Saloon #10- Deadwood, South Dakota

Playing Tourist 

Last month, Don and I spent one night in Deadwood.  We figured we should absorb some of the whacky wild west hoopla at Saloon #10!

The next day in the morning light, the brown facade looked like a little Lincoln Log building with cute red touches.  But on the Friday before, this building on   Main Street had a whole different vibe.
 

Wagon Wheels!

I love me some wagon wheel windows and I could get a good look at them in the morning without crowds of partying bikers. 

Friday Night

Actually, we arrived early on Friday and the crowd was pretty mild. There could have been gangs of bikers and wet teeshirt contests and all sorts of things.  But it was before 8:30. Children are even welcome at that time.  

Besides people, there was a lot to look at in Saloon #10.  Let's start with the floor.  That would be sawdust, not dirt. 

Greeter? Bouncer?

Don and I grabbed a couple barrel chairs and ordered some beer. But then there was some noise and I had to step outside to check on a gunfight. They have a lot of gunfights in Deadwood. Like maybe every few hours. I needed to see what was going on.

The bouncer was checking IDs when I tried to head back in.  That made me feel pretty young, since I haven't been to a place with a bouncer since I was about 21.  What didn't make me feel young was how the big guy kind of chuckled and shooed me in when I insisted I'd left my purse inside with my husband.   
Carved Bar

There were some beautiful images from the old west, like this carved bar.  I wanted badly to know the history behind that.  But the history is all a little muddled in Deadwood.  Everything revolves around Wild Bill Hickok, who was killed during a poker game in Saloon #10.  But not in this bar... it was a different place... but that place burned down... in one of the many fires... because there's a lot of flammable wood in Deadwood... near the gulch...  

But really, I just wanted to know all about that gorgeous carved bar, that no one was even looking at.

Up High

Besides the carved bar, there were stuffed critters and snow shoes and Victorian lamps and other things to study.

Cows and Doors

The conjoined calf twins on display above the door were named "Double Cheeseburger" which is just mean.  I didn't exactly want to know the history of those two.  Well, maybe I'd like to know why one was wearing a crown.  And nearby, there was a very cool, old door.  I've seen a lot of western movie scenes where the "bad guys" are dramatically shut out by using a sliding bolt like that!

Photos

The walls were covered in old photos, especially ones related to Wild Bill Hickok, who is also buried near Calamity Jane high on a hill just outside of town.  I can look at old photos for days.

A Horse in the Saloon

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If you don't look carefully at these photos, you'll miss the good stuff, like the man sitting on the horse in this bar photo.  Hmm, this looks a little rigged to me.  Those men looked a little too scrubbed for an authentic old-timey photo.  

Characters

After a while, we began to notice a few western characters stroll towards the back of the saloon.  Oh boy, another little bit of drama!  Before long there were loud voices and a gunshot or two. Wild Bill was shot in the middle of his poker game. We actually couldn't see the full scene from where we were sitting, but we got to enjoy our own behind the scenes view a few minutes later.  A couple of "actors" killed some time nearby before the next happening.  The slumped body language and yawning, made me think this might not be the dream job.

So Don and I enjoyed the downstairs scene until about the time kids are no longer welcome in the bar. Then we left the bar scene (being young at heart) and headed upstairs.    

Deadwood Social Club... For Dinner

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That's the name of the upstairs restaurant, which is actually under the same ownership.  There were no shootouts upstairs and no saloon girls waiting on us. Just some surprisingly delicious food served by a very decent waiter.  Walleye and Chicken Carbonara with Risotto!  So we had more than a liquid diet at the saloon!  What a nice surprise and a good way to end our evening at Saloon #10.