Where the Apache Trail Winds

By Salisbury Cooke

STRANGE is n’t it, when you think of it, how we humans — especially we Americans — will search the whole wide world for that which lies at our very doorstep? We will cross seas — spend extra money — go to any discomfort to obtain a brief glimpse of the scenery of Europe. Yet, all the time our radiant Southwest is separated from us by but a few days of comfortable and inexpensive travel. Still, I suppose it’s only natural. The pasture just beyond always looks better to the cow than the lush, green grass from which she is ea t ing.

If you have never been there, take a trip with me where the Apache Trail winds. But, if you have, why—take the trip for old time’s sake. Undoubtedly you ‘ll enjoy it in retrospect as in fancy you go over the ground again. After a pleasant, easy ride from New Orleans you step from your Pullman of the Sunset Limited into the golden silence of an Arizona morning at Globe. All Nature seems waiting under the deep blue dome of heaven, hushed and expectant to hear thevoice ofa vanished magician. The buildings and roadway are flecked with gold dust. The sky shades to turquoise at the horizon’s rim. you drink deep of the cool, clear air. your eyes snap — your blood tingles to the touch of the dancing sunlight. As you settle back comfortably against the cushioned leather of the 12-passenger motor car which is to take you 120 miles to Phoenix over the smooth highway of the Apache Trail, you feel glad that you are alive—glad that you have come.

With a rush, you are off and over Cemetery Hill Into a land of tortuous canyons where the fierce Apache Indians once held sway. Up, up you climb past weird-shaped rocky walls and strange cactus growths until the summit, 3988 feet above the sea, is reached. There a wonderland lies spread before you. On one side is the Gila Valley, on the other that of the Salt River. From their depths rise sparkling spires whose peaks seem to tremble like giant candles in the shimmering sunshine. Further down these rock formations quiver, now amethyst, now indigo, now emerald green in the swimming light, to blend gradually with the violet shadows at their base. In the distance 30-mile-long Roosevelt Lake glistens like a sapphire. So marvelous is this whole scene that you are silent with an admiration that speaks louder than words.

Then you are whisked away to Apache Lodge at Roosevelt Dam making a rapid but comfortable descent of 2,000 feet in six miles through a succession of whirling rushes down the smooth road. Just before the Dam is reached you catch a glimpse of the ancient cliff-dwellings, high on the rocky buttress above the Trail.

After a closer view of the tremendous Dam that is 280 feet high and 1125 feet across, your car glides smoothly around the turn that leads into the wild gorge of Fish Creek Canyon. Later you are gazing into the deep abyss of Hell’s Canyon. Then Canyon Diablo, Niggerhead Mountain, Tortilla Rock, Whirlpool Rock and the Little Alps flash by in beautiful, rapid succession.

Like a golden pomegranate the sun slides silently beneath the blue of the enfolding hills, and you are slipping past weird Superstition Mountain, past the green fields of Salt River Valley that are fed by the life-giving waters of Roosevelt Dam, and through the parklike streets of Phoenix where you will board the comfortable Pullman for Los Angeles. Thus, ends a perfect day where the Apache Trail winds.

So certain am I that you will enjoy this trip that I am furnishing you with all the information at my command. Through Pullman cars of the Southern Pacific’s Sunset Limited are operated between New Orleans and Globe on the east, and there are also through sleeping cars between Los Angeles and Phoenix on the west. Your through ticket in either direction is honored for the side trip with an additional payment of only $20.00. The Sunset Limited carries a club car with barber shop, shower bath and valet service, and an observation car with ladies’ lounge, shower bath, maid, manicure and hairdressing service. The sleeping and dining cars are of the latest type, and the cuisine is unexcelled.

Should you wish further information, you can obtain a very attractive booklet on the Apache Trail and all the facts pertaining to transportation facilities and schedules upon application to the Southern Pacific Lines, 165 Broadway, NewYork; Pan-American Bank Building, New Orleans; Southern Pacific Building, Houston; Score Building, Tucson; PacificElectric Building, Los Angeles; or Southern Pacific Building, San Francisco.