Leo The Lucky Lion

Many Thanks to Louie for suggesting we find this story. It's pretty incredible so sit back, relax and enjoy.

Remember the roaring MGM Lion ?  Well, the original "Leo" has quite a story to tell. 

There have been five lions playing the role of "Leo The Lion". The first lion was Slats who did the silent films from 1924 to 1928. The next lion was Jackie, the first MGM lion whose roar was heard by the audience. Though the movies were silent, Jackie's famous growl-roar-growl sequence was played over the phonograph as the logo appeared on screen. He was also the first lion to appear in Technicolor in 1932.  The third lion and probably most famous was Tanner. After a brief use of an unnamed fourth lion, MGM settled on Leo, which the studio has used since 1957.

The company motto "Ars Gratia Artis" means "Art for Art's Sake."

PAYSON, AZ- "You can bring the lion to the mountain, but that doesn't make him a mountain lion".

At least not for Leo, the famed MGM lion who once spent an uncomfortable week in the mountains between Payson and Young, AZ after a celebrated mishap that's been largely lost to history.

This story begins in the 1920's when aviation was in its infancy and all eyes were agog over Charles Lindbergh's trans-Atlantic flight just a few months earlier.  As fliers made frenzied attempts to set aviation records, MGM studio execs decided to cash in on the craze and cooked up a publicity stunt to fly their storied mascot non-stop from Southern California to New York.

The event drew nationwide press coverage as a Ryan B-1 Brougham, similar to Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis, was outfitted with a steel-barred cage, complete with milk and water dispensers, in the passenger section. Plate glass was installed along the sides to provide Leo with a window seat and give movie fans the opportunity to view the famed African lion.  Martin Jensen, a well-known pioneer aviator and barnstormer, agreed to serve as Leo's pilot on the history-making transcontinental jaunt. 

At 10 a.m. on Sept. 16, 1927, a flurry of reporters with flashing cameras recorded the MGM lion's successful takeoff from Kearny Mesa, a military parade ground near San Diego.  But contact with the pilot was soon lost, and the plane's plight was shrouded in mystery. Newspapers across the country carried stories. A New York Times headline shouted: "NO WORD FROM PLANE CARRYING MOVIE LION; Jensen Long Overdue at Mitchel Field - Other Planes Search Western Desert for Him."

Unknown to the rest of the world, Jensen - and Leo (Slats)- had made a forced crash landing in Arizona, shortly after flying over the town of Gisela. Apparently, Jensen was flying low and couldn't gain enough altitude to clear the Mogollon Rim.  He came down in a Tonto National Forest canyon full of scrub oak about 15 miles east of Payson and about 10 miles west of Young. The canyon, then known as Hell's Canyon, was later renamed Leo Canyon.  Located near the Hellsgate Wilderness, a very rugged and remote area still today.

The plane hit the treetops and rolled to a stop on its side, and Jensen escaped with only a cut on his face.  "I crawled out and looked to see what had happened to Leo," Jensen said in a 1927 newspaper article. "The cage had held tight, and he wasn't scratched, although he did look disgusted, and I figured his opinion of me as a flier is pretty low."

After providing Leo with sandwiches and milk, Jensen gave him water from a nearby stream before heading to Gisela to find help.  He endured the treacherous lower Tonto Creek terrain for three exhausting days, encountering coyotes and rattlesnakes along the way.  For a while, he followed  some cows hoping they would lead him to help. But then he realized they were range cattle without a home and continued his journey along the creek.

Late on the afternoon of Sept. 19, Jensen reached the H-Bar ranch near Gisela, and the cowboys there cleaned his wounds and fed him as they listened to his incredible story. They gave him a ride to Roosevelt so he could telephone his bosses in California. The first thing they asked was, "How's the lion?" and said to spare no expense to rescue Leo.  Jensen traveled to Payson where initial plans were made for Leo's rescue.

According to a Sept. 21, Associated Press report from Kohl's Ranch, a posse, including a lion trainer from Los Angeles, was formed to help with the rescue.  Six days after the crash, Jensen led the search party on horseback starting from a ranch near the Mogollon Rim. About four hours passed before the rescuers discovered the wreckage.  There, they found Leo - alive but hungry and thirsty. The news report stated: "It was decided to bring the lion on a sled to the Boy Haught ranch, 7 miles from the crash site, and from there to ship it by truck to Los Angeles."  The cowboys chained the still-caged Leo to a handmade sled (an old shed door) and hitched it to a team of mules and guided the lion out of the canyon.

Leo journeyed by truck to Payson with a member of the rescue team for a stay at Grady Harrison's garage and freight depot on Main Street. Townsfolk, especially the kids, scurried to see the star attraction before he was chauffeured to Hollywood.

Jensen continued flying and won several awards recognizing his contributions to aviation. He died in 1992 at age 91.

