Purple prose writer Zane Grey was all the rage in the silent movie heyday. Eventually over 100 films would be made based on Grey's lurid fictional accounts of "life on the range" back in the day. The Famous Players-Lasky Corporation and Paramount Pictures had the rights to turn Grey's novels into silent films. By 1928, two years after US 89's official birth, they had already enjoyed immense box office success with such pot-boilers as "The Call Of The Canyon" (1925); "The Light of Western Stars" (1925); "Code Of The West" (1925); "Desert Drums" (1927) and others. Filming another movie based on Grey's book "Avalanche" was a lock. By then Hollywood film crews knew the local ropes. Move into Flagstaff, set up shop, grease the skids, shoot and go back to The Golden Coast.
So, the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation figured it would be a no-brainer to blow up Sunset Crater to create a spectacular avalanche that would be the visual centerpiece of their film-to-be. Except for the fly-in-the-ointment...Harold S. Colton.
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| Harold S. Colton and his wife, Mary-Russell Ferrell Colton, founders of the Museum of Northern Arizona, sit in the living room of their home in Sedona. Circa 1950. (Courtesy of Museum of Northern Arizona) |
Colton became a scion and, yes, even a Living Legend in his own time for the incredible Northern Arizona legacies he created in partnership with his amazing and awesome wife, the unbelievably talented Mary-Russell Ferrell Colton. The Coltons were very well politically connected. They had a lot of Friends in high places. They knew how to play the game. The snuffed the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation's plans to blow up Sunset Crater. It was a remarkable show-of-force for the new kids in town and helped establish the Power Couple's place and position forever in Flagstaff and throughout Northern Arizona.
We found a great account of this defining US 89 episode in an undated KNAU Public radio report produced by Rose Hauk:
"...it was an explosion of another kind that led to Sunset's protection as a national monument. The designation was due largely to the quick actions of Harold Colton, cofounder of the Museum of Northern Arizona.
"In 1929 he got wind of a plan to dynamite a portion of Sunset Crater as part of a movie called Avalanche, which was based on a story by Zane Grey," said Robert Breunig, the current director of the museum, as he crunched over the cinders that blanket the ground around Sunset Crater.
"Raised together in the wild country of the Tonto basin, Jake and Verde grew up closer than brothers. But when they both fell in love with the same fickle woman, their friendship turned to raging hate. The only force that could mend that shattered trust was the raging fury of nature itself. "
"Of course Colton was just absolutely horrified at the thought that this beautiful pristine cinder cone would be blasted apart for a movie they convinced President Herbert Hoover to declare Sunset Crater a national monument... So in May of 1930, May 26, 1930 to be exact, Sunset Crater was permanently protected."
But the movie company didn't go away. Thwarted at Sunset Crater, they moved on to Cameron, Arizona. There they tried dynamiting for the film "Avalanche"
But Brenuig says the consequences were disastrous. "The guy in charge of doing the dynamiting was used to hard-rock mining and not soft earth up in Cameron, and so he over prepared for the blast and set off the charge and apparently boulders just flew everywhere, raining down on all the movie people that were there waiting to see this avalanche, and in fact one of the people was killed and some people were seriously injured."
And so there you have it. As you drive north from Flagstaff on US 89, you can look to your right (east) after you crest the gentle pass lying above and south of The Painted Desert. There you can see Sunset Crater resting peacefully in all its glory, unmolested by Hollywood's destructive minions.
Sources:
http://knau.org/post/americas-best-idea-sunset-crater-nearly-destroyed-hollwyood
https://www.zgws.org/zgmovies.php
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0018662/
http://azdailysun.com/harold-s-colton-and-mary-russell-ferrell-colton/image_d2a3ff3d-53e4-590d-b2cf-edf3e4e855ac.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famous_Players-Lasky
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunset_Crater
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