county seat of Dona Ana County when that county was a thousand miles wide. The Spanish conquistadores "and the Crocked padres traveled up this Rio Grande Valley to Santa Fe and that interesting New Mexico country, made riieir settlements and planted their missions before Plymouth and tlie Atlantic coast settlements were thought of. CAMPBELL HOTEL is good: leads. Also AMADOR and DON BERNARDO. Frequently fill early. Free camp space. Inf.—Chamber of Commerce. RIO GRANDE RIVER, crossed westward. RODEO. A railroad station village. Mining and ranch interests around. Country hotel. Camp space, camp house. NEW MEXICO-ARIZONA STATE LINE 'i mi. AVcst of Rodeo ARIZONA—507 MILES Tlie roud across Arizona is well built and well maintained; gravel prevails. 125 mi. arc paved. THE DESERT NOT DESERTED In far West Texas and across New Mexico and parts of Arizona and California are arid areas crossed by the Old Spanish Trail often referred to ns deserts. They are not deserted. Cities <»f refinement reach hands across these lands for many love the mystery and life and sunshine of the Southwest while the soils need only the magic touch of water to spring into life as fruitful as the oases of Biskra or the garden spots of Arabia. Mountains rear their crests with friendly greeting and nature Plays her undefinable colors on tlicir rugged sides. The sands are redeemed by tl.e graceful mesquilc, the tangled visnaga, the bayonet shaped yucca and its bouquet of white bloom in spring, the cacti of a hundred mystic types and their delicate flowering, the iron wood blossoms, the flaming flower of the oentillas that grow mysteriously and proudly among the rocks. Strangeness, mystery and vastness; it Is the dwelling place of the Great Spirit! Irrigation is spreading its broad mantle, joining with sunshine and fertility, and tlie sands leap to life and send products of incredible variety to the tables of the frozen north. Ft. Stock-ton and Balmorhea. Texas, are gardens in the desert watered by great springs. The Rio Grande Valley thru Ft. Hancock, Fabcns, Ysleta, Juarez, El Paso, Mcsilla and Fas Cruces is redeemed and enriched by the big Elephant Butte reservoir in New Mexico, 110 mi. north of El Paso, Southern New* Mexico is still unredeemed but underground reservoirs reached by shallow wells underlie great areas. On westward Mormons are Irrigating along the San Pedro River. Irrigation is around Tucson. Westward at Florence the great Coolidge Bam is building to transform more areas of hot sands into semi-tropical gardens of wealth. The Salt River Valley around Phoenix and Its green fields and colorful life breaks on the desert traveler like a benediction; the Roosevelt reservoir that mothers it all seems a distant’ sacrament. Over in California the sandy bed of the old Sulton Sea is now the Imperial Valley growing green gold. The desert is not deserted. A great highway gives comfortable travel thru it and travel service is plentiful along the way. Soft, fine drinking water prevails in this sandy country with but a few places not so fortunate. *DEMING. An interesting city in the midst of an apparent desert but those plains are underlaid with abundant water lor irrigation and the sands are fertile. Mines, forests and cattle ranches are around. Three railroads. Pure, soft drinking water is characteristic of this country—and most of the Old Spanish Trail territory. PARK HOTEL leads. HOTEL BAKER, lower priced, good. Five cabin and apmt. camps. Free camp space, also cabins, 20 mi. west at Gage; Camp space at Wilna. Inf.— Chamber of Commerce. CONTINENTAL DIVIDE. 22.5 mi. west of Doming; 27.5 mi. east of Lordsburg. Elevation 4,584 ft. East, the water goes to the Atlantic; west, to the Pacific. -LORDSBURG. A railroad division point. Lend, copper and silver mines in the surrounding country. HOLLEN and ' END0ME hotels, fair. Two cabin camps. GAP. Elevation 4,400 ft. West of Lordsburg -- mi., east of Rodeo 20 mi. Cut thru granite mountains that rise in beauty out of the desert. The ocatilln, the spindling cactus of the arid, rocky places, is seen in this section; its flowers in spring a scarlet flame and one of the mystic beauties of the desert. TIio scenery thru tlio eastern part is varied and interesting— majestic mountains and rich mining districts; deserts that attract by their varied cacti growths and deserts turned to green fields by irrigation. West of Bueke.ve dry sands and a drab country is traveled to Yuma but small hotels, auto service, camp sites and cabin camps have developed along the way. The people arc hospitable. The drive is an interesting experience. Arizona Is but 15 yrs. old ns a state. Its industry, mining, agriculture, education, road and city building are examples of American enterprise. Numerous ranch resorts are in the mountains and valleys. In summer the elevation cools the temperature. In winter southern sunshine instead of snow and ice. The Santa Cruz Valley—Tucson, Nogales, and into Mexico— was one of tlie great seats of mission and colonizing effort by the Spaniards. Numerous missions were in that territory. Some still remain in Mexico south of Nogales. The beginning in Arizona was in 1G92. The Mission San Xavier