newest portion of our country--the oldest in ancient occupation and
civilization and the newest in modern progress. In natural wonders it
boasts of the Grand Canon of Arizona, the painted desert, petrified
forest, meteorite mountain, natural bridge, Montezuma's well and many
other marvels of nature. There are also ruins galore, the cave and
cliff dwellings, crumbled pueblos, extensive acequias, painted rocks,
the casa grande and old Spanish missions. Anyone who is in search of
the old and curious, need not go to foreign lands, but can find right
here at home in Arizona and the southwest, a greater number and variety
of curiosities than can be found in the same space anywhere else upon
the globe.

Arizona is a land of strong contrasts and constant surprises, where
unusual conditions prevail and the unexpected frequently happens.

From the high Colorado plateau of northern Arizona the land slopes
toward the southwest to the Gulf of California. Across this long slope
of several hundred miles in width, numerous mountain ranges stretch
from the northwest to the southeast. Through the middle of the
Territory from east to west, flows the Gila river to its confluence
with the Colorado. This stream marks the dividing line between the
mountains which descend from the north and those that extend south,
which increase in altitude and extent until they culminate in the grand
Sierra Madres of Mexico.

The traveler in passing through the country never gets entirely out of
the sight of mountains. They rise up all about him and bound the
horizon near and far in every direction. In riding along he always
seems to be approaching some distant mountain barrier that ever recedes
before him as he advances. He is never clear of the encircling
mountains for, as often as he passes out of one enclosure through a gap
in the mountains, he finds himself hemmed in again by a new one. The
peculiarity of always being in the midst of mountains and yet never
completely surrounded, is due to an arrangement of dovetailing or
overlapping in their formation. His winding way leads him across
barren wastes, through fertile valleys, among rolling hills and into
sheltered parks, which combine an endless variety of attractive scenery.

An Arizona landscape, though mostly of a desert type, is yet full of
interest to the lover of nature. It presents a strangely fascinating
view, that once seen, will never be forgotten. It stirs a rapture in
the sou