OCR Text |
Show Government of Mexico has established, or provided for the establishment of, an area of similar type and size adjoining the area described in the act. The purpose of the proposed project is to commemorate the Coronado Expedition, a significant event in North American history. The area chosen lies partly in Cochise County, Ariz., and partly in Mexico. 2. Meteor Crater, one of the most remarkable features in the United States, is famed throughout the world. It is situated in Coconino County, Ariz., in the southern portion of the Colorado Plateau. The crater may be reached by traveling 18 miles west of Winslow on United States Highway 66 and 4 miles south on a dirt road. The irregular rim of the huge crater, nearly a mile in diameter, rises more than 150 feet above the surrounding plain. The main portion of the rim at an elevation of 5,800 feet is more than 1,000 feet in width, with scattered remnants of debris as much as 6 miles from the crater. The crater floor is flat and approximately 1,500 feet across. There has been considerable speculation as to the probable origin of the crater. Most of the evidence points to a meteoric impact. Regardless of the origin, the crater contains much in the way of inspirational appeal. If it is the result of an impact of a meteor, as is now generally conceived, it is the largest known crater in the world formed by such a phenomenon. 3. Fort Bowie named, in all probability, for Brig. Gen. George W. Bowie, is located in Apache Pass in the Chiricahua Mountains of southeastern Arizona. It is one of the most famous historic United States forts in the Southwest. Established in 1862, its fame was largely in connection with campaigns against the Apache Chieftain Cochise during the 1860' s and early 1870' s and the renegade leader, Geronimo, during the late 1870' s and the 1880' s. With the surrender of Geronimo in 1886, there was no further need for Fort Bowie and from that time to the present it has gradually crumbled into a state of ruin. Few forts in the western part of the United States experienced such an exciting and dramatic career. The site is reached by traveling 14 miles over a dirt road from the town of Bowie. The elevation at the site is about 4,700 feet. The story of Fort Bowie falls logically into the national theme of " Westward Expansion and the Extension of National Boundaries 1830- 90." As a part of that theme, it played an important part in protecting the frontier settler and traveler. 4. Kinishba Ruins on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation is about 16 miles south of McNary, Ariz., 1.5 miles north of State Highway No. 73. It is at an elevation of some 5,400 feet, in the midst of the camps of the Apaches. Kinishba was the center for a number of developments in pottery making in the Upper Salt and Little Colorado area. Kinishba seems to be the largest continuously occupied pueblo in the area in question. It has been partly restored under the direction of Dean Cummings of the University of Arizona, with Indian enrollees of the Civilian Conservation Corps furnishing the labor, and partly with funds privately donated. The 45- acre tract is well fenced and includes a museum and quarters building. 5. Clear Creek Ruins are located on Clear Creek about 5 miles south of Montezuma Castle National Monument in central Arizona, within the Coconino National Forest. They are of national significance. The big ruin atop a ridge north of the confluence of Clear Creek with the Verde River is one of the largest ruins in the Verde Valley. The main portion, comprising some 50 ground floor rooms, is built of limestone and caliche. A number of walls are standing to first- story level; originally, the ruin was at least two- storied. There are 40 or more cave rooms and small cliff dwellings on the south side of the ridge, below and east of the main ruin. The site covers some 30 acres. 6. Chaves Pass Ruins located in the eastern portion of the Coconino National Forest in the Anderson Mesa country some 35 miles southeast of Flagstaff, Ariz., constitutes an archeological site of unusual scientific historical importance. The site is on a good dry- weather road which leaves United States Highway 66 at Meteor Crater Junction and goes south past Meteor Crater to Chaves Pass about 40 miles from the highway. Chaves Pass is one of the few breaks through which aboriginal travel between the Little Colorado and the Mogollon Rim country would have been easy. A number of small lakes are within 5 miles. Vegetation is sparse at the site, but there is a good growth of pifion and juniper and some ponderosa pine in the vicinity. 209 |