FINDING THE WORTH WHILE IN THE SOUTHWEST [SOLD] By Charles Francis Saunders

FINDING THE WORTH WHILE IN THE SOUTHWEST by Charles Francis Saunders

Publisher: Robert M. McBride & Company, New York, 1924

Hardback, second edition revised, September 1924, 231 numbered pages, illustrated.

This book measures 6-1/8” x 4-1/8” in size—convenient for carrying on one’s self while travelling. Green fabric cover with gold lettering.  Lettering has faded but is still readable.

PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION

“No part of the United States is so foreign of aspect as our great Southwest.  The broad, lonely plains, the deserts with their mystery and color, the dry water courses, the long, low mountain chains seemingly bare of vegetation, the oases of cultivation where the fruits of the Orient flourish, the brilliant sunshine, the deliciousness of the pure, dry air—all this suggest Syria or northern Africa or Spain.  Added to this are the remains everywhere of an old, old civilization that once lived out its life here—it may have been when Nineveh was building or when Thebes was young.  Moreover, there is the contemporary interest of Indian and Mexican life such as no other part of the country affords.

 “In this little volume the author has attempted, in addition to outlining practical information for the traveler, to hint at this wealth of human association that gives the crowning touch to the Southwest’s charm of scenery.  The records of Spanish explorers and missionaries, the legends of the aborigines (whose myths and folklore have been studied and recorded by scholars like Bandelier, Matthews, Hough, Cushing, Stevenson, Hodge, Lummis, and others) furnish the raw material of a great native literature.  Painters have long since discovered the fascination of our Southwest; writers, as yet, have scarcely awakened to it.”

PREFATORY NOTE TO SECOND EDITION

“The last few years have seen a remarkable increase in the use of the automobile and motor-truck throughout the Southwest, and places that used to be accessible only by arduous and time-consuming journeys by wagon may now be readily enough visited in a day or over a week-end.  The traveler, therefore, has less excuse than formerly for missing the noted sights of this fascinating corner of the United States and it is hoped that this book, prepared largely out of the author’s personal experience and now revised to date, will be of service both by way of calling attention to what is especially noteworthy in our picturesque Southwest and giving a hint as how it may be best reached and enjoyed.  September, 1924

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I.      Santa Fe, the Royal City of St. Francis’s Holy Faith

II.     The Upper Rio Grande, its Pueblos and Cliff Dwellings

III.    Roundabout Albuquerque

IV.     The Dead Cities of the Salines

V.      Of Acoma, City of the Marvellous Rock; and Laguna

VI.     To Zuñi, the Center of the Earth, via Gallup

VII.    El Morro, the Autograph Rock of the Conquistadores

VIII.   The Storied Land of the Navajo

IX.     The Homes of the Hopis, Little People of Peace

X.      The Petrified Forest of Arizona

XI.     Flagstaff as a Base

XII.    The Grand Cañon of the Colorado River in Arizona

XIII.   Montezuma’s Castle and Well, which Montezuma Never Saw

XIV.    San Antonio

XV.     In the Country of the Giant Cactus

XVI.    Southern California

A Postscript on Climate, Ways and Means

Index

Condition: paper label on inside cover for the Santa Fe Woman’s Board of Trade and Library Association.  One illustration page loose from binding.  Partial library check-out page on last page of book.