Salome was established in late 1904, by Dick Wick Hall and Charles W. Pratt.
They were 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 location.
Dick Wick Hall, a widely known wit became famous for his one page mimeographed newspaper, the “Salome Sun”, which he published to promote his “Laughing Gas Station”. Through his newspaper, Hall brought fame to the town’s fictitious residents and the infamous “Salome Frog”, who is “seven years old and can’t swim”! He capitalized on the heat of the desert to create the story of how Salome was named. According to Hall, Mrs. Grace Salome Pratt took off her shoes and danced when the hot sand burned her feet. Thus, the town became “Salome-Where-She-Danced”.
In the 1920’s, Hall’s tales were featured in the Saturday Evening Post. Dick Wick Hall was buried beside his little office in Salome, where so much of his humor originated. |
