The copper era and Morenci leader., 1920-11-12
GREENLEE COUNTY IS IMPORTANT LINK
 IN STATE HIGHWAY

One of the most important units on the Arizona state highway from New Mexico to Phoenix $ the road from Clifton, county seSt of Greenlee coun- ty, to Franklin on the state line. The most important secion of this unit is the Wards canyon, project, completed under the direction of the state high way 9c!:arme..t las5 July.
 The new route gives short cut out of Clifton ever comparatively easy grade and is regarded es enc of the cleveres! pieces of road location work to l'. fol nc iE the state.
 The natural gateway to Clifton is Wards canyon, and this was the route used by the early pioneers and others who came later to establish one of the most important mining districts in Arizona. In. early days he upkeep of this road as tremendous as, every new freshet created considerable damage and the county was forced to spend huge sums on keeping the road open.
 To overcome this situation, the State highway department early in it's history decided to change the route and by zigzagging up the sides of a steep mesa and then dropping down v on the other side, constructed some thing of an important improvement over the old route.
 However. travel gradually drifted back to the canyon as there was too much uphill work in going or coming over the other route to suit most driv- CTS It was plain to the county author ities that the public demanded good road up the canyon, and accordingly bond issue was f1oated and a goodly proportion of it allotted to this project the third to be built out of Clifton for east-bound travel.
 The county submitted Q location, to the state highway department with q request for federal aid. The location contained some nine per cent grade. It was rejected for the reason that the road was to steep.
 The outcome is the present excel lent location with a maximum grade of only six percent. This was secured by s. c. Redd, engineer for the Green lee County highway commission, who under agreement with the state high way department was also made divl- sion engineer for the state, an arrang- ement made possibly by the splendid co-operation shown by the county.
 There still remains some work tc be done on the Clifton-Franklin high way. This is confined to the most part to the laying of numerous con crete lords between the top of Ward s canyon and Duncan and the installa ton of permanent concrete structures to replace the wooden ones in state ot decay.
 Continuing westward the state high way between Clifton and Solomonvllle is in fair condition. This road has never been surfaced owing to lack O. funds. but the improvement will be un dertaken at the earliest opportunity This portion of the road is considered one of the finest Scenic drives in the southwest though it's long but no heavy grades mitigate against its com mercial value.
 From Solomonville the state nigh way continues to Globe. portion O which route, that between Globe ant Rice has been built and finished b! the state highway forces acting in co operation with Gila county. The con nection from Globe to Phoenix vii be over Gila county's concrete boule yard to Miami. thence over the ia nous Apache leap route down Queel creek canyon, now under construction by the state TO superior Wueh tlli road is completed the distance bet ween Phoenix and Clifton will be GU some 90 miles.
 Clifton will he the junction point O another important highway now be ing constructed by the forest depart ment. This leads northward out o Clifton to Springerville, traversing a varied and picturesque scenery a could be found anywhere. Thougl this work is progressing slowly owint to the heavy construction necessary is believed that the road will be tn first improved highway north an south to form a connection between tn two main east and west arteries o travel The new road in conjunction with the improvements which hay been made by the state highway de partment on the Phoenix-Frankl1l line, will be especially advantage t auto travellers as it comes up neN avenue of ingress to the famous Whit mountain country, often described a veritable sportsman's paradise.