The Coconino sun., 1925-08-07

ceased since the first ties were
snaked out for the railroad in 81. One
can drop into canyons in whose sides
the famous Palisades of the Hudson
river would only be steps, or lord it
over wilderness panoramas greater
than the New England states.
"A network of roads radiating to
the four quarters of the compass
makes Flagstaff the strategic center
of this peculiar region. The setting
of the town in mountain and forest is
unsurpassed in the southwest
Flagstaff and Williams lie upon
the Coconiho plateau. This great ma
tural feature rises from desert or
semi-desert country on three sides. It's
! flanks are belted in cedar and pinon,
its top crowned with vast pine for
est It's body is scanned with wild and
picturesque canyons; above it rise ma
jor peaks from 5000 to $500 feet high,
with their bases lost in the gigantic
uplift that is everywhere more than a
mile above sea level. The SUBMITS Of
many hide deep craters, for the
country is volcanic.
the compact group of Verde valley and
the wild. Tonto basin country; go miles
to the north it ends in the twisting
gulf Of the Grand Canyon. TO the
west the National Old Trails drops
from it sharply, between Williams and
Ashfork, to the semi-desert about the
| latter place; to the east the descent is
more gradual to Winslow and the
desert valley of the Little Colorado.
"The altitude of Flagstaff is
nearly 1000 feet, that Of Williams but
little less. Seven miles west of the
former, near the little lumber mill at
Riordan, a white signboard beside the
road bears the legend: Arizona Divide
Elevation 1856 feet This is the
highest point on the through trans
continental route between Ration, in
northwestern New Mexico and the
Pacific ocean.
"All this jumble of attitudes spells
climate, in capital letters. The east
erner meeting it for the first time can
prepare to revise all his preconceived
notions about weather in general and
Arizona weather in particular. Ger
| tain generalities are possible and in
jteresting: for the rest he will quickly
learn why the old-timer opines that
"only damn fool or tenderfoot tries
to predict what the weather'll do
lnext!"
''The southwest manufactures sun
shine for the rest of the United
States. To northern Arizona the
weather bureau allots 210 sun-drench-
ed days, 50 partly cloudy and 20
cloudy days in the average year.
Everywhere there is tremendous
| daily swing in temperature of from
25 to even so degrees, rendered harm
less and pleasant by the crystal-clear
! dry air. Even where there is some
times great heat, as in parts of the
/ Painted Desert, it is neither enervat-
/ ing nor oppressive, for the same rea-
sons. The line between heat and cool
ness is sharply drawn at the edge Of
| the smallest shadow. The mercury
drops like plummet at sundown and
in the forest area blankets are a lux
ury on every night of the year.
Throughout this region, in desert
and mountains alike, spring and fall
are the dry seasons, winter and sum-
mer the wet seasons. All storms, to
an unusual degree, are short, sharp,
highly localized and as capricious as
royal favorites. June, the lush grow
ing month of the eastern spring, is
here the driest of the twelve.
Words Of description are futile in
such country. You can stand on
bucket and see for so miles, and then
walk hundred yards and find an en-
tirely new prospect. You can sit in
the clear with tumbling storm clouds
breaking and bursting at your feet
like soundless surf striking a break
water. Christmas violets bloom in the
open few miles from snow and bit
ter cold. Fossil sea shells lie where
they were born, 5000 feet above the
sea.
But if you have the makeup that
goes with real traveller in mans
land, you will write value received
after each fresh surprise. Memory is
richer thing for having stood in a
blaze of sunlight and watched black
browed cloudburst turn a bone-dry
wash into snarling, crested flood; or
for having left the high mountains
over dry, sunny roads, only to run
through snow for miles on the Painted
Desert!
"The winter climate of the deserts
and lower reaches of the southwest is
delightful-but the good folks who
live there can be excused if their eyes
turn longingly to the cool pine forests
and lakes of the northern mountains.
The wonderland about the Arizona Di-
vide is more than paradise for the
tourist, the hunter and the rough-and-
tumble camper. From the first of
June until October it is the natural
summer playground of the great
southwest"