1897 Order From BLACKSMITH & SALOON OWNER in CASTLE, MONTANA - Calamity Jane

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1897 Order From BLACKSMITH & SALOON OWNER in CASTLE, MONTANA - Calamity Jane
1897 Order From BLACKSMITH & SALOON OWNER in CASTLE, MONTANA - Calamity Jane
Letterhead from "The Capital"  Featuring the finest wines, liquors & Cigars in Castle, Montana.  The order is for several different horse items, so the owner must have also owned one of the 14 saloons in town.  Dated Nov. 11, 1897.  Now a ghost town with an interesting history:
The Main Street of Castle, incorporated in 1891 with a population of about 1500 people, the result of the first mine opening in 1884 brought an influx of miners, barkeeps and prostitutes which provided them with services should they have a good day in the mine.
At its peak the town had 2,000 residents, a fine school, numerous merchants, a jail, 7 brothels and as many as 14 saloons.
The best known one time resident of Castle Town was Martha Jane Cannary Burke, better known as "Calamity Jane.  A frontierswoman, alcoholic, Indian fighter, sometimes prostitute, she came to Castle to open a restaurant in the 1890's.  This seems to have come to an abrupt end, since the local papers reported that Mr. & Mrs. M. Burk, who started the restaurant here a few weeks ago, were arrested last Sunday morning on charges of absconding debtors, all of which seems to somehow have been related to the couple not paying for a team of horses in their possession.  They soon returned to their wandering lifestyle, eventually ending up back in Deadwood in the Black Hills.
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