Saloons

[C. F. 'Charley' Eckhardt]

I've been in a couple of actual 'old West' saloons.  They are nothing at all like you see in the movies.  The 'swinging doors' aren't on the street, there's a regular door onto the street.  That takes you into what was called the 'cigar apartment.'  You could buy cigars, packaged tobacco, 'packaged' liquor (bottles), or beer to take out, usually in a bucket you brought with you.  The 'cigar apartment' was the only part of a saloon a 'decent woman' could enter.  If you went through the 'swinging doors' you were in the actual saloon, which was separated from the cigar apartment by a partition, usually at least head high. 

[Reb]

Depends... some are moth larvae. I've lost at least 6 of my big agave's to the snout nosed beetle grubs within the past 2 years tho. These are nasty lookin' critters. They'll eat the root base right out of an agave. Just grab the center of it and it'll tip over. You can see and even hear 'em chewin'. After about 10 minutes the woodpeckers and thrashers... even a roadrunner will show up and have a feast.

[C. F. 'Charley' Eckhardt]

Old story about Bean--& probably true. Supposedly, on a very cold day, there appeared to be a fire in the potbelly stove, but the place stayed cold. Finally somebody opened the stove & found Bean had put a candle in it. They asked him why. "The average fool sees a light in the stove, he thinks he's warm."

[C. F. 'Charley' Eckhardt]

That's what it's like today. A hundred or so years ago it was good grassland. Ranchers raised horses for the Cavalry. A horse is a destructive grazer, much like a sheep. Like sheep but unlike cattle, horses have both top & bottom teeth in front. When a cow grazes, she swings her head forward & up, to break the grass off against her bottom teeth, above the ground's surface, leaving sprigs of grass to grow. When a sheep or a horse grazes, the animal jerks its head back & down, often pulling the grass out by the roots. By overgrazing the grassland with horses, the ranchers converted what had been excellent pasture to semi-desert.

[Steve McCarty]

I hunt for old west saloons and there are still a few. I like the Crystal Palace in Tombstone.  I drank too much Old Granddad in there one night, But my favorite old west bar is the one in Leadville.  Can't even think of the name of it. It is little changed.  Lady's face painted on the barroom floor and all. The Irma's bar is now a restaurant, but you can get a feel what the old place was like.  There's a pretty good place in Baker, OR and in Buffalo, Wymoning.  There's a place in Severy that is amazing...the Buckhorn and a few in Livingston.

There's a nice old saloon in Miles City, but it's become a college hangout. 

There used to be the Union Brewery on C street in Virginia City, but it's a biker dive now.   

[Mike Dickey]

Face painted on the barrom floor - you might be referring to the Teller House Bar in Central City, Colorado.  A guy name Herndon Davis was working on some paintings for the Central City Opera House and Teller House.  He got into an argument with Ann Evans, the project coordinator and was told to resign or be fired.  Inspired by poet Hugh Antoine D'Arcy who penned "The Face on the Barroom Floor" Davis painted the face in the dead of night with the help of bellboy Jimmy Libby.  The parting memento had the deisred effect of infuriating Ms. Evans, but the bar owners diceided to capitalize on it, saying it was the face described in the famous poem.  The face is actually beleived to be Davis' wife. 

[Dave McGowan]

The Fort Hotel (Ft. St. John, BC) was originally a log building built in the late 1920s. Not haveing to put up with the liquor licensing system institured by the NWMP 35 miles to the east in Alberta the "men's drinking parlour" was a pretty free wheeling place. No swinging doors, of course since it can get to 40 below in the winter. It did have one unique characteristic; two, two story log out-houses out back, one male one female.

The Fort was rebuilt several times and the site of my first beer parlour visit when I was sixteen. As of the summer of 2011, however, the site is a vacant lot.

[ChipProf]

Steve, check out the New Atlas Bar in Columbus, MT some time.

I think the saloon you were talking about in Buffalo, WY is attached to the Occidental Hotel next to the Virginian Restaurant.  A great place!  Still has bullet holes from the time they tried to kill Frank Canton in the bar.

 

"History is based on a true story."

-- Old Vaquero saying

[Steve McCarty]

Yup; my wife and I took a room in the Occidental two years ago.  About ten years ago I walked in there and a guy was installing a new brass bar rail, the one you put your feet on.  He was struggling with it, so I helped him.  We worked for an  hour or so.  Yep, I helped to install the "bar" at the Occidental hotel...a proud moment.

There's nice museum in that town too.  It's walking distance from the bar.

Next time I find myself in Columbus I'll look up the bar.  Thanx

[ChipProf]

You're right, Steve - the Jim Gatchell Museum is great!  When we stayed at the Occidental, the main rooms were taken, so we stayed in two of the - ahem - whorehouse rooms downstairs in the back.  What an experience!  It was clear what they were used for - except for the bed, there was barely room to turn around! 

One more thing about Columbus - as you exit the highway, there's a small shopping center on your way into town, and one of the shops is the Montana Silversmiths outlet store.  Sometimes the selection isn't great, but it sure is fun poking around!

[Tony Fazzini]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Russell_Smoke_of_a_45_1908.jpg