1895 WESTERN SALOON ACCOUNT BOOK - BAKER CITY OREGON GOLD MINE BARROOM TAB BOOK

Description

Very rare and historically important, original handwritten 1895 Account Book / Ledger of the “Rail Road House Saloon” of the Gold Belt city of Baker City, Oregon. This fascinating, Western Saloon Account Book includes entries for scores of Baker City residents and entered amounts due the Saloon are almost entirely for drinks served at the Saloon. This is an amazing “history” of the SERIOUS drinking that went on in this legendary, Baker City Saloon and the Ledger would be a simply fantastic research project for the next owner.
This fascinating, Baker City, Oregon Saloon Account Book measures approx. 9 1/4" by 14 1/4" and contains 300 of which 193 pages have been used to record the accounts of the individual customers of the Saloon. The Ledger is bound in its original cloth covers with raised spine and leather corners. It is titled on the front cover in ink - “R. R. House Saloon / J. M. Lachner Prop. / Jan 1/95”.
The Ledger begins with an Index of approx. 150 customers. This is followed by the individual accounts of each customers. The VAST majority of the entries are for “To Drink” with some customers patronizing the Saloon on a daily basis!! The customers are identified by first and last names and many are also identified by occupation or employer. A number of the customers worked the gold mines in the mountains around Baker City (who they worked for are often identified) and one fascinating account is for the “Sisters of S. F. (Saint Francis)” (the Sisters operated an academy in Baker City at this time) for bottles of beer and brandy (likely purchased “to go” rather than consumed in the Saloon)!!
Prospectors discovered gold in eastern Oregon in 1861 and quickly sparked a rush of miners that led to the creation of Baker City. Soon a saloon, hotel, and blacksmith shop opened, followed by a quartz mill in 1864. The next year the town was laid out and in 1868 it succeeded Auburn as the county seat of Baker County. Baker City officially incorporated as a city in 1874. The Oregon Short Line Railroad came to Baker City in 1884 and encouraged continued growth. By the 1890s the city gained a reputation as the "Denver of Oregon." During this period, Baker City was one of the more colorful towns in the Pacific Northwest as miners, ranchers, cowboys, and sheepherders mingled with gamblers and dance hall girls.
The following information about Joseph M. Lachner and his Rail Road House Saloon is from a wonderful history of the Baker City business block where the Saloon was located written by Gary Dielman in 2006:
“Joseph M. Lachner, great-grandfather of present Baker City resident Ann Kniesel, once owned (the) Baker City House. Lachner, a native of Germany, operated a brewery on Spring Garden Street, when he first came to Baker City in 1872 from Clarksville, where he had a brewery. After acquiring the hotel, Lachner changed the name to Rail Road House, which he operated until a catastrophic fire in 1886 wiped out the whole block of businesses, which included, starting at the north end, a saloon, a general store, a butcher shop, a jewelry store, a saloon, Lachner’s Railroad House hotel, a sleeping room, a cobbler shop, and another saloon. After the fire, Lachner built, on part of the old hotel site, a long, one-story brick structure divided into three businesses. He established in the northern-most two-thirds of the building a new Railroad House consisting of a saloon/brewery and a restaurant. A harness and saddle shop filled the other third.”
The Western Saloon Account Book offered here is one of the most fascinating and intriguing ledger we have encountered in 41+ years of buying and selling Historical Americana. While tales of Western Saloons have been a recurring and engaging element of many of the Western Americana items we have handled, this is the first example of a real time record of the actual goings on in a Saloon of the Old West. Reading the contents never fails to bring a smile to our face – whether it is the entries for the Sisters of St. Francis or those for George Borman who ran his tab to 3.25 while drinking at the Saloon nearly every day!!! I envy the new owner and the joy they will find researching this amazing artifact!!
This fascinating, 19th century Baker City, Oregon Rail Road House Saloon Manuscript Account Book is bound in its original ¼ leather and cloth binding with highly raised spine ribs. The cover and binding are intact and sound but somewhat worn with loss to the leather skins and a few insect holes at the hinges. The interior pages are well preserved - complete and tight and generally clean throughout. The entries are neat and easily readable and executed in decent penmanship.
We are proud to offer this very rare and historically important, original handwritten 1895 Account Book / Ledger of the “Rail Road House Saloon” located in the Gold Belt Region city of Baker City, Oregon here, as always, without reserve and with the confidence that it will attract the serious attention that it justly deserves!!
Overseasshippping is extra and cost will be quoted at bidders request. Massachusetts residents must add 5% sales tax.
Please check out other early and interesting items offered by this seller on ebay.
Click Here to See Our Items We Have for Sale in the eBay Gallery
and
Click Here to Add Us To Your Favorite Sellers List
Important Notes about Shipping Charges:
The amount quoted for Shipping & Handling is calculated by eBay and is equal to the EXACT amount charged by the Post Office plus a .00 "packing fee" - the .00 fee is our only compensation for the virgin packing materials we use on all of our professionally packaged boxes as well as our cost for the salaried help that does most of our packing - as I am sure you can see, we make NO profit on the Shipping charges and, in fact, our costs are usually greater than the .00 fee. Please contact us if there are any issues regarding the cost of shipping.
Powered by SixBit's eCommerce Solution
ATTENTION FRIENDS!!!
We are pleased to announce the start up of a second weekly auction by WALNUTTS-2.0!!!
The next generation of NUTS have decided to take a crack at listing some of the hundreds of items that we have accumulated over the past 38 years.
Click Here to See What WALNUTTS-2.0 is Offering in this week?s Ebay Auction!!
Rest assured that WALNUTTS2 will be offering the same high standard of customer service and 100% unconditional satisfaction guarantee that you have found here in our weekly auctions.
The "young'uns" will be starting off slow as they learn the ropes but we ask that you support them as you have supported us over the past 23+ years!!