"Named by the Turn of a Card" "The Legend of How Show Low Got its Name" Show Low had its beginning as a ranch claimed by Marion Clark and Corydon Cooley. A creek made its way through the little valley and provided water for irrigation and the cattle grazing on the lush grass throughout the ranch. Virgin pine forests surrounded the valley. Sometime around 1876 the partners knew one of them should leave but could not decide which one. A card game would settle the issue. The game believed to have been called "Seven Up" began and lasted through the night and into the early morning hours. Clark finally told Cooley, "Show low and you take the ranch." Cooley turned over the deuce of clubs and won a reported 100,000 acres, the cattle, crops and buildings. A century later the main street through town was named "Deuce of Clubs". Mormon settlers began to arrive in 1876 to build their homes and till the land. Cooley sold his holdings in 1888 to Henry Huning, who worked the ranch untill 1903. More Mormons, William J. Flake, James C. Owens, John Henry Willis, Abner and Frank Ellworth, and Hans Hansen, bought the land, water rights, buildings, stock and crops for $13,500, plotted the town, divided it into four and one-half shares, and took up residence in the existing buildings on their own share. The settlement was named Show Low. The Show Low Historical Society Museum The museum is located in the old Show Low Police Department. There are many permanent and loaned items arranged by theme in various rooms. These exhibits depict the history of the Show Low, Arizona area by displaying common household and workplace items that would have been found in the area circa 1870-1940. Of special interest are the Whipple Ruins, excavated in 1927. During the excavation a wood beam was found that allowed an exact date to be assigned to many other wooden items from the area. This beam, officially known as HH39 is often referred to in scientific literature as the "Rosetta Stone" of Southwest American Archaeology. Pictures of this beam as well as the original National Geographic article describing it, are on prominent display.