Leo recovered and eventually retired from show business, leaving fame behind for another lion that would take his place.

While touring the globe for MGM studios, Leo earned a reputation of being a cat with nine lives: he survived two train wrecks, a flood in Mississippi, an earthquake in California, a fire and a plane crash.

Leo died at the age of twenty-three in 1938, an old age for a lion, leaving many descendants. 

A Bone to pick

from Yelp April 9, 2017

"This place is a dump. First, they call themselves a sports bar, but they only offer basic cable. I went in on a UFC Saturday expecting to pay a cover to watch the fights only to find their "sports coverage" was a Diamondbacks' I could have watched at home. Bogus. I ordered a pitcher and started talking with the regulars, who were a pretty rugged set, but were for the most part really good people. I was getting along very well with a woman, even got a kiss. Next thing I know, a man wearing a "Vietnam Veteran" hat is telling me "You don't know what I"m capable of! You better get the hell out of here." The guy had to be in his mid sixties. I'm sure he was a pretty bad dude...in 1976. I turned to the woman and said "You said you were single". She said "I am. He just has a little crush on me." I continued talking with the woman, content to let Grandpa Soldier be happy with being a Jerkoff. Suddenly, this huge bartender taps me on the shoulder and says "You gotta go, man." Grandpa Soldier went and told on me because he wasn't getting any play! To top it off, the bartender says, "You can comeback another night." Gee, thanks; you just 86'd me for no other reason than a regular being pissed because I was getting along with "his" lady, but you'll be more than happy to take my money on another night. What a joke! It's not like I would go back anyway. I like dives, but The Hambone is just not special. When the biggest selling point for your bar is being able to smoke inside, you are running a sh*thole. The regulars rule the roost, and if they don't like you, they'll get management to throw you out, even when the regular is the one out of line. I should have beaten the baby killer to death, but I'm an adult, so I put my tail between my legs and left. I let my money do the talking. And The Hambone will never see one of my red cents ever again. I hope the place burns down."

We don't need no steenking university

Today I finally finished the late C.L. Sonnichsen's 369 page tome "Tucson, The Life and Times of an American City" published in 1982.  Trust me, it wasn't light and fun reading like Roy Drachman's book.  Nope. Reading Sonnichsen's book dragged on for days and daze.  All-in-all, it was a very dry, suitably stiff scholarly ramble from Spanish settlement to 20th century urban renewal squabbles. I read Sonnichsen's book hoping to glean some interesting stories about highways US 80 or US 89.  There was nothing to be found.  In fact, in all those hundreds of pages, I found only one fun vignette of any kind.  Luckily, it's such a fun vignette that I plan to memorize it and retell it whenever the time is right, such as when I am hanging out with some U of A people. The fun vignette is about how Tucson got stuck with the university and how the local folks felt about it. So let's jump into the Way Back Time Machine and rewind to 1885 when Tucsonians lusted to regain the Territorial Capital from Prescott.  The 13th Territorial Legislature convened in early January. Local merchants raised $5,000 (a princely sum in 1885) and gave it to a guy to go schmooze the legislators. Meanwhile Tucson's own C.C. Stephens was an actual territorial legislator.  He was told to bring the capital back or suffer the consequences.  It was a bad winter and terrible weather delayed the schmoozer and Stephens.  By the time they got to Prescott, the capital game was gone and all the good stuff had been assigned to other cities.  All Stephens could get was a university.  That's when Stephen's trouble started C.L. Sonnichsen writes, "On his return to Tucson, Stephens was subjected to all sorts of insult and humiliation for his "disloyalty."  Threats of violence made it necessary for him to hire a bodyguard.  The "Citizen" informed him that his fellow townsmen looked upon him with "loathing and contempt" and suggested that it was hard to imagine what he was made for "unless to make a horse thief feel respectable by comparison." When Stephens called a meeting at the Opera House to explain his actions, he was subjected to such a torrent of profane and personal abuse and such a barrage of rotten eggs, spoiled vegetables---and even a dead cat--that he had to retire from the platform.  He did remind his hecklers before he left that someday they would thank him for what he had done, but at the time no one listened or believed." As one saloon keeper said later, "What do we want with a university? What good will it do us? Who in hell ever heard of a university professor buying a drink?" (Pages 136-137) It was worth reading that book just to get this fun vignette.  We're already looking forward to retelling it around a camp fire someday soon. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C.L._Sonnichsen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/13th_Arizona_Territorial_Legislature This story has a slightly different spin but luckily, the rotten eggs, spoiled vegetables and the dead cat remain: https://uanews.arizona.edu/story/the-founding-of-the-university-myths-and-heroes There are other versions but we're not going to let facts get in the way of a good story.  We'll take Sonnichsen's version and run with it. Click here to Reply or Forward 1.38 GB (9%) of 15 GB used Manage Terms - Privacy Last account activity: 0 minutes ago Open in 2 other locations  Details

Hardyville - Prescott Wagon Road 1880

Here is the Hardyville-Prescott Wagon Road as it appears on an 1880 Arizona map.

