The DIRTY Truth About Wild West Saloons

PART 2:

 The main sounds were the low murmur  of conversations, punctuated by the hacking   coughs of sick men. Visually, the place  was just grimy. The floors were rough wood,   covered in a layer of sawdust to absorb spills  and tobacco spit, creating a perpetually damp   and dirty surface. The bar itself was sticky, and  the whole place was dimly lit by smoky kerosene   lamps. Even the iconic batwing doors weren’t for  dramatic entrances; they were for ventilation.  

Number 2: A Hotbed for Sickness The Wild West saloon was dirty in the   most literal sense, turning these crowded places  into breeding grounds for deadly diseases. The   threats inside a saloon were often invisible  and far more dangerous than any gunfight.   For the average person on the frontier, bathing  was a huge and infrequent chore.

 Water had to   be hauled by hand and heated over a fire. In  a typical family, everyone would wash in the   same small tub of water, starting with the  father and ending with the youngest child.   By the end, the water was cold and filthy. Dental hygiene was just as bad. People often used   a knife to pick food from their teeth.

 If a tooth  got infected, the local barber or blacksmith would   pull it out with pliers and a shot of whiskey  for the pain. The towns themselves were just as   unsanitary. There were no sewer systems, and waste  was simply dumped outside of town. This filth was   constantly tracked into the crowded saloon. This environment was a paradise for pests like   lice, flies, and roaches.

 This perfect  storm of poor hygiene, no sanitation,   and pests made the saloon an incredibly efficient  place for disease to spread. Cholera could rip   through a saloon from shared, unwashed glasses.  Tuberculosis spread easily in the close, smoky   rooms. Smallpox, another highly contagious virus,  would have also spread like wildfire. In reality,   you were far more likely to die from a disease  you caught in a saloon than from a bullet.  

Number 3: The Whiskey Was Poison Beyond the physical and biological filth, another   kind of dirt flowed freely: the liquor itself.  The whiskey that cowboys drank was rarely smooth,   aged bourbon. More often, it was a disgusting and  dangerous concoction known by names like “Coffin   Varnish,” “Tarantula Juice,” or “rotgut.” True, aged whiskey was a rare luxury.

 To   meet the demand for cheap liquor, saloonkeepers  created fake spirits. The base was usually cheap,   raw grain alcohol. To turn this into  “whiskey,” they added burnt sugar   for color and a plug of chewing tobacco to  give it a “kick” with a dose of nicotine.   But the most alarming ingredients  were poisonous chemicals.

 Recipes   for fake bourbon called for additives like  turpentine and creosote, a wood preservative.   The final product was a harsh liquid that could  make a person violently ill. The name “rotgut”   was a literal description of its effects. This  wasn’t just a few bad apples; it was a widespread   industry with almost no government regulation. Even the beer was a disappointment.

 Without   refrigeration, it was served at room  temperature, often flat and stale. And   just like whiskey, it was sometimes doctored  with narcotics to make it seem stronger.   Number 4: Vice and Violence  Weren’t Like the Movies   The saloon’s reputation as a den of vice  was earned, but the reality was far less   glamorous than what we see on screen.

 First, the classic bar brawl—the massive,   chaotic free-for-all—is almost entirely a movie  invention. Real saloon violence was sporadic,   personal, and much more lethal. It was typically  a quick, brutal, and deadly encounter between two   or three men over a gambling dispute or an insult.  Recognizing this danger, many towns made patrons   check their firearms at the door.

 This simple  form of gun control ensured that most disputes   were settled with fists, not bullets. Gambling was the main entertainment.   There were respected “square dealers”  who built a reputation for honesty,   and there were traveling cardsharps who preyed  on newcomers with marked cards and other tricks.   The role of women is also misunderstood.

  A distinction existed between “saloon   girls” and prostitutes. Saloon girls were  entertainers. Their job was to sing, dance,   and talk with lonely patrons to keep them  buying drinks. For many women, this was a   path to financial independence. Prostitution was a  separate, and much more dangerous, line of work.   Number 5: Not Everyone Was Welcome Contrary to the image of a lawless   free-for-all, the saloon was a highly  structured environment with rigid,   unwritten rules and stark lines of exclusion. The saloon was the social center of the white  

male frontier. It was where cowboys, miners,  lawmen, and outlaws could all cross paths.   The line between a lawman and an  outlaw was often surprisingly thin.   However, this “melting pot” had firm boundaries.  A “respectable” woman would never set foot in   a saloon. Racial exclusion was also the rule.

  Native Americans and Chinese immigrants were not   welcome. While Black men were a significant part  of the West, they were also generally barred from   white-owned saloons and established their own. One surprising excluded group was the U.S. Army   soldier. Many saloon patrons had a natural disdain  for the uniform and the authority it represented.   Within the accepted group of patrons, behavior was  governed by a strict code.

 Privacy was critical;   you never asked a man personal questions  about his past. And a powerful custom was   the obligation to buy a round of drinks. Refusing  a drink offered to you was a terrible insult.   The romanticized saloon of Hollywood is a fiction.  The historical truth is that the real saloon was   a raw, filthy, and foul-smelling hub of disease.

  It served poisonous liquor to a select clientele   governed by rigid social codes. This grimy  reality, however, is a much more accurate and   powerful symbol of the American West than the  myth that has replaced it. It reveals a world   not of simple heroes, but of real people  struggling to survive in a harsh world.   What part of the real Wild West saloon surprised  you the most? The poisonous whiskey, the rampant   diseases, or the strict social rules? Let us know  in the comments below. Thanks for watching