May 11, 2007
What the West Was Really Like: An Interview with Sherry Monahan Posted by Allen Barra at 02:45 PM EST With her books The Wicked West: Boozers, Cruisers, Gamblers, and More; Pike’s Peak: Adventurers, Communities, and Lifestyles; and now Tombstone’s Treasure: Silver Mines and Golden Saloons, Sherry Monahan has shot down more Western myths than Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, and Wild Bill Hickok did bad guys. She discussed her new book with us from her home in North Carolina. In your latest book you tell us that Tombstone, Arizona, in its heyday had telephones, ice cream, and baseball. Come on now, is this frontier history or science fiction? How come we’ve never seen any of this in the movies? It’s total frontier history! It would be nice to see real history reflected in the movies, but most Westerns deal with cowboys and Indians, not people swimming or eating ice cream. Besides, who would believe that Wyatt Earp popped into Miss Leary’s ice cream parlor for a scoop of chocolate or vanilla? He was a tough lawman. Eating ice cream sort of softens his image (pun intended). Can you imagine Big Nose Kate or Josephine Earp in their Victorian swimming outfits at the pool? Now there’s an attractive shot!
 | | Sherry Monahan dressed as a Wild West faro dealer. |
Another point you emphasize that I seldom see in the movies is the cost of living in mining camps, particularly Tombstone. This was, you write, “primarily because most things had to be imported. Consumers not only paid for the goods, but they also had to pay for the cost of transporting goods to town.” In southwestern Arizona, lumber cost two to three times what it cost in other parts of the state, and nearly everything else from coffee to clothes had to be brought in by wagon. I imagine this was the case in nearly every western mining camp, including Deadwood and Virginia City. How, then, could average people get by? Or was there a strong trickle-down effect from the silver and gold being mined that pumped up wages?There was a trickle-down effect. Those who lived in towns like Tombstone and Deadwood did pay higher prices because of importing, but dressmakers, tailors, housekeepers, and others simply charged more for their services, proportionate to the cost of living. No one batted an eyelash at their prices. And, not unlike today, the higher one’s salary, the more luxury they could afford. A miner or laborer did not go out to eat every night, like a mine owner or wealthy businessman did. A miner or laborer also didn’t stay at the town’s fancy hotels. They lived in either a boarding house or a rugged miner’s cabin. The picture you paint of the classical Western saloon or at least the big saloons in Tombstone is certainly much different than the one we’ve been given all these years. The music, for instance. In the movies, all we’ve ever gotten is someone playing songs on a piano—usually from the wrong period. What kind of music could you expect hear in a mining camp circa 1880? The musical selections in the saloons were played by Italian string bands, brass quartets, and even classical pianists. Some of the fancier saloons hired a solo singer, usually female, who serenaded the patrons. However, don’t drudge up that Hollywood scene with her chest hanging out, feather boas, and corsets. A female singer wore a beautiful Victorian gown, maybe sleeveless and off the shoulder, but no cleavage. The traditional Stephen Foster songs were rarely being pounded out by a drunken cowboy. Remember that saloons, in a lot of instances, were social gathering places where the local men went to relax and discuss events or politics. But, just like today, some people got carried away with too much liquor and became obnoxious. They were usually escorted out by the barkeeper or the local law enforcement. Speaking of intoxication, one of the revelations of your books concerns the drinking habits of frontiersmen. Everyone in Westerns orders whiskey, which they immediately gulp down. It seems to me that a moment’s reflection would confirm that this wouldn’t quench thirst and would lead to almost immediate drunkenness. What did cowboys, miners, and townsfolk typically order in the saloons? As you indicated, most saloon patrons did not belly up to the bar and ask for a shot of whiskey. Yes, it did happen in very remote locations where supplies were hard to come by. However, the saloons in towns like the ones you see in the movies offered all sorts of fancy drinks. Some of the most popular drinks in 1881 included mint juleps, eggnogs, champagne flips, claret sangarees, and Tom and Jerries. Imported brandies, champagne, and wine were also enjoyed. Saloon owners prided themselves on hiring the top bartenders, or “mixologists,” and advertised that fact. Beer was also very popular, and many towns had their own breweries, usually run by German or Swiss immigrants. Saloons also offered imported beer from Ireland, Germany, England, and other European countries. In your chapter on entertainments, you write about cockfights, horse racing, boxing, wrestling, variety shows, and baseball. Give us an idea of how a rancher or businessman dropping into Tombstone for a long weekend might amuse himself. Wow! The sky was the limit. Tombstone had baseball teams, a racing track, a bowling alley, shooting ranges, a swimming pool, theaters, and more. If you were a man, you could choose from any of those, or head to one of the many saloons in town for a drink or gambling. Women, on the other hand, didn’t have too many choices. They attended the sporting events in town—except for the cockfights—and on certain days of the week they could go swimming. They also attended the performances at Schieffelin Hall, but dared not enter the Bird Cage or Crystal Palace theaters. The latter two were patronized only by men, and the women who were there were either performers or “soiled doves.” They became men-only establishments because proper women chose not to enter them so as not to soil their image. You’ve given faro exhibitions and written a book on classic Tombstone cuisine. So if you were there in 1881, what job might you choose for yourself? Would you run a gambling concession, a restaurant, perhaps, or might you choose the path of Clara Brown, the much respected journalist who went to Tombstone from California back in Wyatt Earp days? I think I would like to have been that rare exception, a female faro dealer. There were very few of them, and they were very classy and well respected. They wore beautiful gowns and jewelry, stayed at the finest hotels, ate in the best restaurants, and lived a pretty nice life. Who knows? Maybe I was one in a former life. But then again, being a journalist would have been pretty neat, too.
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