Montana Madams


Book Description

Men flooded to the Montana frontier for gold, furs, rich land, and jobs. Women followed, but their options were more limited. Here are stories of women who made a desperate choice, turning the law of supply and demand to their advantage. Many eked out a meager but independent existience; grit and business acumen brought remarkable wealth and influence—even respectability—to a few. From Alzada to Yaak, these enterprising women shaped Montana communities, in some cases helping to fund social programs and public education.




Wanton West


Book Description

From the time of the gold rush to the election of the first woman to the U.S. Congress, Wanton West brings to life the women of the West's wildest region: Montana, famous for its lawlessness, boomtowns, and America's largest red-light districts. Prostitutes and entrepreneurs--like Chicago Joe, Madame Mustache, and Highkicker—flocked to Montana to make their own money, gamble, drink, and raise hell just like men. Moralists wrote them off as “soiled doves,” yet a surprising number prospered, flaunting their freedom and banking ten times more than their “respectable” sisters. A lively read providing new insights into women's struggle for equality, Wanton West is a refreshingly objective exploration of a freewheeling society and a re-creation of an unforgettable era in history.




Beyond Schoolmarms and Madams


Book Description

Sheriff Garfield had just been elected to a second term in 1920 when he was fatally shot. His wife Ruth, a ranching woman with a young son, set aside her grief to serve out her husband's term. She was Montana's first female sheriff and served two years. Stories like Ruth Garfield's fill the pages of Beyond Schoolmarms and Madams: Montana Women's Stories. The women featured in this book range from late eighteenth-century Indian women warriors to twenty-first century Blackfeet banker Elouise Cobell. They span geography--from the western Montana women who worked for the Forest Service, to Miles City doctor Sadie Lindeberg. And they span ideology--from the members of the Montana Federation of Colored Women's Clubs, who led the fight for laws banning segregation in public accommodations, to the Women of the Ku Klux Klan. With grit and foresight, these women shaped Montana.




Boudoirs to Brothels


Book Description

From boudoirs to brothels, historian Michael Rutter takes you into the intimate world of the Wild West's women of the night. Eighteen richly researched biographies reveal the tricks and torments of the trade, with fascinating sidebars on venereal diseases (and dire "cures"), children of prostitutes, a floating brothel, and hog ranches.




Good Time Girls of the Rocky Mountains


Book Description

Throughout the development of the American West, prostitution grew and flourished within the mining camps, small towns, and cities of the nineteenth-century Rocky Mountains. Whether escaping a bad home life, lured by false advertising, or seeking to subsidize their income, thousands of women chose or were forced to enter an industry where they faced segregation and persecution, fines and jailing, and battled the hazards of disease, drug addiction, physical abuse, and pregnancy. They dreamed of escape through marriage or retirement, but more often found relief only in death. An integral part of western history, the stories of these women continue to fascinate readers and captivate the minds of historians today.




Montana 1889


Book Description

When Montana became the 41st state in 1889, an old pinoeer lamented, “Now she's gone to hell,” but most Montanans embraced statehood as the inevitable culmination of one of the most rapid and dramatic transformations in United States history. Only twenty-five years after becoming a territory, Montana was profoundly different: the buffalo slaughtered and gone, the Indian wars fought and ended, the tribal nations confined to reservations, cattle and sheep raised by the tens of thousands, Butte exploded into a rich, wide-open town, and railroads built to link the once remote land with the world. Montana 1889 tells the many stories of this overwhelming transformation by entering into the lives, emotions, and decisions of diverse peoples cooperating and competing on this contested ground. As in Ken Egan’s highly acclaimed Montana 1864, these stories are told month by month, deftly showing the flow and friction of events and the unfolding destinies of individuals and nations.




