The Coconino sun., 1927-06-17

PLANNING A NORTH ROAD TO
CONNECT UTAH WITH ARIZONA

the Grand Canyon. 1t would open up
the undeveloped country in south
eastern Utah, northern Arizona,
southwestern Colorado and northern
New Mexico and thereby form an
outlet in all directions for the travel
and produce from these sections. A
large number of oil wells have been
drilled along the banks of the San
Juan river in Utah and many of them
have been found to be productive.
Drilling is going on constantly, but
this oil district is little advertised for
the reason that it has no outlet at
present.
"The d. & r. G. railroad from
Pueblo terminates near the Mesa
Verde national park. There is no
outlet from this terminus other than
by way of Gallup, New Mexico. Con-
sequently, much of the traffic that
might come over this railroad is not
handled at all If state line similar
to the Yelloway, or. some other most
reliable system, could be operated
between the terminus of this railroad
and the Grand Canyon national park,
or Flagstaff, there would be thou
sands of tourists travel over the line
each year.
"Another great advantage this con-
Meeting link would offer would be that
of direct north and south passage
for people who wish to change their
location twice a year because of the
climate would have a direct outlet to
spend the winters in the north could
come by way of Denver or Salt Lake
A,.f0 I'D GoIf
fornia over this road; and those in
southern sections desiring a cooler
climate would have aidrect outlet to
! the north.
"Some time ago, / had the pleasure
of addressing the chamber Of COM
merce at Blanding, Utah, and | found
the people in that section of the state
extremely interested in this propo-
sition for all the reasons above named
and others. One Of the additional
advantages that was pointed out to
me was that it would afford them a
more direct connection between the
eastern and western sections OF their
own safe. At present, it is necessary
for people living in the southeastern
section of Utah to travel to Salt Lake
| CITY and then back almost the same
distance in a southwesterly direction
to reach points in southwestern Utah.
| IF we had such a line as | propose,
| it would be possible to travel from
southeastern Utah by way of Tuba
City and Lees Ferry bridge which
would make the trip several hundred
miles shorter and much more pleasant.
There are times in the year when it is
almost impossible to make the trip by
this northern route because of snow
| in the passes.
sIt will be seen that this road would
work in very nicely with the Lees
| Ferry-Flagstaff highway. In fact, 1T
would be necessary to use the same
line from Flagstaff to within five or
six miles of Tuba City in reaching
| Lees Ferry or the section of the coun-
| try this new line would lead to. The
road would then make connecting
| link in an east to west circuit as well
as a north to south one.
''Since talking this matter over
with the members of the chamber of
commerce of Blanding and the cham
ber at Flagstaff. have learned from
H. E. Blake, editor of the San Juan
| News of Montecello, Utah, that a
campaign has been inaugurated by
the people in his section of the coun-
| try to raise money by private sub
scription to put the road in first class
Continued on page 81