Sunday, November 11, 1956 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Thirteen Sunday Noveber 11 1956THE MIHIGAN DA.LY.a.eTirtee WAY OUT WEST From Snowflake to Cayote, It All Has Individuality By MICHAEL KRAFT or possibly in towns like Idaho buquerque, New Mexico proclaims AS one drives toward the Pacific Springs, Colorado, when a frigid its city limits on signs which Ocean leaving behind the mon- 4 a.m. finds some loudly lit cafe seemingly stand in the middle of otonous green cornfields of the bustling with ranchers and fish- empty desert inhabited only by midwest, the towns and vitiatesI bunched beadlike along the inad ermen stowin away steak, e gs, cactus. But a few miles later, the begin to spread out, gaining indi- hash brown, toast and steaming buildings appear, showing where vidualism with space. coffee. the oasis finally begins. Yet the The distance between communi- The borderline may be vague, sight of a city including miles of ties increases, until towns which but once the traveler crosses, he empty land within its boundries in the east exist merely as a set feels the change in the terrain' illustrates the optimism of the of speed limits and a stop sign be- the road, and the peodle. The wet, its expectation ofg farmlanwestfitsnexpectationasof{i-owth tween pompous citie., beome frltd fKna n ers and eagerness to expand. celebrities of the west, mentioned kg gradually rise into unplowed But thts is only part of th on sign posts and noted on maps. prairie dotted by clusters of graz- Perhaps they own names like ing cattle. Signs appear, "WARN- many faceted west, for also, it is Snowflake (Arizona) Bonanz ING, LIVESTOCK." Bodies of a region of natural solitude. High Snowlak (Aizoa),Bonnzain Yosemite National Pa rk, in the (Colorado) or Coyote (New Mex- jackrabbits, fatally blinded in northern are. ignored by the ca - ico), but these postmarks reflect headlights, litter the highway. athn tourist, lies Tenaya Lake. the straight forward unaffected- On either side, land stretches Rachtdurysa, oades hTen twisks ness of the founders r and fades, lonely and uninhabited, and stingy n crownest forces! Long and tiring my bthe into a horizon indented by val- drivers to honk horns at curves, wastelands between settlements, leys separating the treeless hills. thels le n a at ofrwhite but the people themselves show no Even within the western towns the lake lies in a bowl of whiteI emptiness. Rather, they seem to themselves, there lingers the open- rocked mountains, whose bases are; fringed with pines, like the monk's generate a certain sincerity and ness of the surrounding landscape. !traditionaltshaved head. friendliness which they appear in- The casual arrangement of Silver sitentheved hei p capable of damming behind the Gate, Montana, a small hamlet s m aks of e-stern big city resrae. near the edge of Yellowstone Na - - The motel owner seems to have tional Park reflects this adbor- - - - nothing he'd rather do than watch ance of crowding. Only since the;j the colorful sunset with his guests war, has the mountain community --whom he refuses to call cus- been accessible by highway. and tomers. Or the silver haired store on either side of the road and its keeper, spry in his bright plaid fringe of gas stations, the few shirt, shows no hesitancy to re- log cabins and clapboard house veal his knowledge of trout sit as if carelessly scattered. Yet streams. the spacing is western, with each home 'surrounded by a comfort- I' UST where does the west be- able acre or so of prairie and con-0 '. gin? Perhaps its somewhere nected by ambling foot paths. near the Nebraska-Wyoming bor- der, where gas station attendants 0tR down in the hot southwest begin appearing in cowboy hats,'M region, the community of Al- only during summer, it's not a dumps of an adandoned mine, lonely lake ... a beach and camp- man merely has his fingernails in site border its inviting clear wa- the soil. ters . . . but it possesses a con- GIVING m u t e testimony to templative beauty that compels man's continual trials are the travelers to pull off the road and abandoned cliff dwellings pre- gaze in awed silence. Even at served in Mesa Verde National Park. In the cool cansyos of the Grand Canyon, where nature platea, near Coloeado's south- shouts its dynamic power, the vis- western corner, lie the stone shells itor who breaks from the hoards , of communities built and aban- of tourists and rises early for sun- doned before Columbus arrived. rise, or lingers for sunset, may There in nearly inaccessible find himself silenced while view- + solitude, a civilization once flour- ing the creeping shadows in their ished, organized and self suffi- quiet portrayal of time's fingers. cent, until nature struck the In- With all its vastness, and vio- dians with a 24 year drought. lent contrasts of deserts meeting But now, the tourist, after re- mountains, rivers churning can- turning from the ranger lead yons, the west portrays man's fee- tours, looks and wonders a little bleness. In the cities of the east, about his own mechanized civil- where skyscrapers sink their roots ization. Then he is ready to drive deep into bedrock, man secures towards the next attraction. For his anchors. But where height is Mesa Verda, or Yosemite, or the found only in -God's hills and wonders of Yellowstone are only nmountains, that only occasionaly a few shavings of the magnet bear some collapsed cabin or the that is the western United States. -Y c Why don't YOU comr-e G and see our selection of Classical an LONG PLAY fine d Popular rRECORDS. K THE MUSIC CORNER NO 2-5552 312 SOUTH THAYER t. YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK-From a turnout point on the road entering Yosemite Valley, the towering rock formations and majes- tic waterfalls lure the traveler deeper into the park. Best known feature of the park, the valley-seven miles long, averaging one mile in width and half a mile in depth-was cut by the combined actions of the Merced River and glaciers. i i i I x I i I I I t i MIAMI BERMUDA Via Eastern Airlines Super G Constellation service, Hotel Ac- commodations at the Golden Gate. 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