The border vidette., 1928-06-30
SOME OF ARlzoNA's WONDERS
tombstone Epitaph)

lSCS passing over the CORONADO
trail, the Borderland Route. or
the Broadway of America, or
other roads through Cochise
county, stopping at any of the
many towns along the way. may
now conveniently reach within
a few miles over good roads
some of the grandest scenery in
the country; see some of the
most conspicuous natural won
ders Of the southwest, and visit
scenes around which cluster
much Of the romance and history
of the Old West.
The towns of the county have
little advantage of each other in
point of situation as to being
convenient to some of these at
fractions to tourists; the larger
places however. have the ad.
vantage when hotel accommoia.
tions are consid cred; Tombstone
probably has the greatest back
ground of historic interest.
The scenes above, which are
available to the Epitaph readers
through the courtesy Of the Ari
zona Republican, direct atten
tion to the most recently created
national monument, the Chirica
hua. located on the west slope Of.
the mountains of the name in
Cochise county.
The area readily accessible by
automobile from Wilcox, Bis
bee, Tombstone, and Douglas,
Arizona, and from El Paso, Tex.
The distance is about IS miles
from Douglas and Bisbee, 81
miles from Tom bstone, and 38
miles from Wilcox. It is about
145 miles from Tucson. Two
trails extend into the tract from
the end of the automobile roads,
one going up the south fork of
Bonita Canyon and one branch 4
ing off from Pinery Canyon. =
This monument consists Of d
series of fields of large rhyolitic
monoliths eroded into many fan
tastic shapes. The area is cut
by deep walled canyons, some of
the walls being about 200 feet in
height; and there are pillars.
balanced rocks, and formations
resembling animals, faces, etc..
scattered over the entire area.
Interesting as are many of the
individual rocks, still more i'm
pressive are the groups which
are often separated by assures
resembling streets or passage
ways between tall buildings.
The colors are unusual, the gray
ish rhyolite of the rock forms
often covered with reddish Itch
en-, making a decided contrast
with the green of the oak brush
and occasional yellow pine.
Against the deep blue of the sky
a picture is made which would
be difficult to transfer to canvas
not only on account of the multi
tudinous cracks, crevices, fs
sures. and irregular forms of the
rocks themselves, but also be
cause of the many varying hues
and graduations of color.
The monument can be readily
located from the road at a dis.
tance of 10 to Is miles at least,
Sugarloaf Peak, which has the
appearance of truncated cone.
The peak itself forms portion
of the approximate easterly
boundary of the area.
To the tourist or vacationist
who prefers the big out of doors
to the more conventional sur
roundings of the towns, many
guest ranches within easy reach.
afford an opportunity for head
quarters to those who are so
disposed. Among which are
now open and catering to the
public, are the Rancho MaDzan
ita, in one of the real beauty
spots at Turkey Creek, connect
ing with Forest Service road
and may be easily reached from
anysroad in the county. The
Faraway Ranch is the gateway
to the famous wonderland OF
rocks found ia the monument
reserve also easy to be found.
The Y-Lightning ranch 10 an
other part of the county, near
Hereford, affords an easily &C
cessible place connected with by
rail also. The Bar-O near
Tom bstone has a background Of
the Dragons, is in matchless
scenic wonderland. There are
also other ranches, about which
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