Salome
"The town of Salome was established in late 1904 by Charles H. Pratt. Pratt was speculating on where the railroad would lay its tracks, and missed it by a mile so that the community had to be moved to its present loction. In the venture with Pratt were Earnest and Dick Wick Hall, the latter a widely known wit. Dick Wick Hall was responsible for the story that the town was named because Mrs. Grace Salome  Pratt, on taking off her shoes, found the sand burned her feet, hence the slogan, "Salome where she danced."

P.O. Est. April 14, 1905.

Barnes, Will C.; Granger, Byrd (ed.) Arizona Place Names University of Arizona Press. 1960
p. 385

In 1904, speculating that the railroad would lay tracks through the area, Charles H. Pratt with the help of Ernest and Dick WIck Hall laid out a town plat here. Dick Wick Hall, a noted humorist, ssaid the town was named because Mrs. Grace Salome Pratt took off her shoes and the hot sand burned her feet, hence the slogan, "Salome, where she danced".

The railroad missed the town by a mile and the community had to be moved. Hall had so much trouble getting Post Office Department permission to move the mail service that the final application reads as follows: "One and a half miles closer to defeat," making the word defeat look like depot (which he wrote quite clearly a few lines further down on the form.) Salome Peak and Salome Wash have associated names. PO est Feb. 21, 1905 Chalres H. Pratt or Dick Wick Hall PM. Location changed Feb. 21, 1906."

Barnes, Will C.; Granger, Byrd (ed.) Arizona's names : X marks the place Falconer Pub. Co. : distributed by Treasure Chest Publications, c1983. P. 540

Websites

Arizona Department of Commerce Community Profiles- Salome, Arizona
http://www.commerce.state.az.us/pdf/commasst/comm/salo-wen.pdf

Salome, Arizona Local Government Website
http://www.azoutback.com/salome.htm
 

Books/Manuscripts found in the ASU Library Catalog

Dick Hall of Salome : the story of a most unusual westerner / [by] Peter Odens.

The Salome sun, 1925-1926 : Dick Wick Hall's richest humor, Claude G. Putnam's greatest pictures / reissued by Laughing Desert Enterprises.
 

Items on the Arizona and Southwest Index

'Great' Salome Gold Rush Sent Miners Flocking to Seek Riches.
CE EPH HA-144

Biography of Dick Wick Hall.
FB BIO HAL,DIC

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Last Updated: July 24, 2002
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