from the Commander of Ellington Field, Hous ton, Texas, stating that the tria flight through Flagstaff was propos. ed, asking for secrecy for a time, ano requesting the board to send him de. tails of suitable landing place, fl any were to be had. He also wanted to know if the special gasoline ano lubricating oils necessary for aircraf; could be obtained here. The flight will be made by three De RNviland Tours" and will be in charge of Flight Commander R. o. Searcy. The officials took up the matter of a landing place with the U. S. flores, office, where they found the forestry men not only anxious to answer ques. tions, but accommodating to such ar extent that Mir. Green, of the service and others, took their instruments and surveyed and made blue prints of two fields, both of which were found suit able for the purpose. One is Clark field just outside the city to the north and the other was found on the Taylor property about two and half miles out to the right of the road to Cliffs. The secretary of the board has for warded the blueprints to the authori- ties at Ellington field, together with the assurance that the airplanes and their passengers can be taken care of in every way during their stay in Flagstaff
 Several matters of great import ance to the city and county were put before the meeting. County ytax as. sessor J. D. Dunn was present at the request of President L. c. Riley, with map and a lot of information con- corning the plan of the state of Utah to swap a portion of their territory for portion of ours. Utah has in Phoenix at this date a committee em- powered to carry through negotiations to that effect if possible. They pro- pose to give Arizona and Coconino county a strip of land lying just north of the line between this county and Utah, extending east to the Ari- zona state line and comprising about two hundred square miles in return for the land lying directly north of the Colorado river known as the Xii abab forest. It was the opinion of MT. Dunn and of the board of trade that it would be almost calamity to Coconino county for this deal to be put through. The land Utah offers is largely worthless, uninhabited, and with practically no assessable. prop erty. The land they want contains fourteen billion feet of standing tim Der, copper mine in operation and vast mineral possibilities, property as- sessed at half million dollars. Coco nino has small amount of assessablt property at best, considering its area and should not lose this. There is al ready railroad projected into tha, county and surveys are being made It borders on the rim of the Granc Canyon, the wonder-spot of the world, and rightfully belongs to Co conino county.
 It was also made known by Mir Dunn that the people of a portion ot Yavapai county had expressed theil desire to be taken into this county The land in question is the strip con taining Ash Fork and Seligman, il about fifty-four miles in area an' contains about 800 people and half ; million dollars in assessed property One result of the proposed chang would be to lower the tax rate in Co conino county.
 The matter of the new sewer sys tenn was brought up and ably pre- sented by Mayor Slipher and others It was the final unanimous opinion of the members present that the! should, as body and as individual get behind the suggesed bond issu' and see that it was carried through Every effort was promised looking toward the carrying out of the issu' and the completion of the sewer sys tenn this year.
 The matter of summer visitors ant the inability of the town to furnisi adequate accommodations was dis cussed. The need of a new hotel wa! recognized and the belief expressed that Flagstaff could increase five-folt the number of people coming here fol few months in the summer, if house: and modern hotel could be supplied
 The meeting was not devoted sim ply to a discussion of these various things but definite suggestions wer; made, which for the lack of time could not be acted on but will be al the next meeting.
 The election of officers for the new year resulted in the reelection of l. c. Riley, president; MT. George Her. rington, vice president; and the re election of Alex A Johnston as sec. retary and Charles Morse as treas urer.
 The following committees, to serve