![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.kirstenlynnwildwest.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Minthistoric.jpg\" "\\"Minthistoric\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nThe Mint Saloon opened its doors for business in 1907 right in the heart of downtown Sheridan, Wyoming.\u00a0 Negotiations for the purchase of the property began as far back as 1894 with a down payment of $500. When then Mint opened, ice was delivered in horse-drawn wagons to the saloon\u2019s ice box and the bartenders wore long white aprons, serving drinks across a long mahogany bar. \u00a0The Mint offered drink, gambling and women.<\/p>\n
One of the \u201clocal celebrities\u201d who entertained many a patron at the Mint was Rounder, the Airedale belonging to Charles \u201cDick\u201d Marlow, owner of the Mint in 1911.\u00a0 Rounder was such a staple at the bar and in Sheridan, he was the subject of at least three articles in the Sheridan Post<\/em>, including his obituary. \u00a0According to a July 11, 1911 article in the Post<\/em>, Rounder was by far \u201cthe brightest, keenest, wittiest, and altogether the most remarkable dog in Sheridan\u2014perhaps in all the state of Wyoming.\u201d<\/p>\n Rounder could be found any day in front of the Mint. \u201cNo, he isn\u2019t a handsome dog\u2014he runs more to brains than beauty\u2014but that\u2019s to his credit rather than otherwise.\u201d\u00a0 Rounder was known as a civil dog, but he reserved all his enthusiasm for Dick Marlow. Reports say Rounder could take a message over the phone and carry out the orders given, or any other verbal request made by his master\u00a0 \u201cas well as the average human being.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Marlow states that Rounder got the telephone trick himself, through his habit of calling his wife over the phone and asking her to send the dog downtown with a letter or a package or in the performance of some errand or other.\u00a0 Before long, Rounder learned that the jingle of the telephone bell generally meant a call for him, and he would jump about and push Mrs. Marlow away from the phone when she went to answer it.<\/em><\/p>\n One day, hearing a commotion at the other end of the line, Mr. Marlow asked what the trouble was.\u00a0 Upon being told that it was Rounder, trying to get at the telephone, he told his wife to hold the receiver to the dog\u2019s ear.\u00a0 Rounder recognized the voice, and wagging his tail in delight, licked the instrument which talked like his master.\u00a0 Since then he has taken many orders over the telephone and one of his chief pleasures is a chat over the wire.<\/em><\/p>\n A few of the tricks reported include a game of hide and seek.<\/p>\n Mr. Marlow blindfolded himself \u2013 or rather, tied the handkerchief around his head, being careful not to entirely over his eyes.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cNo you go and hide it.\u201d Rounder was told.<\/em><\/p>\n Taking the wallet in his mouth the dog started back toward the rear, \u201cDon\u2019t leave it there, I can see you.\u201d Mr. Marlow called as the dog turned the first corer and was about to lay it down.\u00a0 So the dog went on back, out of sight and sound, and shortly returned, looking wise as an owl.\u00a0 Mr. Marlow stooped down and Rounder took the blindfold in his teeth and pulled it off, then lay down on the floor as though for a long nap, insinuating by his actions that his master could never find it where he had hidden it.<\/em><\/p>\n Mr. Marlow looked all about, as though having a hard time finding the wallet.\u00a0 Locating it at last, he came out to the front room with it in his hand.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cI found it, Rounder,\u201d he said, and the dog\u2019s eyes sparkled and snapped as if in appreciation of his little joke.<\/em><\/p>\n Dick Marlow would only have to state that it was cold in the room and Rounder would kick the door closed with a slam. Rounder was so well known many dogs were named after him. Marlow and Rounder left Wyoming for California in 1913; just one of the changes on the horizon for the Mint.