Route 66 in the News
Call of the Road: Arizona Route 66
2004-11-03 23:38:04
Whether you call it America's Main Street, the Will Rogers Highway, or by the name affixed to it by John Steinbeck in his epic novel "The Grapes of Wrath" -- the Mother Road -- U.S. 66 still conjures images of freedom, wanderlust and hope.
It was the path nearly a quarter of a million Americans followed during the Great Depression to find a new start and a better life out West. And during its more than 50-year history, Route 66 came to symbolize our national identity as no other icon: sometimes gaudy and garish, sometimes subtle and muted, but always bringing the promise of a better day.
Today the Route is a vanishing road, overtaken by freeways and America's desire to reach its destination quickly and without distraction. But a few segments survive along its 2,400-mile course from Chicago to Santa Monica, Calif. And indeed, since its decommissioning in 1984, the single longest stretch of Route 66 extant can be found in northern Arizona -- a stretch between the Colorado River and the town of Ash Fork. And while you can find vestiges of the old road in such places as Holbrook, Winslow and Flagstaff, the Route there is often just a few blocks (sometimes only a few yards!) long.
Anyone wishing to experience the nostalgia and feel the glory of Route 66 from days gone by is best served by driving the 160-mile stretch from Topock eastward.
Along the way you can begin to feel the collective consciousness of the millions who traveled west along the Great Road. At the Colorado River, for example, you can still see the bridge abutments that carried people from the deserts of Arizona to the "promised land" of California in the 1930s.
It was here, in the marshes on the Arizona side of the river, that many of those travelers returned when they were met on the California side by National Guardsmen and hired goons who had the mission of sending away those seeking to escape their lives in the Dust Bowl, and were hoping to find a new paradise out West. In fact, a Depression-era display at the Powerhouse Museum in Kingman (a museum dedicated to the memory of Route 66) indicates that about 10,000 such travelers eventually settled in Mojave County when they were denied entry to California.
Farther east is the small gold mining ghost town of Oatman, lying in the Black Mountains. During its heyday, Oatman was a town of more than 10,000 persons and sported 20 saloons and a half-dozen hotels. One such hotel, the Oatman Hotel, still stands on Oatman's Main Street/Route 66. The hotel was a popular place for travelers to grab a bite to eat, to wash down road dust with a brew, and to find a bed for the night.
In fact, Clark Gable and his bride Carole Lombard spent their honeymoon at the hotel in 1939.
The saloon in the hotel is a reminder of the fickleness of the area's economy based on mining. Its walls are covered -- every square inch -- by one dollar bills. According to Stephanie Karshner, bartender at the hotel, the tradition began in the late 1920s. "When miners got paid, they would each tack a dollar bill to the wall. Then, when times were hard they could retrieve their cash to buy beer at a nickel a glass." The mines closed in the mid-1930s, but the bills and the tradition remain.
The largest town along the Arizona section of Route 66 is Kingman, the county seat of Mojave County. In Kingman you can get an historical overview of Route 66 at the Powerhouse Museum, located on Andy Devine Avenue (Route 66) along the railroad tracks. The museum's docent, 80-year-old Loren Wilson, has been guiding people through the museum displays for nearly 20 years and can answer any questions having to do with the Route and Arizona history. Before coming to the museum as a volunteer nearly two decades ago, Wilson taught Arizona history and American history at Kingman High School.
Just a few miles east of Kingman along the Route lies the Kingman Airport -- an airport with an overachiever complex if ever there was one. The airport is huge: many times greater than necessary for the air traffic it handles annually.
"During World War II the Army Air Corps built a bomber training base here and stationed thousands of airmen at the base, teaching them to fly B-17s and B-24s," says Robert Riley, manager at the airport. "When the war concluded, the planes were sold for scrap metal and the property was deeded to the county -- and eventually to the city of Kingman."
According to Riley, the success of the base was very much tied to Route 66 and the fact that personnel and supplies could reach it easily from anywhere in the country.
Once you leave Kingman, Route 66 becomes a broad road and an easy drive meandering through the high desert. And because nearby Interstate 40 carries most traffic between Kingman and points east, you find few other vehicles along the Route -- which is fine. It allows you time to soak in the ambiance of the Mother Road as you travel.
There are any number of stops along this 90-mile stretch that will remind you of the Route's glory days. There is the curio store and motor lodge at Antares Road. The decor and architecture is clearly of the 1940s-1950s style, promising baby rattlers and mummified critters as grand spectacle.
Farther along the way east is the town of Hackberry. "At the turn of the last century Hackberry was a community of 2,000 and was considered as a possible county seat for Mojave County," says Cheryl Mince, manager of Hackberry's general store for the past six years. "Then, in 1934 the silver mine closed, and the entire community moved out of the mountains."
The community reassembled at the railroad stop four miles from the mine -- Hackberry's current location. Today, this small community of approximately 75 people survives on ranching and tourism. The general store is a testament to the old signs and memorabilia of Route 66, and features vintage gas pumps, service station paraphernalia, and even a red and white Corvette parked in front. Buzz and Todd would have felt quite at home in Hackberry!
Along the Route you pass through other small towns such as Truxton, Peach Springs, Grand Canyon Caverns and Valentine. Valentine's post office used to be overrun each February as people traveled from all over the U.S. to have their love letters postmarked there. In addition, the town was home to a Bureau of Indian Affairs Indian school from 1917 to 1937. The school is now closed, but its buildings can still be seen from the highway.
The loop reaches its eastern end in the town of Seligman. And while there are several sites which made Route 66 a part of their history, a major draw in town is the Roadkill Cafe and OK Saloon. Decorated in 1950s style, the cafe has a varied menu and caters to tourists traveling along the Route. The cafe's motto: Cleaning up Arizona's highways.
Beyond Seligman to points east Route 66 becomes intermittent, if not invisible. There is a portion of the old highway that parallels Interstate 40 between Seligman and Ash Fork. There is a section running through Williams' downtown district -- Railroad Avenue. There is a section in Flagstaff running along the railroad tracks -- Santa Fe Avenue. And farther eastward the road disappears entirely -- consumed by the desert or paved over to become parts of Interstate 40.
But isn't that the way with all testaments to history: something as grand and vital as Route 66 going the way of other lost wonders and symbols, absorbed by time and nature only to be remembered and imagined. And so it is with U.S. Route 66: The Mother Road responsible for giving birth to the history and spirit of America we know today.
~Stephen King, Tri-Valley Dispatch
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