11 minute read
The Wild West Historian
New York Times bestselling author Chris Enss brings Deadwood’s past to life, tracing the town’s brothels, famous women, and enduring myths through decades of research and firsthand storytelling.
Story by George “Clay” Mitchell; Photos Courtesy of Chris Enss
Chris Enss is no stranger to Deadwood. Her book, An Open Secret: The Story of Deadwood’s Most Notorious Bordellos was released in 2023, and she made many trips to talk about the history of the bordellos and cathouses of Deadwood. While the history is still tied to the Wild West, prostitution was tolerated in Deadwood until 1980. State law criminalized the practice, but there were no local ordinances to deal with it.
“It still surprises me the number of men who came up to me after my talk to share their experiences or how they lost their virginity in one of Deadwood’s brothels… while their wives are standing there next to them,” Enss said. “It was something they were proud of. The city tolerated prostitution because it brought in a lot of money to the city. That money built parks, hospital wings, libraries, and ballfields for schools in Deadwood.”
When the brothels left Deadwood, it had a significant impact on the local economy—a century of prostitution brought in tourism and bikers from Sturgis.
In May 1979, when federal judge John H. Wood was murdered in West Texas, the investigation of the murder weapon led to one of the brothels in Deadwood. The brothels were raided in 1980 to gather evidence and to put some of the ladies on the stand for a grand jury inquiry. At some point after the raid, the state finally stepped in and shut down the brothels permanently.
“It had a purpose financially. It was a necessary evil,” said Enss. “It may have strained relationships who came in from out of town, but as long as the brothels were there, it helped cut down the violence to other women in Deadwood.”
Enss said that some of the crimes that occurred within the brothels were often among the women who had worked there, including a time when one lady of the night, known as Maggie, was murdered by a 16-year-old girl from a different house, who had a tryst with Maggie’s boyfriend.
“There were some madams who treated their women well, like Dora DuFran. She provided medical treatment and proper clothing,” Enss said. “She had her own cooks on staff, so her girls were fed really well. She took care of her property.”
DuFran, who began her career at the age of 16, would eventually branch out and run houses in other towns. She was married and had two children.
“She definitely was not what you would think of as a madam,” added Enss.
To keep things loosely regulated before they were shut down, law enforcement would often cite the brothels for selling alcohol without a license. Many of the women were arrested for breaking the nation’s prohibition, being drunk, or purchasing liquor.
“They could overlook some aspects of it, but there were some that they weren’t going to tolerate,” Enss laughed. “Back then, brothels had to do things because they competed with each other. Some would serve sandwiches, and one even had half-naked trapeze artists swinging overhead to entertain while men waited their turn with their girl. When dealing with the client, they had to balance helping the men not to forget why they’re there, so they wanted to keep them sober.”
She added that many of the names of the brothels were another aspect she found fascinating, including one that was called “The Office.”
“They weren’t lying if they were saying they were at ‘The Office...’ but they weren’t telling the truth,” said Enss.
The Brothel Museum in Deadwood is in the former Shasta Rooms brothel, with rooms set up to show what it was like during the different decades, including 1876 to 1900, 1920s, 1940s to 1950s, and the 1960s to 1970s.
There were about 20 brothels at one time in Deadwood, but maybe more. Enss said about eight to 10 girls would work in each house and “it would be hard to manage more than a dozen.” Until the 1930s, the average age of the girls was 16 to 28, but shifted to 21 to 49.
“I want to be conservative with that number. There could have been as many as 150 in that one town, including the outlying areas like Sturgis,” Enss said. “One madam set up a house not too far from Fort Mead. She knew she would get traffic coming and going. She was another one who was married and running a brothel.”
The lure of the promises out West is similar to the lines fed to unsuspecting young girls and boys today.
“There was plenty of crazy back in the day. One gentleman would travel East in search of these women who were disenfranchised with no family or family that had ignored or cast them out,” said Enss. “He could make them a star on stage. So many of them didn’t realize that when they went there, they would end up working in a theater, and the upper levels were a brothel. Not a lot of men were running brothels, but Al Swearengen was one of the worst.”
When Swearengen first arrived in Deadwood, he came with a woman and another young man. Both were prostitutes. The young man would dress as a woman and earn more money than the woman.