<\/p>\n In 1919, Prohibition but a halt to the social gatherings at the Mint\u2026well sort of. \u00a0The front of the building became a dress shop, real estate office, and then the Mint Cigar Company and Soda Shop, \u201cwhile in the back was one of the coziest little bottle joints around\u201d for those who disagreed with the 18th<\/sup> Amendment and Volstead Act.<\/p>\n Since 1907 and continuing even through Prohibition the Mint bar has been a gathering place to talk shop about ranching, hunting, artisan work and business.\u00a0 The doors are open to cowboys, ranchers, and dudes to come in socialize and tip back a cold one.\u00a0 This tradition continues today with the catch phrase \u201cMeet you at the Mint,\u201d being used by patrons far and wide.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Bud Wolfe, who bartended at the Mint from 1945-1979, was interviewed in 1985. He remembered his favorite customers were the old rodeo cowboys from \u201cback when rodeoing meant long thirsty drives between towns and the cowboys stayed in one place longer than an eight-second bull ride. I used to know so many of them guys\u2026\u201d Bud recalls. \u201c\u2026Shawn Davis, the Linderman boys, J.D. McKenna, Fred Lewis. But they don\u2019t hang around anymore, the professionals. They draw their stock, they fly in, they use their stock and by then they\u2019re headed down to Cheyenne.\u201d<\/p>\n But the Mint remains.\u00a0 A landmark and a place where the grandchildren and great- grandchildren of those who built, cultivated, ranched, farmed and lived in Sheridan go to toss a cold one back and catch up on all the news.\u00a0 \u201cAnd it\u2019s one of the friendliest places in town.\u201d Sam Mavrakis said in 1985. \u201cI came in here and kissed three girls right away.\u201d<\/p>\n The Mint is so well-known that when Queen Elizabeth visited Sheridan in 1985 there was a rumor she would visit the Mint. While the Queen didn\u2019t make it inside the bar a wire service photograph, sent throughout the country, showed a beaming Queen Elizabeth with the Mint\u2019s neon cowboy glowing in the background.<\/p>\n So there ya have it folks a brief overview of the saloon where Cal was tossin\u2019 a few back before things went South!<\/p>\n Cookie! Stop jawin\u2019 with the cowpokes and tellin\u2019 tales taller than the Big Horns, we\u2019ve got places to go!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n SOURCES:<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.themintbarinsheridan.com\/news\/knowrounder.html<\/a><\/p>\n http:\/\/www.themintbarinsheridan.com\/news\/landmark1985.html<\/a><\/p>\n http:\/\/www.themintbarinsheridan.com\/history\/index.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Whoo-eee, Yee-Haw, Yippee, Praise the Lord and Pass the Coffee, Cookie and me are back on the trail!\u00a0 Thanks for your patience while I\u2019ve been up to my neck in work, and Cookie\u2019s been up to his neck in no … Continue reading <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>When Prohibition was repealed in 1933, the owners Archie Wilson and his partner, Robert J. Thirwell reopened the bar. They obtained their liquor license on March 30, 1935 and built on to the back of the building making room for slot machines, roulette wheels, and gaming tables. These changes accommodated a thriving gambling clientele in the back room and newly legal drinkers in the front.<\/p>\n<\/a>The Mint received a complete overhaul in the late 1940\u2019s. The rustic style and red cedar bar that remains today replaced the old stamped tin ceilings and mahogany bar. Cedar shingle brands adorn the walls of the Mint and are the work of L.L. McVean who owned the bar from 1943-1974. \u201cMac took a soldiering iron, an electric needle, and a brand book one day and started to work; as a result, the walls of the Mint are an encyclopedia of over 9000 slabs of local brands.\u201d\u00a0 Much of the wild game adorning the bar was a result of Mac and local entrepreneur Sam Mavrakis\u2019 trip to the Yukon in the 1950\u2019s. \u00a0\u201cThose two Dall sheep,\u201d Sam pointed to some of the trophy heads on the wall of the Mint, in a 1985 interview.\u00a0 \u201cThree grizzlies \u2013 we made rugs out them \u2013 those two caribou, a moose, that wolverine, that black wolf.\u00a0 In 18 days we got all those.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n