Verde Wagon Roads

This is an area of wagon roads that has fascinated me for way more than 30 years.  I continue to be in awe of how wagons navigated this incredibly convoluted landscape.  We are going to add a lot of commentary and graphics to this post.

Here is how to find the original map that we will be discussing in the weeks to come.

https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/img4/ht_icons/Browse/AZ/AZ_Verde_315621_1892_250000.jpg

In the meantime, we'd like to say a little bit about the map from which the above snippet came.  The survey work for this map was done in 1885.  John Wesley Powell (yes, THAT Powell) was Director of the USGS at the time.  A.H. Thompson was the "Cartographer-in-Charge".  If the name A.H. Thompson doesn't mean anything to you consider that Almon Harris Thompson is one of the most legendary personalities of the Southwest United States!

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almon_Harris_Thompson

Here's his diary of Powell's 2nd Expedition on The Colorado River:

https://www.amazon.com/Diary-Almon-Harris-Thompson-Explorations/dp/0874809622

Godfrey's Flagstaff Sailboat

Here is the account of the building and use of Godfrey Sykes Flagstaff Sailboat.     These pages were scanned from "A Westerly Trend" that was originally Copyrighted in 1945 by Godfrey Sykes.  The edition we used is Copyright 1984 by the Arizona Historical Society and The University of Arizona Press. (ISBN 0-8165-0888-7) The use of these pages in this context is believed to be within the "Fair Use" provisions of the US Copyright Law.

Note that two formats are used here to present these pages.  Scroll down to see the "original size" postings of the pages.  One of the formats should work on any device.

Here is a 1945 view of the pond in which Sykes tested his sailboat.

The above news item appeared on Page 2 of the December 10, 1890, issue of "The Arizona Weekly Journal-Miner".

Here are the same pages put into the blog original size.  Not sure which will work better for "readability."

Blue Ridge Reservoir

Lots to write about Blue Ridge Reservoir.  For now, we will simply try to explain where it is and what's going on with it.  Captions are below each graphic or photo.

This is a "vicinity map" of Blue Ridge with respect to its location relative to Winslow & Grand Falls.  The topic of Blue Ridge Reservoir came up on our Facebook page with respect to Grand Falls.  We told our Facebook Friends that Blue Ridge Reservoir is full and spilling water as of February 13.  The spillage will certainly help supplement potential "photo op flows" at Grand Falls for at least a few days.  This post was put together to help our Facebook Friends understand a little bit about Blue Ridge Reservoir.

Blue Ridge Reservoir is located almost due East of Clint's Well but you have to drive 

north of Clint's Well to get to the turn to go to Blue Ridge.

Here's a topo map of the reservoir showing the location of the dam and spillway.

This aerial photo shows the location of the boat ramp in general proximity to the dam.

Aerial view of the dam and spillway on viewer's right hand side of dam.

Here's a view of the spillway looking from above and behind the dam.

This is a view of the dam looking up from downstream on "river right".  

The spillway is out of view on the right side of this photo.

Here's a view of the spillway looking upstream from a point  near the bottom of the spillway.

This is just about the most concise history of Blue Ridge Reservoir that you can get.  SRP owns Blue Ridge now and here is a link to their story about the dam and reservoir:

http://www.srpnet.com/water/dams/cragin.aspx

Note that Blue Ridge Reservoir was renamed after it was acquired by SRP.  No one we know will EVER call it by its so-called new name.  It will ALWAYS be Blue Ridge Reservoir.  Period.

Currently Blue Ridge Reservoir is closed to all public access while Arizona Game & Fish Dept. rebuilds the boat launch area.  This and several photos below were taken February 13, 2017 by Coconino National Forest Public Affairs Officer Brady Smith.  They were posted on and copied from the Coconino's Twitter account.

Above is a better view of the new boat ramp.

It's going to be a huge improvement over the old ramp.  (See photo below.)

A new looped access route has been engineered and is being installed.

The right photo shows what it looks like when Blue Ridge is full.  Coconino NF PAO Brady Smith went to Blue Ridge on February 13 to photograph the amount of water spilling out of the full reservoir. The low water photo was taken in October 2015 by Deborah Soltesz.  Many Thanks to the Coconino National Forest for use of these fine photos.

Above is what the old boat ramp looked like.  We've been there many, many a time under similar conditions.  We have quite a few stories to tell about those "Good Old Days".

And when the water dropped really, really, REALLY low, this is what you would encounter at the Blue Ridge boat ramp.  Hopefully, AZGFD was able to get the lower portion of the new ramp complete before the water rose and filled the reservoir.