Twisted Travel Guide: Western Montana


Book Description

Avoid The Tourist Herds. What could be more uninspiring than seeing the identical attractions that everyone else has for decades? This Twisted Tour Guide escorts you to the places locals don’t want to talk about anymore…the same places people once couldn’t stop talking about. Long after the screaming headlines and sensationalism has subsided, these bizarre, infamous and obscure historical sites remain hidden awaiting rediscovery. Each visitation site in this guide is accompanied by a story. Many of the narratives defy believability, yet they are true. The profiled cast of characters feature saints and sinners (with emphasis towards the latter). Notorious crimes, murders, accidental deaths, suicides, kidnappings, vice and scandal are captivating human interest tales. The photography from each profile showcases the precise location where each event occurred. The scenes can seem ordinary, weird and/or sometimes very revealing towards clarifying the background behind events. If you’re seeking an alternative to conventional tourism, this Twisted Tourist Guide is ideal. Each directory accommodates the restless traveler and even resident looking for something unique and different. BOZEMAN Founder John Bozeman, Lady Mary Blackmore, Vigilante mob hearings and hangings, Grave robbers, Last standing brothel, Justice and public lynchings, Idaho Pole Company superfund and Downtown gas line explosion BUTTE Dynamite Explosion of 1895, Galloping gallows, Dumas Brothel, Apparitions of Fire Station #1, Adventuress Eva Hart, Blue Range Building, Copper King William Clark, Venus Alley, Butte Tin Shop, Chinatown, Royal Parlor House, Silver Dollar Saloon, Metals Bank Building, Temperance Icon Carrie Nation, Local miner’s union unrest, Anaconda Road Massacre, Martial law, Granite Mountain Mine Memorial, Execution of Labor agitator Frank Little, 1918 Spanish Influenza, Berkeley Copper Mine disaster, Board of Trade Saloon, Journalist Howard Rushmore, Dimple Knees, Evel Knievel, M & M Saloon, Elementary school shooting of Jeremy Bullock and the fatal aircraft crash inside Holy Cross Cemetery. HELENA Guardian of the Gulch lookout tower, Lime Kilns graffiti, Doomed prisoner escape on the Governor’s mansion stairwell, Refuge for unwed mothers and reforming prostitutes, Doomed Victorian Madames and their brothels, Montana Club swastikas, Phantom of the Greenstreet Theatre, Thomas Cruse, Helena Cathedral, Confederate soldier memorial fountain, Canary Bird Moonshiner, Gangland retaliation murder, 1935 Earthquake, Tragic inspiration for A River Runs Through It and 1989 Train collision. MISSOULA: Mercantile Building, Oxford Café, Murder of Maurice Higgins, Madame Mary Gleim, House of piercing screams, Wilma Theatre, Florence Building, Missoula Mauler, Merry Prankster Edith Greenough, Cold Case arrest and suicide thirty years after, University of Montana paranormal spirits and sex scandal, Acid bath murders and Party motel killings. SMALL TOWN STORIES Unabomber’s Sanctuary, Shoebox Annie the serial killer, Erasing father existence in Alberton, America’s largest toxic railroad spill, A Belgrade amateur execution, Actor Patrick Duffy’s parents murder, Nyleen Kay Marshall abduction, Jesse James Montana Days, Prison Warden Frank Conley, Mass murder in a beauty salon, Sheila Jordan’s unsolved killing, Casino abduction and precious metals killings, Morrisite sect church, Thermal hot springs hotel becomes mental institution and the ill-fated marital reunion murder…plus many more.




Madam Millie


Book Description

Madam Millie contains sordid details and frank language that will make many readers blush. It is unvarnished language, as recorded directly from Millie by Max Evans over a period of almost twenty years. It presents a complete picture of the business of prostitution as it was practiced in the west from the late 1920s to the mid 1970s, told by the most successful madam in the business.




