Explore the West with Scenic Guides

Scarce folding map of Nevada, published to promote Weldon F. Heald's Scenic Guide to Nevada.

The map was issued to promote Healds' travel book, highlighting natural points of interest and other details and emphasizing the major routes through the state.

Phyllis and Weldon Fairbanks Heald were free-lance writers who relocated to southeast Arizona from the northeast. Four of their earliest guidebooks are described on the verso of this map along with a list of other travel western travel books by Vanguard Press, Devereux Butcher, Lucius Beebe and Charles Clegg, among others.

The Heald's owned the Flying H Ranch in the Huachuca Mountains, and the Painted Canyon Ranch in the Chiricahua Mountains before settling down to write full-time in Tucson. They wrote books, articles, short stories, poems, plays and screenplays. Much of their writing was on the flora and fauna of the Southwest as well as historical sites in Arizona.

Before his career as a writer, artist and photographer, Weldon worked as an architect. He wrote a number of books. Phyllis began her career as a playwright and she continued to write plays with her husband. The Heald's taught writing workshops at the Southwest Writers Conference in Flagstaff. Later in her career, Phyllis was a consultant for writers.

Weldon Heald wrote over 650 articles for many outdoor magazines, including "Arizona Highways," "National Parks Magazine," "Pacific Discovery" and "Ford Times." Heald served as vice president of the American Alpine Club and director of the Sierra Club. Heald Peak in Arizona was named after him and dedicated in 1974.