Thursday, September 06, 2012

Greeley Hat Works Rocks!

September 6, 2012

   Received my latest custom made hat two days ago from Greeley Hat Works in Greeley Colorado. Ordered it in June when we went through Greeley on the BLT tour. Wore it into work today. This is in my office at the True West World Headquarters.





That's Vaughn Monroe (in the movie poster for "Toughest Man In Arizona") giving me the evil eye, on the left, and that's Dead Man Hanging on the right, by Cowboy Artist Dave Powell, on the right.



Meanwhile, doing a new True West Moment on Crazy AZ and thought this might fit the bill for an illustration:





Went to my heart doctor this morning for a checkup (all good) and while waiting to see him I sat reading Will C. Barnes' classic  "Arizona Place Names". Discovered this little tidbit I never knew:



I grew up in Kingman where we used to drag race on Stockton Hill Road. On Sundays, our family often took drives up and over Stockton Hill, down into the ghost town of Cerbat and Chloride. I always assumed Stockton Hill was named for John Stockton, the Utah Jazz guard. Not really, but I thought it was named for someone named Stockton. Turns out, according to Will C. Barnes, in the early 1880s Arizona did not have an insane asylum and crazy people were sent to Stockton, California. One old timer claimed it got the name "because the first ore struck there was so rich that everyone went crazy over it, they named it Stockton."



"That's just Crazy AZ."

—Old Outrageous Arizona Announcer Saying