Enss said it was unusual to have a theater and a brothel combined, even though there was a popular one in Tombstone, the Birdcage. She added it was more about combining different things to sell watered-down alcohol. “It wasn’t good for your system,” Enss said of the watered-down concoctions.
“There’s nothing new under the sun. People have always been hungry to be famous and are willing to pay a price to make that happen,” said Enss. “I would say many of these young women were completely unaware of what awaited them. They had no family or anyone to speak for them. Sometimes, the people of Deadwood would help.”
Enss told of one young woman who faked an illness to keep from working in the brothel. She was too “sick” to sing or dance. The young woman managed to contact a local ministry for assistance and eventually was able to get away.
She’s given so many talks about the history of prostitution that she was dubbed a “whorestorian.” However, Enss is more of a “herstorian.” Enss has written about different women who made an impact on the American West. She’s a New York Times bestselling author who has spent more than three decades writing over 50 books that chronicle the lives of women in the Wild West.
In the Wild West, Deadwood was cosmopolitan and robust. That grit still shows. Enss said other towns of the Wild West still hold some of their glamor, but there’s something special about Deadwood.
“When you go into Deadwood, you have such incredible, picturesque views. Deadwood recognizes its history and the interest in its history,” Enss said. “It’s important to tell those stories because they have value. You can find some wonderful places that are still there, and it looks like time stood still. Go to Saloon No. 10, for instance… it serves the best food. There’s some fantastic food in Deadwood.”
Sometimes the stories get away and create legends or mythology. One such myth is the romance between Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickok.
“They weren’t together. They arrived in mid-July and weren’t in town very long,” Enss said. “Folks like to be able to tell that story. He was married, but Calamity was buried next to him, which leads to some of the legend.” subjects she chooses to write about. “You could write about the surface, but I don’t want to write those books.”
Separating the real stories from the myths is what Enss does as she researches her topics to learn about who these women were. Some examples include Laura Bullion and Kate Elder.
“Laura was waiting with the horses, which is the modern equivalent of being the getaway driver, and she became “The Thorny Rose” of the Wild Bunch and made her into something she wasn’t,” said Enss.
“People love that stuff. They love to romanticize that time. But she wasn’t a professional train robber.”
Enss dived into the Pinkerton files, state records in Missouri, and read Bullion’s own words.
“You have to do a deep dive. You could write about the surface, but I don’t want to write those books. Even if Laura Bullion did rob one train, that’s still going to make history,” Enss said. “When I wrote about Kate Elder. I took a lot of the myths, the business that was built around the heroism and the characters, and she didn’t think highly of the Earps. I wanted to know why she thought the way she did in her journals.”
Enss has earned numerous honors, including nine Will Rogers Medallion Awards, two Elmer Kelton Book Awards, an Oklahoma Center for the Book Award, three Foreword Reviews Book Awards, the Laura Downing Journalism Award, and the Willa Cather Award for scholarly nonfiction. Some of her recent works include The Widowed Ones: Beyond the Battle of the Little Bighorn—penned with writing partner Howard Kazanjian—The Doctor Was a Woman: Stories of the First Female Physicians on the Frontier, According to Kate: The Legendary Life of Big Nose Kate, Love of Doc Holliday, Meet the Kellys: The True Story of Machine Gun Kelly and His Moll, Kathryn Thorne, and Along Came a Cowgirl: Daring and Iconic Women of Rodeo and Wild West Shows.
“Women in the Wild West had incredible lives,” said Enss. “I found it fascinating that they came west and their sex had nothing to do with it. They wanted a better life. Some wanted to practice medicine, but they couldn’t do so back home. They wanted to make something of their lives without apology and without permission.”
Enss continued: “They were detective agents, businesswomen, they opened their own restaurants, found their own gold strikes. They were entertainers and pioneers. They accomplished all that before they had the right to vote. Even with my research about prostitution on the American frontier, they were the first women to vote. They ran the brothels, so they had to purchase a license and vote for those locations. I believe that the 19th Amendment was helped along by women who worked the brothels or the old cathouses.”
George “Clay” Mitchell is an award-winning reporter and photographer, a founding partner of Saddlebag Dispatches, and Executive Vice President and Publisher of its partner company, Roan & Weatherford Publishing Associates. He lives in Lavaca, Arkansas, with his wife and two daughters.