Northwestern American Creepy Buildings: Their Storied Past


Book Description

This edition showcases the effects and consequences of human depravity, frailty and criminal activity. The showcased and photographed remaining structures generally appear nondescript and ordinary, masking their significance and infamy. Throughout the western United States, these commonplace buildings silently testify to events involving violence and individuals whose acts have scarred others, society and sometimes simply themselves. Their stories remain compelling evidence towards the fragility of the human experience and lives severed abruptly. Once you’ve absorbed the history behind each building, you will never view them with indifference again. Paranormal activity within their confines is commonly reported. OREGON Famous/Obscure Murder Cases and Suicides Franck Akin, Ashley Benson, Nancy Bergeson, Bowden Bombed Residence, Jerry Brudos, Dark Stranger Serial Killer, Pioneer Murder, Veronica Dolan, Oregon Prison Director Michael Francke, Michele Dee Gate’s Legacy, Diane Hank, Brittany Maynard’s Assisted Suicide, Lloyolla Miller, Tim Moreau, Roma Ollison and The Zone Nightclub shooting. Bizarre Buildings Crime Boss Jim Elkins Hangout, Erickson’s Saloon, Golden West Hotel, Kell’s Irish Pub, Kelly’s Olympian Bar, White Eagle Saloon, Merchants Hotel, The Open Door Buildings and Oregon State Hospital. WASHINGTON Famous/Obscure Murder Cases and Suicides Ted Bundy, Green River Killer, Jake Bird and his Fatal Hex, Brides of Christ Founder, Café Racer, Ann Marie Burr, Fairhaven Werewolf Murder, Maurice Clemmons, Singer Kurt Cobain, James Elledge, John Fiori, Charles Goldmark Family, Teresa Butz, Capital Hill Massacre, Little Willie John, Judge Gary Little, Lee Boyd Malvo, John Considine, Edwin Pratt, Rafay Family, Red Barn Tavern, Seattle Pacific University, Layne Staley, Wah Nee Gambling Club, Justice Tom Wales, Radio Activist Mike Webb, Timothy Alioth and Donna Plew, Louis Bellessa, Turid Bentley, Doug Carlile, Lil Danger, Fred Cohen, Dan Lane, Zachary Craven, Sexual Offender Vigilantes, Michael Feeney, Billy Gohl, Patrick Kevin Gibson, Edward Weed, Lynn Heimsoth, Barbara Hickey, Seattle Jewish Federation rampage, Peter Keller, Geneva MacDonald, Donna Perry, Jimmy Smith, Trang Dail Massacre, Wilson Family and Otto Zehm. Bizarre Buildings Alfred’s Café, Lou Graham Block, People’s Theatre and G. O. Guy’s Drugstore, Davenport Hotel, Kirkland’s Life Care Center, Mount Vernon Presbyterian Church, Old Town Café, Patsy Clark Mansion, Starvation Heights, Sycamore Square Building and Waterfront Tavern NORTHERN IDAHO Bizarre Buildings Fatty Carroll’s Variety, Wilson Pharmacy, Bates Motel and Oasis Bordello Museum MONTANA Famous/Obscure Murder Cases and Suicides Phil Nebeker, Lauren DeWise, Actor Patrick Duffy’s Parents, Tom Sing, John and Florence Sprouse, Marjorie and Nancy McQuiston, Julianne Stallman, Paul Maclean, Sheila Jordan, Missoula Mauler, Verna Joy Kvale, Jackson Wiles and Marilyn Picket, Beverly and Greg Giannonatti and Tina Schowengerdt. Bizarre Buildings Butte Sheriff’s Office, Dumas Brothel, Butte’s Fire Station #1, Copper King’s Mansion, M & M Cigar Store, Montana Territorial and State Prison, Hair Gallery, Governor’s Mansion, Lillie McGraw’s Bluestone House, Mollie Byrnes residence, Montana Club’s swastika entrance, Grandstreet Theatre, Helena Cathedral, Helena Stone House and Lime Kilns, St. Louis Block, Mercantile Building, Oxford Café, Gleim Building, House of Screams, Florence Building, The Keep Restaurant, University of Montana’s Main and Brantly Halls, Missoula’s Mountain Valley Inn, Jackson Creek Saloon and Casino, Racetrack Morrisite Church and Montana State Hospital




Upstairs Girls


Book Description

Prostitutes make up one of the most engaging chapters in the story of the American West. Upstairs Girls opens a window on the lives of these women for hire. Historian Michael Rutter offers a thorough and fascinating history of prostitution in the West, with details on why women turned to this profession and what their lives were like. Chapters on the notorious madams, the tragic Chinese sex trade, occupational hazards, rowdy dancehall girls, and the efforts of the ''Moral Purity Movement'' supplement the heart-breaking and sometimes humorous profiles on some of the most famous madams and prostitutes in history.