Huckleberries: Oasis Bordello Museum? A tourist trap? Nah

The dig by reporter Mia Taylor of the website Cheapism occurred in July, but Wallace booster Rick Shaffer isn’t letting it go.

In an article about “tourist traps” in all 50 states, Taylor targets a Wallace attraction: “The Oasis Bordello Museum in Wallace seeks to provide an authentic glimpse into the colorful past of the mining district where this brothel is located, but some visitors say the museum is sad and creepy, or perhaps not worth the $5 admission.”

In a recent Facebook response, Shaffer comments that the old house of prostitution is “colorful, not creepy by any means.” He continues: “Some visitors may be put off by a past culture that had such businesses in operation but it is representative of the U.S. Western mining heritage. It is not neon, nor flashy but a view into past reality. No games here just education for those willing to listen and view.”

Doesn’t sound like a tourist trap to Huckleberries.

It’s Higgens Point

We need to stop referring to Higgens Point on the lake, seven miles east of Coeur d’Alene, as “Higgins” Point. Actually, you do. Huckleberries knows that Higgens Point is spelled with an E at the end. Not an I.

Higgens is the family name of the late Coeur d’Alene chiropractor Milton C. Higgens, who bought the point (formerly McGowan Point) on April 28, 1939, and later sold it to a group of 10 Coeur d’Alene investors. For $275,000, Higgens Point Investors then sold 31 acres and 2,600 feet of Lake Coeur d’Alene shoreline to the Idaho Department of Highways. This, according to the late Chuck Sowder, who reported the news of the sale for The Spokesman-Review in May 1949. The Department of Highways planned to use Higgens Point for a full interchange and possible rest stop for Interstate 90, which once ran along the lake.

Now, the Idaho Transportation Department wants to transfer ownership of the old I-90 (now Coeur d’Alene Lake Drive) to the city, and Higgens Point – with an E – is a swell place to watch migrating eagles each fall.

Huckleberries

Poet’s Corner: Oh comely pizza, hot and cheesy/ thy most alluring fragrance greasy/ bewitches like a siren’s call –/ I curseth my cholesterol – The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“Pleasures Now Forbidden”) … Sign of the Times (in the window of Northwest Gallery in downtown Coeur d’Alene): “Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and proclaiming: ‘WOW, what a ride!’ ” … Jean Evans, of Moscow, apologizes for causing the return of winter this week. Quoth Jean: “I took the spike attachment off my cane today” … Name Dropping Coeur d’Alene style (Spotted by Sam Taylor, Post Falls): In a scene about revenge from HBO’s “Silicon Valley,” Denpok advises: “Lao Tzu teaches the best fighter is never angry. More important than the blow is knowing when to strike. Like, perhaps, after we experience the executive whitewater rafting trip in Coeur d’Alene?” Whitewater rafting? Coeur d’Alene? Well, it’s television.

Parting shot

Every year, the uber-conservative Idaho Freedom Foundation circulates a “Freedom Index” that grades Idaho legislators on how well they towed IFF’s line in defining freedom. Two grades provide all the info you need to know about the “Freedom Index.” IFF awarded an A-plus to the worst legislator in the state, Confederate flag-waving, grandstanding state Rep. Heather Scott, R-Blanchard. And gave an F to state Sen. Shawn Keough, the co-chairwoman of the powerful budget committee and one of the best legislators in the state. Unfortunately, there are too many gullible Idaho voters who fall for IFF’s bogus, upside-down grades during GOP primaries and general elections.