Traveling from Japser to Yellowstone
We’re going back to Wyoming! We leave the Canadian Rockies on the Western side to go though Idaho. In Hayden, Idaho, we see Randy and Christine in their new house. When he sold us the van in February he was talking about maybe leaving Costa Mesa to go North close to the mountains. It’s fun to meet them somewhere else on the trip. It was also a nice break as they offered us dinner, a comfy bed and a warm shower. They live on a perfectly manicured American suburbia, something I only see on TV!
Back in Montana we stop at Butte for lunch and realise there’s an old Brothel we can visit. Like Deadwood in South Dakota and all other mining towns, when the boom happens for the miners, saloons, gambling rooms and brothels follow. The Dumas hotel was built in 1890 by two French Canadians in the big red light district of Butte. Prostitution has never been legal here, but the business operated until 1982! Bribing the cops worked, even when one of the mayors ordered all the brothels to shut down. The Dumas was the longest and the last brothel operating. The building has three floors, typically the youngest amd prettiest women were working at the top and the oldest at the bottom. The cheaper rates were at the bottom, in the basement. The rooms were larger at the top. The madam’s quarters were at the top too. She was managing “the female boarding house”.
The basement was shut down during world war II with all the furniture left. When visiting we are given a torchlight to go see the small preserved rooms in the reopened basement. This stuff scares me, especially when apparently there’s paranormal activity! One of the madams committed suicide and the girls reported seeing her ghost sometimes. Brrrr.
Further South East we drive through the town of Ennis, a typical Western town, before reaching the outskirts of Yellowstone.
