The "Official Center of the World" is a small dot located inside of a pyramid that has doors opening toward a church located on a distant hill. Between the pyramid and the church is the outdoor "Museum of History in Granite," which contains "Literacy for Millennia from Alpha to Omega."
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The Museum of History in Granite is a collection of 400 Missouri Red Granite panels that when completed will be a "record of humanity that will last for the millennia." Engraving is completed on a few panels each year, so currently the project is only about 25% completed. Some of the completed panels include History of Aviation, History of California, Earl Time Keeping, Salt and Paper, Magna Carta, and the Great Depression, just to name a few.
There are two other interesting on-site exhibits near the Center of the World. One is a sun dial with a casting of Michaelangelo's Sistine Chapel's Creation Arm used for the gnomon and the other exhibit is Section #12 of the original Eiffel Tower upper stairway.
The Eiffel Tower was constructed for the 1889 World Exposition in Paris, but over time the heavy iron upper stairway caused the tower to sway. So, in 1983 the stairway from the second level observation deck to the top of the tower was replaced with a lighter stairway. The original stairway was then cut into 20 sections and sold. Section #12 was purchased by Chateau de Cheverny, founding Mayor of Felicity, and shipped to Felicity to be used as an outdoor sculpture. It has been estimated that approximately 100 million visitors used the stairway between 1869 and 1983.
The Imperial Sand Dunes, located just west of Felicity, are popular with the ATV crowd and on the west side of the dunes it is still possible to see sections of the "Old Plank Road."
Before 1912 the only way to go from Phoenix to San Diego by automobile was to go north and bypass the Imperial Sand Dunes, or hire someone with a team of horses to pull your vehicle over the sand dunes. Since going north around the sand dunes added about 20 hours to the trip, in 1912 a plank road was constructed across the dunes and the road became known as "The Do-It-Yourself-Highway" because the shifting sand often undermined or covered the wooden planks. Shovels were sold at both end of the dunes so that motorist could clean and repair the road as needed. Although the plank road was only wide enough for one vehicle, at various locations there were pullouts for vehicles to pass.
Near the Old Plank Road is possible to see "The Wall," so we followed it to the border crossing at Nuevo Algodones.
Traveling north from Felicity there are a number of old mines and ghost towns just a short distance from the highway.
Obregon was the site of a 20-stamp mill, Cornish Rolls, a Harding Mill, and a floating plant that were used to extract gold from the local mines. The mines closed in 1939, but in 1989 American Girl Mining Joint Venture started an open pit mine at the Obregon location. Although the open pit mine is not open to the public, there is an Obregon historic marker near the highway.
Gold was first discovered in the Tumco area by Spanish colonists, making it one of the oldest mining areas in California. By 1894 the area was part of a mining boom in southeast California; but unfortunately, the boom did not last long and by 1905 the mines were abandoned.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) now oversees the Tumco Historic Townsite and has established a self-guided walking trail that winds through the various historic residential, commercial, and mining areas. We followed part of the trail and found it to be very interesting.
There was a profusion of wildflowers in the area, which made the drive home more enjoyable.
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