Pioneer Saloon

Pioneer Saloon

310 NV-161, Goodsprings, NV 89019

Pioneer Saloon is a fully operating saloon today and many visitors are fascinated by its colorful history and checkered, some might even say fabled, past. It seems that another famous event occurred at the Pioneer Saloon, this one happening on July 3, 1915, just two years after the saloon had opened for business. It seems that a group of prospectors, miners and other assorted... characters... were playing a game of poker at the poker table near the bar. One of the gamblers tried to "cash out" with a whopping ten dollars, yep, $10... and was thought by the dealer, Joe Armstrong, to be cheating. The gambler thought that the dealer, Joe Armstrong, was dealing a "crooked card game." It seems, as the story goes, that Joe Armstrong pulled out a pistol and emptied it into the gambler, whose name was Paul Coski, with most of the shots going into the wall. It was said that at least six shots total were fired. Three of the bullet holes still remain today in the wall of the Pioneer Saloon, a stark reminder of the lawlessness that was pervasive in the early 1900s. Used as a way of settling disputes, gunfire was rampant and served as a way to TRY to bring law and order into society. The effectiveness of that method, however, is questionable. The Ghosts of the Pioneer Saloon The first is , Paul Coski, killed in the ill-fated poker game back in 1915. People often claim to have seen him over by the poker tables and at other places in the bar. The other is the ghost thought to be that of a prospector or miner wearing a crumpled up cowboy hat, and according to those that have seen him, he is not very tall. He is thought to be just "hanging out" at the bar and seems to mean no harm. Nearly every employee of the bar is said to have seen the old miner, and he is regarded as harmless. Yet one more ghost has been seen, that of a former owner of the bar who, according to legend, was drinking at the bar when he collapsed and died right there at the bar. According to that same story, the bartender who was working that day finished the saloon owner's glass of beer, crushed the glass, and said "to you," right after the former owner died. It was said that his wife continued to work at the bar until her death about five years later. For more information about the hotel please visit http://www.pioneersaloon.info