Western saloon

Judge Roy Bean’s Saloon in Langtry, Texas

Seth Kinman's bar in 1889 in Table Bluff, California

A Western saloon is a kind of bar particular to the American Old West. Saloons served customers such as fur trappers, cowboys, soldiers, gold prospectors, miners, and gamblers. The first saloon was established at Brown’s Hole, Wyoming, in 1822, to serve fur trappers. The popularity of saloons in the nineteenth-century American West is attested to by the fact that Livingston, Montana, a town of 3,000 residents, boasted 33 saloons.

Among the more familiar saloons were First Chance Saloon in Miles City, Montana; the Bull’s Head in Abilene, Kansas; the Arcade in El Dorado, Colorado; the Holy Moses in Creede, Colorado; the Long Branch in Dodge City, Kansas; the Birdcage Theater (also a saloon) in Tombstone, Arizona; the Bucket of Blood Saloon in Virginia City, Nevada; and Judge Roy Bean’s Saloon in Langtry, Texas. Many of these establishments remained open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Appearance

A saloon's appearance varied from when and where it grew. As towns grew, the saloons became more refined. The bartender prided himself on his appearance and his drink pouring abilities. Early saloons and those in remote locations were often crude affairs with minimal furniture and few decorations. A single wood-burning stove might warm such establishments during the winter months.

A pair of "batwing" doors at the entrance was one of the more distinctive features of the typical saloon. The doors operated on double action hinges and extended from chest to knee level.

As travelers made their way West, some of them sold liquor from their wagons, and saloons were often formed of the materials at hand, including “sod houses. . . . a hull of an old sailing ship“ or interiors “dug into the side of a hill”.

As towns grew, many hotels included saloons, and some stand-alone saloons, such as the Barlow Trail Saloon in Damascus, Oregon, featured a railed porch.

Alcohol

When a town was first founded, the initial saloons were often nothing more than tents or shacks that served homemade whiskey that included such ingredients as “raw alcohol, burnt sugar and chewing tobacco”.

Rotgut

To stretch their profits, saloon owners would cut good whiskey with turpentine, ammonia, gun powder or cayenne”. Their custom product was called by names like “Tanglefoot, Forty-Rod, Tarantula Juice, Taos Lightning, Red Eye, and Coffin Varnish.” Other offerings included “Cactus Wine, made from a mix of tequila and peyote tea, and Mule Skinner, made with whiskey and blackberry liquor. A saloon might also be known as a “watering trough, bughouse, shebang, cantina, grogshop, and gin mill”.

As towns grew, saloons were often elaborately decorated, featured Bohemian stemware, and oil paintings were hung from the wall. The hard liquor was improved, often featuring whiskey imported from the eastern U.S. and Europe. To avoid rotgut, patrons would request "fancy" mixed drinks. Some of the top ten drinks in 1881 included claret sangarees and champagne flips.

Beer

Beer was served at room temperature since refrigeration was unavailable. Adolphus Busch introducing refrigeration and pasteurization of beer in 1880 with his Budweiser brand. Some saloons kept the beer in kegs stored on racks inside the saloon. A few saloons prided themselves on homemade beer and it was not always served at room temperature.

Entertainment

By way of entertainment, saloons offered dancing girls, some of whom occasionally or routinely doubled as prostitutes. Many saloons offered Faro, poker, brag, three-card monte, and dice games. Other games were added as saloons continued to prosper and face increasing competition. These additional games included billiards, darts, and bowling. Some saloons even included piano players, can-can girls, and theatrical skits. A current example of this type of entertainment is the Long Branch Variety Show that is presented in the recreated Long Branch Saloon in Dodge City, Kansas.

