The border vidette., 1927-05-28
APACHE TRAiL-SEE ARIZONA
FIRST.
(Southern California Business)

(Southern California Business)
A few miles (from Apache
Junction) and the broad ribbon
of gravel enters the hills; a little
more, and the hills give way TO
mountains. One ridge gives way
to another, until al, at once a
wide lake shimmers just ahead.
The Mormon Flats Dam is con
cealed by a towering cliff of
sheer rock; other cliffs, equally
tall and equally sheer, reveal
the Salt River up which power
yachts take one through beau
tiful gorge to the foot of still
another dam, the Horse Mesa,
just completed. For several
miles the road skirts the main
body of the lake, and then it
plunges once more into ths
mountains, now more rugged.
Ridges follow canyons. All
at once, after a long ascent, the
car stops, and one can look
straight down into Canyon Dia
bio for shuddering thousand
feet. A turn, and only the ridge
is left. Farther on the road
forks on a little plateau. and if
one wishes one can make a side
trip down to- the Horse Mesa
Dam itself. But this is not re
commended for weak nerves. for
the Horse Mesa road is cut out
of solid rock down the cliff walls
of a canyon, and Fish Creek
Hill, a few miles ahead, is cliff
enough for most.
Fish Creek Hill in some re
spects is the high light of the
trip. The highway rounds the
shoulder of a mountain, and sud
denly the slope drops straight
into space. Far below, Fish
Creek can be followed by its line
of trees; Fish Greek Inn seems
like a toy house; on the other
side of the canyon, and ahead,
walls of rock tower into azure
skies. The driver shifts to low
or second, and for several miles
the car creeps along the cliff,
ever downward, on one side un
lscalable heights, on the other,
nothing. At the bottom a bridge
is crossed. and although other
cliffs still tower no one minds,
for the way is level now.
| Fish Greek Inn, scene of many
stirring movies" that still are
no more stirring than the his
tory of the land, administers
first aid. The highway enters a
pretty little canyon, bordered by
a tinkling brook and refreshing
trees. The canyon is left for
another succession of ridges
whose slopes, studded with
brush and cactus and with flow.
ers growing from the rocks,
seem positively peaceful. The
Salt River, first seen at Phoenix
is sighted again, lying blue
amid the vari colorod hills where
it has been converted into Apa
che Lake by the Horse Mesa
Dam. An expert guide points
out the site of the big new tour
ist hotel planned by the South
ern Pacific.
The scenery grows more wild.
more rugged, as the road winds
tortuous yet easy way farther
into the mountains. Across the
river Four Peaks stand in soil
tary majesty. The Lake disa
pears and reappears; it sub
merges an old section of the
road, bordering the river, which
is to be abandoned when the
Horse Mesa Dam is built.
Presently the highway drops to
the lakes edge, here merely a
good sized stream between the
hills, and follows it until a fork
reveals a side canyon that must
be entered. A climb begins; a
turn, and everyone exclaims, for
Roosevelt Dam lies straight up
the river forge, lifting its gray
granite masonry 22O feet in steep
gigantic steps,"
Another turn and it is gone.
The canyon is formidable one,
almost sheer cliff. Presently it
is crossed and the way resumed
up the other side. One more
turn through a cut in the rock
wall and one looks directly down
on the dam, and the lake that
stretches from it for almost 30
miles in two great arms. A
short h,t ctoor Iocoopt q fom