Evening star., 1951-02-04

that the sun is shining down to-
day on a gala crowd at Wicken-
burg, Ariz. Today is Gold Rush
Day in that dude ranch capital
of the world" and several thou
sand visitors, most of them appro-
priately costumed in Lewis and
bright shirts. will be panning gold.
The zest of the hunt comes from
the fact that they may keep all
the pay dirt they find. with the
help of grizzled prospectors of the
time gold mining center.
Gold Rush Day is a tourist stunt
of the Wickenburg's Roundup
Club, which would prosaically be
called a Chamber Of Commerce
almost any other place. And this
treasure hunt will have all the
props and atmosphere of the days
When sourdoughs roamed the
sandy land of sagebrush and cac-
tus with dreams of sudden wealth.
Wickenburg does things that way.
II
Tenderfoot Tourists-Forty or
so aviation writer's and travel edi-
tors learned last month that the
townspeople can put on a con-
vincingly good show. They expert
enced a Wickenburg welcome
when Trans World Airlines few
them on one of its "quickie vaca-
tions" to Arizona's Valley of the
Sun.
For practical reasons of speed,
the 54-mile run from Phoenix
was by chartered bus, rather than
stagecoach. But when the bus
turned the corner into Frontier
street. the tenderfoot tourists ran
smack into one of the Vests most
realistic holdups.
Masked and with their six
shooters blazing. a dozen or more
mounted men forced the bus to a
halt. The door popped open at a
command, and one of the villains
Of the piece jumped In. He leveled
a shotgun down the aisle and Or
dered every one out. The gun
wasn't loaded Or at least it didn' I
go off. and a sober crowd filed out
Hinged by desperados, the visitors
proceeded a block beyond to a
railroad fiat car. More than one
straggler was poked ahead with
a revolver at his back.
Dude Ranches Ahead-Atop the
fiat car, awaiting the Wickenbure
"W brand" on the hand, the crowd
had time to study the low, un-
painted frame buildings that
formed Frontier streets business
block. To all appearances they
were unchanged from a half-cen-
tury ago. There was one striking
lncongruity. Although it was well
to one side of the old-time setting
the Fasteners noticed it and
seemed to resent it's intrusion on
the scene-a bright and elaborate
television aerial.
After the wild West initiation
station wagons pulled up and the
guests were distributed among
the seven modern dude ranches
that lie within a radius of miles
from town. They range from the
new and luxurious Rancho de Los
Cabelleros, which accommodates
IS guests, down to home like
Triangle w.
There was a time when the
saddle horse, plus hearty meals
and the informal life, provided
the main recreation at dude
ranches. No longer is the broken
bronc the lone headliner. Par
ticularly at Wickenburg, golf, ten
mis-, pool-sWimming and shuttle
board are sandwiched in between
song sessions of the cowboys,
square dancing and steak fries.
DonS Serve as Guides-Whethe
the Phoenix visitor takes his
vacation in a motor court or at
one of the best hotels in the
shadow of that lofty heap of red
rock called Camelback Mountain,
the quickest way to get acquainted
with the Valley of the Sun is to
join one of the weekly tricks of
the Phoenix Dons.
This group of SO business and
professional men has dedicated
itself TO interpreting the history
and lore of the valley and every
Sunday during the winter season
the cabellero-costumed Dons con-
duct tricks to points of interest.
Coming up on March 4, for in
stance, is motorcade to the Lost
Dutchman Mine in the Supersti-
Jion Mountains.
In a briefing before or during
the trips, vacationers learn that
the area was the seat of a great
agricultural empire before the
present-day Phoenix came into
being toward the end of the Civil
War. What happened to these
originators of the valleys irriga-
ton system, the ancient Hohokam
Indians, is not known. But they
left numerous traces of a pros
porous civilization before they
suddenly and mysteriously van
ished.
Hassayampa Legend-From the
Dons, too, the visitor probably will
get version of the legend of the
Hassayampa River, SO famous that
little jugs of the water are sold
to tourists. But don't try, as some
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