The border vidette. (Nogales, Ariz.) 1894-1934, 1928-05-05
ALONG THE APACHE TRAIL
(By II. e. 0. Whitman. Secre'
tary of the Arizona Press Club

SBy h. III. ". WOltm8u, O0CT0'
tary of the Arizona Press Club
No section of the world is
richer in scenic wonder than the
South west. California for de.
cades has been a mecca for tour
lists anxious to see it's famed at
fractions, and in recent years
Arizona has followed close be
hind as it's variety of scenery
and climate, of romance and in
dustry, has been advertised by
enthusiastic visitors. The Grand
Canyon and Painted Desert, the
old missions and colorful border.
are but a part of the majestic
beauty and rich association it
holds-and among them the
Apache Trail looms large on the
strangers horizon.
Scenic highways literally
abound in the West, but for com
bination of all types of scenic
picturesqueness the Apache trail
is unsurpassed. ln the short
distance of 120 miles, in the
short space of four hour or five
hours if one must drive fast, it
presents y cross section of al
most all the different kinds of
natural beauty that may be found
in the Southwest. Great copper
mines; plateaus rich in vegeta :
tion where cattle Craze; purple
mountains on whose sides the
tall suguaro and slender ocotilla
flourish; unexpected lakes of
limpid blue behind huge dams of
masonry as solid as the encircl
ing hills; towering cliffs painted
fantastically in all the shades of
red and brown and green and
gray; cliff dwellings where
strange civilization vanished q
thousand years ago; far flung
vistas of so-called desert, thick
~ grown and alive with flowers
after every rain; and last, level
valley of rich. green fields and
fragrant groves, make it suc-
cession of panorams that over
whelm with its Kaleidoscope Of
splendor.
The Apache Trail is more than
Central Arizcn's greatest scenic
attraction-the word central"
in this case applying to the
south central portion of the state
as it appears on the map. 1t is
q link in the loop of "A Thous
and Miles of q Thousand Won
ders" that has been devised to
carry the motor tourist through
the best known scenic regions of
the state on excellent high ways,
without passing through any
section twice. It connects with
the highways that tap every
other region. It is a widely ad-
vertised optional route on the
Southern Pacific between the
East and the Pacific Coast. 1t
is more than scenic. for it illus.
trates the three major industries
of Arizona, mining, livestock
and agriculture. It appeals to
the Imagination as we'll as to the
Z eye, for it follows one of the
favorite routes of the Apaches
in their descents upon other
tribes, and later on the whites,
and traverses two of the centers
4 of a mysterious race that ante
dated even Indian legends.
Geographically the Apache
Trail extends from Phoenix to
the Roosevelt Dam. and from
there to Globe. Each season
thousands of transcontinental
rail travellers pass over it in com.
fort in modern motor coaches
that long since supplanted the
buck board and wagon train Of
the early days. More thousands
take it in their own automobiles,
and it is not at all uncommon for
party to drive from Phoeniz
over the Trail to Globe, and re-
turn by way of the scenic Miam
Superior highway, in a days
easy driving. Two hundred
miles, most of it in mountains, -
but how many stop to think tha
it would have taken two weeks
a quarter of a century ago?
Leaving Phoenix, the Trail
bound tourist takes the mair
highway East and passes thrt
the heart of the Salt River Val
ley with it's fields of cotton an(
alfalfa, lettuce and cantaloupes
and it's groves of oranges ant
I grapefruit. The college town o
Tempe and the city of Mesa will
it's magnificent Mormon Temple