This exhibit displays 'The Fish on the Floor'. It is a piece of Colorado history from the Deckers community, an area located in the western portion of Douglas County that was the spot of a popular mineral springs and health resort during in the late 1800s. Over time the Deckers Saloon became a mecca for sportsmen who came to fish in the Upper South Platte River. The Denver Water Board purchased the property in 1981 and remodeled the Deckers bar and restaurant about 1999. The Fish on the Floor is an asphalt tile- inlaid depiction of a rainbow trout with a stylized 'fly' above the fish's mouth. The unknown artist skillfully cut many different colors and pieces of asphalt tiles and laid them inside green and white asphalt tiles to depict a fish catching a fly. This artwork is overlain on tongue and groove wood flooring. The 4x5 foot piece of the floor with the rainbow trout depiction was removed when the Denver Water Board remodeled the Deckers Bar and the artifact was given to the Mountain Artisans Arts Council. MAAC estimates the rainbow trout art was done in the 1930s or 1940s. Longtime resident Nell Fletcher gives this short history: The fish on the floor was near the stove. The room was strictly a bar with the dining hall through French doors to the west, and the bar on the east. Entrance to the bar was on the north. Photographs are from the 1960s.
