A little about Dupuis Hollow (aka today as the Pauline Fee place). The place's real historical name is Dupuis Hollow, named after Frank Dupuis who lived there when he and Betsy Cedar (later Betsy Story) were married and lived there in the late 1800s.
People mention now and again the big pond or "lake" they remember being there but which has now dried up. Usually these folks are in their 40s or under.
This photo was taken on September 25, 1997, when the big pond was still there in Dupuis Hollow. The man is Uncle Dick Murphy, my grandmother's younger brother. He lives in Oklahoma now.
Originally those were freshwater springs, that were plugged up/dammed up by some renters in the 1970s-80s to make a pond for fish, according to Aunt Pauline, who owned it last. Dupuis Hollow was our family's allotment/home, from at last 1892 up until 1992, when she sold it to the tribe.
According to my dad, those springs once had the best-tasting water he ever had, when he lived there back for a few years as a kid in the WWII era. The dam/plug ruined the springs, and they soon turned stagnant.
This last decade or so, the pond dried up anyways because of the lowering of the water table due to drought and heavy agriculture use. Now there's neither springs nor a pond. Just dried up remnants and stains.
So don't feel bad about the dried-up pond too much because it made the springs stagnant and undrinkable anyways. In our old ways, springs were living and holy. Ideally, the plug would be removed, so that the springs have a chance to return…if the drought ever ceases.
People mention now and again the big pond or "lake" they remember being there but which has now dried up. Usually these folks are in their 40s or under.
This photo was taken on September 25, 1997, when the big pond was still there in Dupuis Hollow. The man is Uncle Dick Murphy, my grandmother's younger brother. He lives in Oklahoma now.
Originally those were freshwater springs, that were plugged up/dammed up by some renters in the 1970s-80s to make a pond for fish, according to Aunt Pauline, who owned it last. Dupuis Hollow was our family's allotment/home, from at last 1892 up until 1992, when she sold it to the tribe.
According to my dad, those springs once had the best-tasting water he ever had, when he lived there back for a few years as a kid in the WWII era. The dam/plug ruined the springs, and they soon turned stagnant.
This last decade or so, the pond dried up anyways because of the lowering of the water table due to drought and heavy agriculture use. Now there's neither springs nor a pond. Just dried up remnants and stains.
So don't feel bad about the dried-up pond too much because it made the springs stagnant and undrinkable anyways. In our old ways, springs were living and holy. Ideally, the plug would be removed, so that the springs have a chance to return…if the drought ever ceases.
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