ANABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF AlexandraL. Simmons-Rogers for thedegree ofMasterof Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies in Anthropology, Anthropology, and History. Title: Red Light Ladies; Settlement Patterns and Material Culture on the Frontier ---tee Abstract approval: l.ccrc .z y x_ fDavid R. Brauner Red Light Ladies presentsa perspective on prostitution in NorthAmerica, within the context of the western mining frontier. A biographical profile of the frontier prostitutor is presented, along withan archaeological model of settlement patterns andmaterial culture. Settlement patterns and demographic changes in the prostitutor population arehypothetically correlatedwith economic changes. Amodel of the dynamic interaction of prostitution and techno-economic setting is tested and refinedwith historical data derived from five frontier mining towns. A model of the material culture associated with frontier prostitutes is developed deductively from historical data on prostitution. This model is not tested, but is integral to the proposed archaeological model of the settlement pattern and demography of the prostitutor population. Themobilityand integrationofprostitutes ina communitywere contingent on techno-economic phase and communityhistory. The integration of prostitutesand the proprietary nature ofprostitution servicesmay have resulted in changes in the Victorian perspective on women as helpless, fragile, and inferior beings. Prostitution services and prostitutors as a socio-economic groupwere found to reflect economic trends experienced by a frontier mining community, and tofunction archaeologically as an indicator of economic trends in a community. Copyright by Alexandra L. Simmons-Rogers October 28, 1983 All Rights Reserved RED LIGHT LADIES: Settlement Patterns and Material Culture on the Frontier by Alexandra L. Simmons-Rogers A THESIS submitted to Oregon State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies Completed October 28,1983 Commencement June 1984 APPROVED: Professor of Anthropology in charge of major Professorbf Anthropology in charge of co-field Professor of HL story in charge of co-field Chairman of departmentof Anthropology Date thesis is presented October 28, 1983 Typed by researcherfor Alexandra L.Simmons-Rogers ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I want to express mysincere gratitude to my committee members, and to the many individuals who aided me in my researchefforts, and thus added to the quality of this thesis. I specifically would like to acknowledge my committeemembers, David Brauner, Roberta Hall, and Philip Dole, who provided research guidance and a professional review ofmy manuscript. I would also like to thank Kerry Ahearnfor his participation on my thesiscommittee as a graduateschool represenative, and for his interest in my research. I wish to acknowledge, and offer my appreciation to the historical society personel, librarians, and county employeeswho aidedme inmy research. I would also like to thankthemany people whogaveme research leads, articles or books, orloaned me materials relating to my research, including: Mary Ann Davis, JulieBarnes,Tom Churchill, Mary Weber, DebiSoper, Robert Nesbit, Roderick Sprague, Pricilla Weguns, Dan Sullivan, and Ned Williams and Mildretta Adams of Silver City, Idaho. I would like to express my thorough appreciation to my husband DonnellRogers andacknowledge the technical assistance he providedas asystemsanalyst. My gratitude also goes to the many individuals who encouragedmy research effort via their interest. This thesis, by its very nature is dedicated to the Red LightLadies,the heroines of an often heartless frontier, who left their mark in the archaeological record. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER 2 PROSTITUTION 7 THE DEMANDFOR PROSTITUTION 11 PROSTITUTION AND VICTORIAN MORALITY 12 SEXUAL PROPERTY AS A THEORETICAL CONCEPT 14 THE FRONTIER COMMUNITY 15 The Vicissitude of the Frontier Community 19 Frontier Prostitution 20 THE REGULATION OF PROSTITUTION 21 CHAPTER 3 THE FRONTIER PROSTITUTE: LIFEWAY 23 INTRODUCTION 23 THE FRONTIER PROSTITUTOR 24 Ethnicity 26 CHINESE PROSTITUTES 30 The Traffic in Women 32 Transport 36 Entry and Sale 37 Lifeway 39 Children 41 Customers 42 Kidnapping and Rescue 42 BIOGRAPHIC DATA ON EURO-AMERICAN PROSTITUTES 44 STATUS AND CLASS WITHIN THE DEMI-MONDE 45 Probate Records and Other Historical Sources 49 STRATIFICATION 52 The Madams 51 Actresses, Mistresses, and Prostitution 55 Upper and Mid-Status Prostitutes 59 Low Status Prostitutes 63 THE LIFEWAY OF THE FRONTIER PROSTITUTE 64 Marriageand Employment 65 Husbands and Companions 67 Children 70 PROFESSIONIAL HAZARDS 71 Birth Control and Abortion 71 Venereal Disease 73 Alcoholism and Drug Abuse 75 Other Hazards of the Profession 78 COMMUNITY ROLE AND INTEGRATION 80 BusinessContacts 82 Community Mobility 82 Prostitutes and Police 