The Coconino sun., 1927-09-09

wash below in a fertile valley where
the Indians raise corn, apples, apri-
cots, grapes and cherries.
The village is only a mile from
Tuba City but once on its winding
Streets" one can easily imagine
themselves thousands of miles from
modern civilization and back in the
past when palefaces had not en-
croached upon the lands of the red
men, so perfect is this Indian village
untouched by modern times. While
there, the motorlogists were able to
take pictures of the village, two Amer
lean eagles which objected with no un-
certain demonstrations and a perfect
dinosaur track, many of which appear
on the rocky ground of the village
along with various other queer tracks
Of large dimensions.
AS with every other stop made up
to that time, the travellers discovered
that they could spend week in that
section and then not see all the won
ders offered in side trips, but being
anxious to get across the Colorado
river, they reluctantly left Tuba City
and headed north for Lees Ferry over
what turned out to be the worst road
encountered on the entire 5000 mile
trip. But as bad as the road is, it was
worth it. 1t can be made in safety
with any gear shift car in good con-
dition and prepared for trip of so
miles of rock and sand trail, where no
traffic is found and no filling station
on every corner.
To Lees Ferry
Three miles south of Tuba City they
located after diligent search sign
reading Lees Ferry and. then at 10
to Is miles per hour, they followed
route number 80 over rocky ledge and
sandy wash along Echo Cliffs to The
Gap trading post, 20 miles from Tuba.
Seven miles further was Cedar Ridge
trading post where gas, oil and water
could be obtained before proceeding to
Lees Ferry, 40 miles away.
Within seven miles of Lees Ferry,
fork in the road was reached. One
sign read: "Seven miles to A Cross
ranch" straight ahead and another
Il u miles to Store" to the left. The
latter road leads to the approach to the
proposed Lees Ferry bridge over the
Colorado river. So the motorists con-
tinued straight ahead to the historic
ferry, which was reached after a
thrilling trip over the dugway road
which hangs to the rock walls like a
shelf with a sheer drop of hundreds
of feet into the Colorado if one should
be so careless as not to stay on the
road
A marvellous view of Marble Can
yon is afforded one from the dugway
before dropping to the river to be
towed to the opposite side. This was
done in short order with ten mile
current doing the work. Before their
arrival, the tourists had received
much misinformation concerning Lees
Ferry along the way as to the time of
being ferried over. They discovered
that tourists arriving at the ferry
can, by signalling to Mr.. Johnson on
the opposite side, where his home is
located, be ferried over either at night
or day. If too late to ferry the car,
there is boat available for all pas
sengers and the car will be cared for
at daybreak.
Bridge To Aid Country
The historic ferry has been in ex-
istence since 1872 when John Doyale
Lee began operations. He personally
conducted the ferry until his execution
in 1877 for leading the Infamous
Mountain Meadows massacre in south
west Utah. Others then took up the
service which he had inaugurated.