The Bull’s Head pizzle

Among the anecdotes of the American West, several concern incidents that took place in or outside saloons. One such incident occurred at The Bull’s Head Saloon in Abilene, Kansas. When the tavern’s owner, Phil Coe, outraged the townspeople by painting a bull, complete with an erect penis, or pizzle, on the outside wall of his tavern, Wild Bill Hickok, the marshal at the time, threatened to burn the saloon to the ground if the offending animal was not painted over. Instead, he hired some men to do the job, which angered Coe. The two became enemies and in a later altercation, Wild Bill Hickok killed Coe.

Deadwood’s No. 10 Saloon

Wild Bill, also a professional lawman, gunfighter, and gambler, was later killed (on August 2, 1876) by Jack McCall, who shot him in the back of the head, in Saloon No. 10, in Deadwood, South Dakota, as Wild Bill was playing cards. His hand—aces and eights, according to tradition—has become known as “the dead man’s hand.”

Tom Mix, bartender

According to the Reader's Digest's Story of the Great American West, Tom Mix, who later became an actor starring in a series of Hollywood films about the Wild West, was a bartender at the Blue Bell Saloon in Guthrie, Oklahoma. Mix’s fellow residents included fellow actor and comedian Will Rogers; William Wrigley Jr., the inventor of Wrigley’s chewing gum; and prohibitionist Carry Nation.

Wyatt Earp, saloon owner

Wyatt Earp's Northern Saloon, Tonopah, Nevada, circa 1902

Former lawman, Faro dealer, and gambler Wyatt Earp worked in or owned several saloons during his life time, outright or in partnership with others. He and two of his brothers arrived in Tombstone, Arizona Territory on December 1, 1879 and during January 1881, Oriental Saloon owner Lou Rickabaugh gave Wyatt Earp a one-quarter interest in the faro concession at the Oriental Saloon in exchange for his services as a manager and enforcer. Wyatt invited his friend, lawman and gambler Bat Masterson, to Tombstone to help him run the faro tables in the Oriental Saloon. In 1884, after leaving Tombstone, Wyatt and his wife Josie, Warren, James and Bessie Earp went to Eagle, Idaho, another boom town. Wyatt was looking for gold in the Murray-Eagle mining district. They opened a saloon called The White Elephant in a circus tent. An advertisement in a local newspaper suggested gentlemen 'come and see the elephant'.

In 1885, Earp and Josie moved to San Diego where the railroad was about to arrive and a real estate boom was underway. They stayed for about four years. Earp speculated in San Diego's booming real estate market. Between 1887 and around 1896 he bought three saloons and gambling halls, one on Fourth Street and the other two near Sixth and E, all in the "respectable" part of town. They offered twenty-one games including faro, blackjack, poker, keno, and other Victorian games of chance like pedro and monte. At the height of the boom, he made up to $1,000 a night in profit. Wyatt particularly favored and may have run the Oyster Bar located in the Louis Bank of Commerce on Fifth Avenue.

In the fall of 1897, Earp and Josie joined in the Alaska Gold Rush and headed for Nome, Alaska. He operated a canteen during the summer of 1899 and in September, Earp and partner Charles E. Hoxie built the Dexter Saloon in Nome, Alaska, the city's first two story wooden building and its largest and most luxurious saloon. The building was used for a variety of purposes because it was so large: 70 by 30 feet (21 × 9.1 m) with 12 feet (3.7 m) ceilings.

Wyatt and Josie returned to California in 1901 with an estimated $80,000. In February, 1902, they arrived in Tonopah, Nevada, where gold had been discovered and a boom was under way. He opened the Northern Saloon in Tonopah, Nevada and served as a deputy U.S. Marshal under Marshal J.F. Emmitt. His saloon, gambling and mining interests were profitable for a period.

Television Westerns’ saloons

Television Westerns, which were especially popular in the 1950s and 1960s, featured such fictional saloons (sometimes based on actual ones) as The Silver Dollar Saloon (Bonanza), The Long Branch Saloon (Gunsmoke), and The Last Chance Saloon (The Rifleman).

See also

• Anti-Saloon League