Part of the richness one instinctively feels when standing in the heart of Goldfield, Nevada are all the previous conversations and activities amongst gold miners and store owners, the hurdy girls, and their late-night dance partners. It was a different time then. It was in 1864 that Nevada became a state and in the early 1870s that prostitution contributed significantly to the mining town, Esmeralda and surrounding areas. The word prostitute had evolved into “hurdy” and went from a negative prudish image to one where women’s exchange of sex for money was seen as generous to the lonely mineral miners. Numbers of men, young and old set out west to make a better life for themselves and their families. Wives and children stayed behind for years. Imagine nothing but a few tiny buildings made of wood, lots of dust and mud, and little selection for adequate dinners at the table. Not a very hospitable environment for the “victorian lady mentality,” which was encouraged and flourished in those days. 

Money seemed to flow through the hills of Nevada. After the first major finding of silver at Mount Davidson, miners continued to drift in and soon flowed into all the surrounding areas. New camps and digging sites were set up and mining boom towns became prevalent. Brothels, then known as “hurdy houses” popped up like daisies in a field, and nightly stage shows, gambling, drinking, and romantic intrigues took place. Loud music and singing seemed to go on from dusk till dawn. And there was always room for celebration. Most of the townsfolk of Esmeralda, Nevada supported the idea of hurdy houses and drew much emotional comfort from their existence. Young men got the masculine validation they needed after a hard day’s work and young hurdy girls reaped the financial rewards of their counterpart idealists. 

But with progress always comes change. As Esmeralda and her companion towns flourished with new miners, families, wives and children began to fill the streets. Ordinances, rules, and regulations began to take effect not long after money was made. It was all well and good to have bustling brothels back then, women and children were considered safer for it. But, as the populations grew, so did trouble. The wild west became even wilder as commissioners grappled with concerns over nightly fights and stray bullets. Society changed. By many the hurdy girls were thrown back into the role of a shameful prostitute and the establishments they worked in were no less provocative and disturbing to the public. Double standards abounded between the female escorts and townsfolk. It seemed perfectly honorable for a man to dance with a hurdy girl, but for the hurdy girl, it was cheap and unfeminine. By 1881 the Town Board Act determined there needed to be a red-light-district, in order to maintain the town’s more honorable customs and culture and ease social strife. 

As society changed and more regulations were put in, the old ways dwindled and it seemed many felt as if the spirit of the town was leaving for good: A town not far from Esmeralda wrote in their newspaper: “‘One by one the roses fall.’ This time it’s the hurdy house that’s passed in its chips. No more doth the hair of the horse torture the bowels of the cat; no more doth the ‘music’ that ‘hath charms’ disturb our slumbers, or ‘soothe the savage breast’ enough to make him put up his ‘little one-half dollar.’ The hurdies have folded their ‘store close’ and stolen silently away, leaving a blank silence on the evening air and a void in the lives of many. She’s gone where the woodbine twineth, the proverbial spout, and the ‘sound of revelry by night’ is hushed. Yes, she’s busted, and alas, we weep at the remembrance of ‘departed’ joys” (Tybo Sun, August 17, 1878). Starting in 1874, the Nevada State Legislature passed a law in which townships and their municipalities could ban houses of harlotry forever. The end of such a culture, where women could charge men for their relaxed, wanton behavior and company continued until the 1930s.

Would you like to tour the town where such fascinating histories took place? Or stay in one of our Beautiful Goldfield Nevada Vacation Rentals, that was named after the wonton west? Click the link to learn more.