THE DREAM WELL

My own personal family histories have always fascinated me. Over time I have repeatedly heard the story of one of my ancestors who helped settle Northern Arizona as a Mormon pioneer.

The family had moved to an area in the AZ White mountains that was called Fools Hollow. My understanding is that the reason it was called Fools Hollow was because others had tried to settle there and had failed because they could not find water in the area for a well, making it necessary for them to have to travel a mile or more to get their supple of water.

While this ancestor was trying to settle there his brother and nephew came to visit. They had discussed the water situation and one night my ancestor had a dream about where he could find water. The next morning he told his brother about the dream and it was decided that they would start digging for water that day. Within a relatively short amount of time, of digging, they found water. This well ended up supplying several families for generations.

My grandmother’s journal included a very small black and white photo of this well taken year after the families had moved. I used this very small photo as the model for this painting called ‘The Dream Well’. Someone later told me that the well was still a producing well but that had been abandoned because they were putting in a new housing development and flooding that area to create a lake for the subdivision.