The Coconino sun., 1926-03-12
Ell PASO-GRAND CANYON
TO Be POPULAR ROUTE
By II. r. Shy

lldIQ WORK QOH6, principally JnrOuRH
| the towns along the route and spon-
fsored by the El Paso chamber of
commerce and other organizations in
that city. This highway is known as
the El Paso-Grand Canyon route, and
was started primarily to put the
| Grand Canyon within easy access of
the residents of that city. The prin-
cipal towns it passes through are:
| Flagstaff, Winslow, Holbroo6, Silver
| City, Springerville and Deming, and
| the present condition Of this highway
| is as follows:
OF course, we all know that the road
| from the Grand Canyon south to the
National Old Trails road and east
over that route to Springerville is
usually in excellent condition, being
of gravel surface formation PRACTICAL
| ~ the entire distance. Ii is especially
the road between Springervi and
| Deming that we are interea, / in.
| Leaving Springerville, we followed
east over the National Old Trails
road to the quarantine station Id
miles and then turned south over a
good but ungraded dirt road, heading
straight for the mountains We were
oon winding over low rolling hills
that are covered with scrub timber,
following the same type of ungraded
but good dirt road to mile post 1910.
At this point the road improves and
excellent graded dirt is had by way
of Nutrioso, 1863, and on up easy
grades ranging from three TO eight
per cent, to the highest point reached
on the entire journey at mile post
22.3. The elevation here is 1925 feet.
The good graded dirt road continues
from the summit on to 25.5, where
we encountered and followed an ex
cellently graded and lightly graveled
road to Luna, at 400.
The highway from Springerville to
Luna traverses a type of country that
the lover of the "great open spaces"
dreams Of but very seldom sees. The
Apache national forest boundary is
passed at 90 out of Springerville, and
shortly after that a very dense pine
forest is entered. This country
abounds with streams containing
plenty of mountain trout and the
woods are very thick with wild game
of practically every description, and
in short is a Sportsman's naradise.
High snow capped peaks are every
where in evidence, some of them prob
ably as high as 10000 feet.
The next section Of highway from
Luna to Glenwood is distance of
45.7 miles and the forepart Of that
section is identical with that between
Springerville and Luna. From Luna
we followed good graded and lightly
graveled highway to mile post 14.0.
From this point on for 512 miles we
had single track dirt road which was
.unimproved and rough in places, but
which offered no difficulty, as we took
it very slowly At the end Of the
rough stretch we encountered new
" completed graded and graveled sur
faced highway, which was in excellent
condition and allowed for very good
time being made This was had to
1850, at which point new bridge and
highway construction makes it neces-
sary to use the old road, which crosses
and recrosses the San Francisco river
q great many tirnes This section Of
road will in all probability be o~en for
early summer travel, and, should it
be necessary to use the old road, mo-
torists viii find no difficulty in ne
gotiating it.
From Alma on to Glenwood, a dis
tance of five miles, we met with the
worst road Of the entire days jour
ney. 1t is rocky and chucky dirt
which follows the contour of low roll
ing hills, and it is imperative to take
this section slowly, however, prepara-
tions for new grade are being made,
and the line that the new road is to
follow has already been surveyed.
| Our next stretch of road takes us
| from Glenwood to Silver City, dis
tance of 63.5 miles The first 812
miles leaving Glenwood are rather
rough, the road being of dirt forma-
tion and it is rough and rocky IN
places. This is followed by a graded
and graveled highway which allows
for any speed on through Buckhom
and Cliff to Silver City. Of the 148
miles that are travelled between
Springerville and Silver City, there
are but about 20 miles which would
be called rough, and this rough road
| is compensated a thousand times by
| by the dense forest, wonderful views,
fast streams and high peaks. The
| dirt portions of the road would be at
| fected to q certain extent by rain or
snow, however, we came over several
miles of road that was wet without
chains or trouble.
From Silver City down to Deming
is distance of SO miles, and is all i'll
fair condition. After the first few
miles out of Silver City one comes out
on flat, cactus-covered desert which
| leaves all trace of mountains behind
Of course the Bankhead highway from
Deming to Eel Paso is in its usual ex
cellent condition, and the 105 miles
which this stretch covers can be made
very easily in three and half hours.
We enjoyed following the FL Paso-
Grand Canyon route, and especially
that road between Springelville and
Silver City, as it opened our eyes to
the beauty and wildness of that sec
ton Of the country in Arizona and
New Mexico.
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icnT nNTc WIZ DETTnET