84 Burial 85 CONCLUSION 88 CHAPTER 4 MODEL 89 INTRODUCTION 89 MODEL CONSTRUCTION 91 Mining Technology And Political Systems 93 Becker's Model 94 MODEL OF PROSTITUTION IN THE FRONTIER MINING TOWN 97 Placer Mining and River Mining 98 Hydraulic Mining and Hard Rock Mining 99 PROSTITUTION AND TOWN TYPE 100 Boom Town 100 The Growth of Urban Centers 102 Corporate Towns 103 Regional Centers 109 ECONOMIC PHASES 112 Bonanza Phase 112 Consolidation Phase 113 Recession/Depression Phase 112 Exhaustion Phase 116 SUMMARY 117 CHAPTER 5 METHODOLOGY 119 RESEARCH RATIONALE AND STRATEGY 120 Community Context 122 Prostitution 123 Research Sources 123 CHANGES IN THE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 126 Silver City 127 Jacksonville 129 Virginia City 131 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 132 CHAPTER 6 MATERIAL CULTURE 136 INTRODUCTION 136 PROSTITUTION AND THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD 138 STATUS, HOUSING, AND THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD 140 Better Brothels and Parlor Houses 140 Mid-Status Establishments 145 Low-Status Establishments 146 Lodging Houses and Dance Halls 148 TEMPORAL DATA 149 SUMMARY 151 CHAPTER 7 JACKSONVILLE, OREGON 152 REGIONAL SETTING 152 MINING CAMP TO BOOM TOWN 153 BOOM TOWN 1856-1859 155 RECESSION OF 1860 156 Theatrical Performers 158 Newspaper Reports 158 Local Ordinances 159 RECESSION TO DEPRESSION; MID-1860 160 THE 1870'S A PERIOD OF CONSOLIDATION 162 THE DEPRESSION YEARS 167 EXHAUSTION 169 SUMMARY 171 CHAPTER 8 SILVER CITY, IDAHO 175 REGIONAL SETTING 175 THE INITIAL BOOM PERIOD; 1863-1873 177 Investments And the Mines 178 Prostitution in the Boom Phase 179 HARD ROCK MINING, THE BONANZA YEARS 180 ECONOMIC DECLINE; RECESSION TURNS DEPRESSION 189 Maria Clapper 195 Hurdy-Gurdy Girls 197 Other Economic Pursuits 198 The 1890's in Silver City 199 SUMMARY OF THE EARLY YEARS 200 SILVER CITY, THE SECOND BONANZA; 1890 202 Prostitution 204 An Oral Historical Perspective On Silver City Prostitution, 1901-1915; Interview With Ned Williams In 1981 206 Prostitution, Status, and Brothels 208 Mobility of Prostitutes 211 SUMMARY OF THE LATER YEARS 212 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS 215 CHAPTER 9 VIRGINIA CITY, NEVADA 221 REGIONAL SETTING 221 DISCOVERY AND INITIAL DEVELOPMENT 222 INITIAL BOOM TO DEPRESSION 224 Crime and Prostitution in the Boom to Depression Phase 226 RECESSION/DEPRESSION 1864-1866 231 Prostitution 235 ECONOMIC INCREASE AND DECREASE; 1867-1871 236 THE EARLY BONANZA YEARS 1872-1874 243 Prostitution 245 A "Social Evil" 250 TOP OF THE BONANZA; THE CONSOLIDATION YEARS: 1875-1877 252 FIRE OF OCTOBER 26, 1875 254 Prostitutor Population and Settlement Pattern Prior to the 1875 Fire 255 SETTLEMENT PATTERN OF PROSTITUTES 257 Changes in the Red Light District 266 End of the Bonanza Years, The Recession of 1877 269 THE BOTTOM FALLS OUT OF THE COMSTOCK; 1878-1885 270 Prostitution In The Depression Years 271 The Settlement Pattern of Prostitutes in 1880 273 Saloon, Gambling Hall, and Opium Den Rooms 274 Lodging Houses 274 Cribs and Cottages 276 Small Houses, Parlor Houses, and Brothels 277 The Prostitutor Population in 1880 278 SUMMARY 280 CHAPTER 10 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS 288 JACKSONVILLE, SILVER CITY AND VIRGINIA CITY 288 JACKSONVILLE 289 SILVER CITY, "QUEEN CITY OF THE OWYHEE'S" 292 VIRGINIA CITY, "QUEEN OF THE COMSTOCK" 297 MODEL TESTING IN CRIPPLE CREEK, COLORADO AND HELENA, MONTANA 302 INTRODUCTION 302 HELENA, MONTANA 302 Model Test And Discussion 306 CRIPPLE CREEK, COLORADO 307 Model Test And Discussion 310 CONCLUSIONS 310 Economic Trends and Prostitution 316 Frontier Prostitution 318 BIBLIOGRAPHY 323 APPENDIX A 332 APPENDIX B 339 APPENDIX C 345 KEY FOR TABLES C-1 AND C-2 359 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Locational Map 6 Figure 2. Jacksonville, Oregon; Chinatown And The Business District 174 Figure 3. Silver City, Idaho; Redlight District, Salloons, And Chinatown 220 Figure 4. Residential Pattern of Virginia City Prostitutes, 1880 289 Figure 5. Helena, Montana 1870 320 Figure 6. Helena, Montana 1880 And 1890 321 Figure 7. Cripple Creek, Colorado; Street Map 322 LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Becker's Hypothesis 95 Table 2. Profile of Chinese Prostitute Households, 1870 and 1880 193 Table 3. Ethnic Background or National Origin of Identified Prostitutes and Probable Prostitutes, 1875 260 RED LIGHT LADIES, SETTLEMENT PATTERNS AND MATERIAL CULTURE ON THE FRONTIER CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION On the North American miningfrontier, whichextended overtime from the southeast to the west coast, prostitutes comprise an identifiablesocio-economiccomponentofthe 'frontier' mining community. Researchdocumentingthe lifeway of prostitutes on the frontier was pruposedasa method of both describingfrontierprostitutionand understanding the interaction of the