Is It Fools Hollow Lake or Fool Hollow Lake?

 September 25, 2023

   Here is another take on the founding father of Fools Hollow Lake:

Daily Revised Whip Out:

"Thomas Jefferson Adair, Take 2"

   Kathy and I both noticed that it's spelled Fool Hollow Lake on some signs and Fools Hollow Lake on other signs. Someone on Facebook claims the State of Arizona is trying make it singular, perhaps to avoid the possessive problem of Fool's, or maybe just to be dicks. Do you know? 

  I love small town museums. On a limited budget they put their hearts and souls into portraying their town as best they can. I visited the Springerville, Arizona museum on Thursday.

A Springerville, Arizona museum display

   I don't mean this in a mean way, but why is this so boring? Where do they get the idea someone wants to see a replica of a Montgomery Wards 1900s living room with semi-accurate furniture and JC Penny mannequins dressed in quasi-authentic lace?

   I feel bad for them because someone obviously put in the time and effort, but at the end of the day, it rarely works as a satisfying display in terms of putting me in that place and time. Why is that?

   One answer is, we want to see something real and authentic, you know, like this:

Say Hey, Alchesay!

   One very cool thing in the Springerville Museum is this framed photo of Alchesay, the White Mountain Apache Chief, who had business dealings with a local who built the Apache Hotel and this framed image was displayed in the lobby for many years.

White Mountain Apache Chief Alchesay

   This is double cool, because the image is large and the story behind it is valuable to understand the location and it is very historic.

Meanwhile. . .

Stiff 1950s Cowboy mannequin around

a very fake campfire

   Once again, my biggest issue is with the fifties clothing. That would be the 1950s. Where is an authentic 1880's saddle? Or other gear, chaps maybe? Spurs? Anything!

File This One Under When All You Have Is A Hammer All Your Problems Look Like Nails:

   Okay, what I want to see is big historic, well-scanned photos of the people and the places I am visiting. I want to get a sense of what life was like in the Old West. But then, it must be said, I run a magazine and that's our mantra: run big photos with historic info with them. Does that translate to a museum? I don't know. What do you think?

   So, the effort is worthwhile, but perhaps it needs a retooling to make it so visitors can appreciate and understand the history of the area a little bit better.

"If you don't know history, then you don't know anything. You are a leaf that doesn't know it is part of a tree."

—Michael Chrichton