If that sounds like a question your favorite Italian cousin would ask, check out the spelling one more time!! It is probably "watt" the meter reader for a local northwestern New Mexico Power Company asks Tommy Bolack of Farmington, New Mexico, on his monthly visits. You can imagine his quandary as he finds the outside of a house on Tommy's property loaded with a portion of his collection (see picture below). Much of Tommy's collection will soon be housed in a 9,000 square foot museum which is being built on his property.

A portion of Tommy's switchboard meter collection (pictured above)
and watt hour meter collection (pictured below).

Soon Tommy will occupy a beautiful 9,000 square foot home constructed of wood and petrified wood which has been built into the cliffs of his property. This man does everything on a grand scale...When the San Juan River (which flows through his property) caused Tommy a lot of extra driving, he moved an old railroad bridge (intact) to his land so that the river could be crossed and save him gallons of gasoline.

Three substations have been constructed by Tommy to supply electricity for his property. Maybe that explains why he has 95 miles of original crossarms with their insulators sitting in a huge pile just waiting for installation.

Tommy was an active collector during the very early years of the hobby and has spent many hours researching insulator history and related fields of collecting. Some of his favorite insulators are pictured in the the photograph above.

If your travels take you into the southwestern part of Colorado or northwestern New Mexico, be sure to call and pay a visit to one of the most interesting displays of insulators and go-withs -- the Bolack Ranch.