The copper era and Morenci leader., 1919-04-25
THE CENTRAL ARIZONA ROUTE

Within the next sixty days the route to be traversed through Arizona by the Bankhead National Highway will be decided. The route has already been designated from the Atlantic seaboard, through North and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas and as far west as Lordsburg, N. M.
 There will arrive in Clifton on Sunday evening, April 27th the official pathfindlng committee of the Bankhead National Highway Association following tour of the Borderland Route from Lordsburg to Phoenix and re- turn over the Southern National Highway route from Phoenix, via Roosevelt Dam, Globe, Gila Valley, Clifton and Duncan The Board of Directors of the Ba4khead Highway Association has been empowered to make the decision as between the two proposed routes through Arizona and this decision will be reached during the next sixty days, based upon the report of the Pathfinding committee now in our midst.
 It is natural and to have been expected, that a rivalry would exist between the two sections of the state over the location of the route of this transcontinental national high way and the coming of the Pathfinding com raittee affords the advocates of the two pro- posed routes opportunity to present the merits of each. The committee may be likened to jury who is here to listen to all the testi- mony and the arguments, view the scene, and render its verdict.
 One thing is assured the verdict will be fa;, md the people of Duncan Clifton Morenci Met calf Stafford, Thatcher, Pima, Globe and Phoenix may have no hesitancy in submitting their case it's merits with every expectation of a favorable decision
 WHY9
 The paramount reason in favor of desig- hating the route of the Bankhead National Highway through central Arizona is that such a highway will provide translate automo- bile transportation system through that sec ton of the state not now served by transcol- mental railway transportation system
 Between the central part of the state that would be served by such a national highway system, and the southern border of the state, there runs two transcontinental railway systems the Southern Pacific and the Ell Paso
 
 Borderland Route is fortunately situated OH either the S. F. or E. P & S. w., while on the contrary, every city on the Southern National Highway route through Central Arizona is at present located on branch line-Clifton Saf- ford, Globe and Phoenix.
 The Southern National Highway route through Central Arizona will afford the United , States another transcontinental transportation system through the west, supplementing the railway transportation systems now hugging the border.
 From scenic standpoint it must be ad- mitted by any air-mineded man that the cen tral route through Arizona is unsurpassed. Entering Arizona just south of Franklin in Greenlee county, the route paralells the Gila river for distance of twenty miles through one of the prettiest garden spots to be found in the state. Within fifteen miles the scene shifts to the mining district of Clifton Morenci and Metcalf where the beautiful mountain scenery is second only to the Grand Canyon. A short run of thirty miles and the tourist is again among the green fields of the second largest agricultural district in the vicinity of Stafford, Thatcher and Pima, then across the San Carlos Indian Reservation, through the Apache Indian villages, and thence to Globe and Miami, two of the largest cities in the state, in the heart of the second largest copper producing district Thence to the Roosevelt Dam, one of the grandest sights in the west and over the famous Apache Trail route to the capital of the state.
 If scenic route, filled with interest and 51,, e.