old west prostitution

in Denver

I took an "underground tour" of Seattle and discovered that prostitution was strong in its early days. As a mining and shipping town, the vast majority of its inhabitants were men. Not that I would have been complaining. Entrepreneurial women found that while the average man made $1 a day, they could make $25 a day in one of the oldest professions around. Most history books don't make any mention of this. At the gift shop there I purchased a book called Soiled Doves, Prostitution in the Early West, by Anne Seagraves, and found it an interesting read, despite the author's very judgemental stance.

I discovered that there were various sorts of establishments, from parlor houses, high-class brothels, to saloons, hurdy gurdy dance halls, volume brothels, cribs, and streetwalkers. Among the Chinese communities in the Western U.S. there were also slave girls.

"The girls employed in these [high volume] brothels worked in shifts. They were older, less attractive, and most used drugs or alcohol... The madams offered quantity, not quality, and they wanted a quick turnover with a fast profit. The men came to a brothel for one reason, and they were in a hurry to get on with it. It was a house without rules and anything the man wanted he received... A fast prostitute could take care of as many as 25 men, or more, during her very busy shift."

Wow. The madams, ladies in charge, were of all types. Some were very powerful in their cities, like Eastern U.S. cities mobsters. Some were ruthless. Some were matronly, and taught their girls to read and write, other languages, and within a couple of years found them wealthy husbands. I found it interesting that many entrepreneurial women found ways to save their money and form a multitude of other businesses.

"Although these women were considered immoral, it must be remembered that it was acceptable for a man to visit a prostitute, but the woman was condemned for being one."

Our society has not come very far on many of these issues, even with our sexual revolution. And still this ancient trade will not be wiped out.