Why did young women in the 19th century go to work in saloons in the Wild West? (6 photos)

It is often believed that the Wild West was a world of cowboys and Indians, sheriffs and stagecoach robbers, scruffy prospectors and desperate settlers - that is, a world of men trying to conquer the vastness of lawlessness and death.





However, do you know why many young and respected women were not against moving from cozy and large cities to the Wild West, where lawlessness reigned, in order to get a rather dubious job in a saloon?

It turns out that this practice was quite widespread among women. Why?

First, let's talk about why many single women moved en masse to the Wild West?



Around the mid-1800s, the American Southwest experienced a huge boom in the construction of new cities and the active conquest of the Wild West. Most cities were founded near mining operations.

Suddenly, entire cities appeared with thousands of men going there to earn money and a very small number of women. In 1850, about 90% of all California settlers were exclusively male. A similar trend existed in other (fast-growing) cities, like Denver.

Soon these cities became a magnet for tens of thousands of girls eager to leave their city and make as much money as possible from single bachelors.

In America (as well as throughout the world), until the end of the 20th century, women in society were expected to maintain an impeccable reputation, untarnished by divorce, sex scandals or out-of-wedlock pregnancy. If a woman was convicted of one of these sins, then she could even be sent to a monastery as punishment (and such parental rights were quite common in the USA in the 19th century).

But in the Old West, where women were rare and their traditional skills were in high demand, ladies could taste more opportunity and freedom than they ever had before.



For example, in the Wild West, no one cared about a woman’s past, which is why many noble ladies who faced disgrace in a large city left (or fled from their husbands or parents) to the Wild West in order to get the opportunity to start life from scratch. Even women's suffrage first appeared in the Wild West.

And the Wild West also allowed women to own personal property, engage in business, and also earn money from what in all large cities would be called immoral. Yes, we are talking about working in saloons, where 70% of all single women in the Wild West came to work (not taking into account those women who moved there with their husbands and families in search of a better life).

But why did women actively go to work in saloons?



Women's roles in the Old West were somewhat limited. Women accompanying their families to the West were entirely dependent on the financial support of their male family members, who could work (be farmers, masons, builders, guards, lawyers, cowboys, miners, etc.).

However, most single women who reached the Wild West were faced with the fact that without a man nearby they had no money to live on. And a fragile woman could do little in the man's world of the Wild West, except get a job in a saloon in order to earn enough money.

There is a common misconception that all the girls who worked in the saloon necessarily worked as who you thought at first. In fact, many women who worked in saloons made money by selling drinks or dancing. Drinks typically cost between 10 and 75 cents, and for each drink sold, the saloon girls received a percentage of the profits.



By increasing the price of drinks, saloon owners could make a profit and pay their workers. Also, in order to dance with a woman, many men purchased a ticket for $1.

The most active and diligent saloon girls who sold enough booze and dancing could earn from 20 to 30 dollars a week, today it is almost 400-600 dollars. For example: in the late 1800s, a cowboy earned between $15 and $40 per month, a schoolteacher around $30 per month, a sheriff around $150 per month, and a railroad employee ~$25-$30.

In the late 1890s, rent for a small room in the Wild West was about $4 a month. The average monthly expenditure on clothing for one person was about $5 per month, and about $10 was spent on food.

Saloon girls made up a small population of the Old West and were therefore in demand among men. Their low social status often even made male visitors feel comfortable around them. Moreover, saloon owners often demanded that clients treat women well; mistreatment could result in expulsion from the establishment, ostracism from society, or even severe punishment.

And of course, women (not lacking in appearance) who worked in saloons were much more often than just drink peddlers



Historians estimate that in the 1870s - 1890s, in the saloons of the Wild West, the average age of women working there (who sold their bodies) was 23 years old. Men paid these women for intum a minimum of $5 per hour in good saloons and about $2 per hour in cheaper establishments (and about $1 for women who were too old and unattractive).

But the biggest winners were beautiful and clean women who knew their worth. Men with higher earnings could afford such ladies, since such women tried to work in the most expensive establishments (where politicians, businessmen, local officials and various prominent figures usually spent time). In such establishments, women were paid about $50 per hour. And in such establishments, women tried to snag a rich man in order to marry him and settle down. Of course, not all women were so lucky.

But many women were smarter and more cunning, they earned money, saved it, and then opened their own establishments. For example, Julia Boulette, who began her career as a simple saloon lady, became one of the richest women in her city and owned a luxurious cottage in Virginia City in the 1860s. She was popular, chose her own clients, and was rumored to earn up to $1,000 a night.

Brothel and saloon owner Anna Wilson's will required her huge mansion to be turned into a hospital in Omaha.

And former slave turned saloon owner Mary Ellen "Mammy" Pleasant tirelessly advocated for the development of streetcars in San Francisco.

As you might have guessed, many successful women made very good money in the Wild West, many even opened their own establishments and helped build the Wild West, since they were some of the richest people in their cities. Women like these did much more for the Wild West than just make money and have a good time, they directly influenced the development of entire cities.