5 minute read
Sherry Monahan: Lively Libations
Gold, Guns, and Whiskey: How Deadwood’s gold rush ran on rotgut.
The Black Hills of the Dakota Territory were home to the Lakota Indians until a rich gold deposit was discovered in the fall of 1875. The U.S. Government gave the land to the Lakota in the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty, but that didn’t stop excited fortune seekers from illegally entering Indian land. By the fall and winter of 1876, Deadwood’s population had swollen to about ten thousand.
Seth Bullock, who became sheriff of Deadwood, arrived in August 1876 and wrote to a friend, “I arrived here August 3d and found a ‘red hot’ mining town. Claims are 300 feet up and down. A great many here are idle and broke. Business of all kinds is represented. [Jack] Langrishe has a theatre here, and two dance houses boom nightly. We have no law and order, and no prospect of either. I cannot advise you to come; on the contrary, I think you are doing better than you could here. Board here is $10 per week, flour $8 per hundred, bacon 20 cents per pound, etc., whisky 25 cents a drink.”
Early Deadwood resident Jerry Lewis, and a pallbearer for James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok, also recalled the lively gold town in early 1876. He told a reporter,
“Four hundred buildings have been erected, and every lot on the town site has the foundation of some sort of structure laid on it. There are four regular saloons, where a bad quality of whisky is retailed, and six stores, where you can buy groceries, clothing, canned fruits, gum boots, or whisky. A dance house is to be established soon in Swearengen Hall, a log and frame building 35 x 80 feet, and a bevy of eight waiters and dance girls are now en route from Cheyenne, their arrival being eagerly and impatiently awaited.”
When genuine whiskey rolled into Deadwood, it was a big deal. Namely because rotgut was the norm early on, and the sheer location of getting barrels into town was a challenge. Because Deadwood was in the rugged Black Hills with twisty, curvy roads, it was difficult to reach by coach and freight shipments were erratic. The Black Hills Daily Times wrote in 1882: “An Immense Stock.
For a couple of weeks past teams have been unloading an immense stock of wine, beer, and liquors for Gottstein & Franklin. Their stock includes the very best brands of cigars, cordials, pure gin, fine rum, extra brandy, and splendid whiskies, and last though not least, one hundred barrels of genuine Bourbon whisky on hand. Prices to suit the times.”
Deadwood drew many colorful characters during its boom, but none are more famous than Martha Jane “Calamity Jane” Cannary and the man she adored, James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok. Jane was more comfortable around men rather than her female counterparts and had gained a reputation in Deadwood for cussing, spitting tobacco, and getting drunk and disorderly. She and Bill downed plenty of whiskey during their Deadwood days.
Colonel F. G. Patrick recalled Bill’s fondness for whiskey, “I had entered the place where I found Will Bill and two companions playing cards at a table for whisky. Bill was a voracious drinker, and it was customary for him to say, upon being introduced to a stranger, ‘Time to take a drink. It makes me damned dry talking to you sons of bitches.”
Rock candy syrup was used to rectify rye whiskey into a product called Rock and Rye. This was a controversial beverage because not only was it offered as a cocktail in saloons, but it was also sold as a health tonic. Some mixologists recommended it to soothe a sore throat, but some just liked the way it tasted. The makers of one brand of Rock and Rye called Tolu—which was a popular health tonic in the late 1870s and early 1880s—claimed it could cure coughs, colds, sore throats, debilitated constitutions, weakness of the lungs, or consumption. The high alcohol content and lack of other active ingredients, of course, meant that the elixir wasn’t acally effective, and it was banned in some areas.
Next time you get “dry” talking to someone, sip this popular 1880s cocktail.
Rock and Rye Cocktail
1 cup water
3 cups sugar, white, brown, or maple
1 tablespoon rock candy syrup
1 wine glass Rye whiskey
Bring the water to a boil over high heat. Remove and stir in sugar. Allow sugar to dissolve. Place 1 tablespoon of the syrup in a whiskey glass and add the whiskey. Stir together and serve.
Source: Adapted from Jerry Thomas’s, The Bar-Tender’s Guide, 1887.
Sherry Monahan is an award-winning culinary historian who enjoys researching the genealogy of food and spirits. While there’s still plenty to explore about frontier food, she’s expanding her culinary repertoire to include places and foods from all over America and beyond. She holds memberships in the James Beard Foundation, the Author’s Guild, and the Wild West History Association. She is also a professional genealogist, and an honorary Dodge City marshal. Her newest cookbook, Culinary Treasures: Dude & Guest Ranches of America, will hit bookstores this Fall, alongside Victorian Recipes with a Side of Scandal: The Story of Ethel Barry, which was released in December.
