Look What They Found In Old Wild West

http://channels.netscape.com ^ | two years ago | Cathryn Conroy

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

Look What They Found In Old Wild West

More than two years ago, archaeologists made an astounding find when they were digging in the dirt about 20 miles southeast of Reno, Nevada: The remnants of an Old West saloon that was open for business from 1864 to 1875. But this wasn't just any old saloon. It was the Boston Saloon of Virginia City, and it was owned by William A. G. Brown, a free black man from Massachusetts who catered to the community's small population of African-Americans, as well as the white people in the town. This is the first known excavation of a black-owned saloon of the 19th-century American West, reports The Associated Press.

The Boston Saloon was likely one of the nicest taverns in the Old West, where its customers dined in elegance by the light of newly-patented gas lamps. They played dominoes. They ate the finest cuts of meat, including leg of lamb. "The Boston Saloon appears to have had a great deal of ambience and atmosphere. It was a lively, well-lit place with music," State Historic Preservation Officer Ron James told the Reno Gazette-Journal.

Some 40,000 artifacts have been found, and quite a few of them have reshaped the traditional views of our nation's frontier. Maybe the wild west wasn't so wild! Oh sure, they found pistols and poker chips, but they also found crystal-stemmed goblets, remnants of expensive lighting, and a mouthpiece from a trombone.

A small cache of perforated and disfigured coins was found beneath the floorboards; the people of this mining frontier town likely believed those coins could be transformed into objects of supernatural control. They found bottles that once held champagne, wine, ale, Italian bitters, and "Gordon's Gin," as well as bottles that contained mineral water from Germany and soda water from Ireland.

One of the most remarkable discoveries was a 130-year-old bottle of Tabasco. Reconstructed from 31 shards of glass, it is now officially the oldest style of Tabasco bottle known to exist. Historians speculate that the Boston Saloon was among the first eateries to introduce Tabasco. "The Tabasco bottle is particularly intriguing because of what it implies about African-American cuisine and the development of the West," Kelly Dixon, administrator of the Comstock Archaeology Center who supervised the dig, told AP. "This was an exotic product, and Comstock African-Americans were apparently the ones breaking this new ground." Tabasco was created by a New Orleans banker name Edmund McIlhenny, who blended aged red peppers, salt, and vinegar to create the Tabasco brand pepper sauce in 1868 on Avery Island, Louisiana. He first used discarded cologne bottles, but then made his own. "This discovery helps us fill the earliest chapter of our company's history," said Shane K. Bernard, a Tabasco sauce historian and curator of the company archives.

But the greatest find of all isn't as tangible as these artifacts. James told the Reno Journal-Gazette that said the discovery of the tavern is significant because it helps break down stereotypes of an ethnic group that has been targeted throughout history with prejudice and racism. "We learned that in Virginia City during the second half of the 19th century where there were hundreds of saloons, African-Americans had a place to go to that was respected and dignified," James said.

--Cathryn Conroy

[WaterDragon]

The discovery is significant because the saloon was owned by a black man. This should return some pride to blacks today who've been told blacks either never accomplished anything or that they were the ones who accomplished everything. In fact, they were Americans, while both slave and free, and were part of the innovation and entrepreneurship for which Americans are are appropriately famous.

[BenLurkin]

There was an article about thsi saloon posted here on FreeRepublic about two years ago.

[philetus]

The black man who owned and operated that tavern would have hung JJ.

[Old Professer]

I thought Little House was filmed in a rock quarry in Simi Valley, Ca.

[Randjuke]

"The Tabasco bottle is particularly intriguing because of what it implies about African-American cuisine and the development of the West,"

I hate to be a party-pooper here, but it seems to me one bottle doesn't carry that much of an implication about cuisine and Western development. Someone passing through could have tossed it in the trash for all we know. Now if they'd found a whole case...

[Indrid Cold]

That's kind of the joke. You can't hardly find a 30 foot hill in SW Minnesota, yet the footage from Little House has mountains all over it.

[stylin_geek]

I grew up in CA, lived in MN for better than 20 years, and let me assure you, there are no mountains in MN... :)

(pennywise for your tagline)

[Indrid Cold]

I grew up about 15 miles from Walnut Grove, MN. There's not much to laugh about in that area of the state, but the mountains on Little House was one thing...

You're the first one to catch the tagline. I feel like I should give you a dollar or something... Thanks for paying attention.

[Redwood71]

Conservatives freed the slaves, got them citizenship, got them the vote, did away with the pole tax and literacy tests, and passed the civil rights acts in the 60's despite liberal opposition to another freedom for a people of this land. Why was it done? To keep blacks, along with other minority races, on welfare, in secondary education schools, in the slums, misled about the cause of all of it so the "minorities" would hate the conservatives and stay locked (trapped) under their liberal thumb for voting purposes. And if you think we are passed all that, be reminded that as late as the 80's Bill Clinton was found guilty of trying to inetimidate minorities at the poles in Arkansas by a three judge panel and told to back off. Wanna know how to get real freedom for everyone, bring back the conservative ideals. They worked in the past, they would work again. The New World Order of Lyndon Johnson is far closer to George Orwell than George Bush.

Red

[Pharmboy]

Another great American (half) black innkeeper was Sam Fraunces of Fraunces' Tavern fame and friend of George Washinton; meeting place in NYC for the Sons of Liberty and where Gen. Washington said farewell to his officers, Dec 4, 1783.

[stylin_geek]

Eh, donate a dollar in my name to the re-elect GW Bush campaign. :)

Yeah, but Walnut Grove was probably a great place to grow up. I grew up in a small town in CA where there were a lot of things for kids to do.

[SunkenCiv]

Just adding this to the GGG homepage, not sending a general distribution.

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[SunkenCiv]

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Just updating the GGG information, not sending a general distribution. Just adding to the catalog, not sending a general distribution. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.

[Fresh Wind]

Look here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sI8aiS0UPQo