The Mint Bar

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Location: 151 N Main Street, Sheridan, WY
GPS:   44d 47m 56s    -106d 57m 21s
Map / Satellite Image: Google Link
 

Travel Directions:
From I-90 take Exit 23, “Fifth Street / WY-336”
Turn West onto E 5th Street / US-87 / WY-336 / Wyarno Road; go 1.0 mile.
Turn Left (S) onto N Main Street; go 0.6 mile.
151 N Main Street will be on the left. (The cross street is W Smith Street.)

Remarks:
High on every Brokeback pilgrim’s list of Wyoming locations to experience first-hand is Sheridan’s famed Mint Bar, the place where inspiration struck Annie Proulx. It is an exotic, lively, and evocative place which, thankfully, has stubbornly refused to bury its grand history.

The Mint Bar opened in 1907 and served as a saloon, community center, brothel, and casino for Sheridan area cowboys and ranchers. Although it “closed” during Prohibition, its business was unaffected.

The Mint Bar was last remodeled shortly after World War II, and they got it right! Inside you will find an 8-foot-4-inch rattlesnake hide (37 buttons), a stellar collection of animal taxidermy, a copy of Russell White Bear’s map of the Custer Battle, and a set of Charles Belden western photos. So captivating, in fact, are the Belden photos that you will probably find yourself taking pictures of them (as we did!). The Mint’s walls, lined in cedar and gnarled pine burl, are littered with fascinating western images and wildlife. Wall shingles bear hundreds of authentic local livestock brands. Hewn log booths shine with a high gloss, the product of decades of nightly polishing by leather and denim stretched taut over hard muscle.

Now a century old, the Mint has made a few concessions to modernity. No more chaps and Stetsons; most of the crowd at the Mint now wears caps and T-shirts. Yes, you can order whiskey (“a ditch”) here, just try to forget that the guy next to you is sipping a rum and Coke. Beyond these annoyances, the ghostly vibe of the Mint’s old west past is very palpable and utterly authentic.

Yes, of course you do; the pool table, which was very popular during our visit, is in the back.

See:
http://www.wyomingtalesandtrails.com/sheridan2.html
http://digitalcollections.uwyo.edu:8180/luna/servlet/view/all/who/Belden,%20Charles%20J.,%201887-1966./

Important:
Obtain permission before photographing bar patrons.

Quotation:
“But the incident that actually made me start writing it was one night when I was in a bar in Sheridan, Wyoming—the Mint Bar. There was a ranch hand I used to see. This guy was back leaning against the wall by the pool tables. The bar was packed with good-looking women, and he wasn’t looking at them—he was watching the guys .... He was about sixty, and he watched them with a kind of subdued hunger that made me wonder if he was country gay.” [1]

[1] NewWest, November 23, 2005, Jenny Shank, “Proulx, McMurtry and Ossana Discuss Adapting Brokeback Mountainhttp://newwest.net/main/article/proulx_mcmurtry_and_ossana_discuss_adapting_brokeback_mountain/. See also Brokeback Mountain - Story to Screenplay by Annie Proulx, Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana (Scribner) ISBN-13: 978-0-7432-9416-4, page 129.

Pictures of surrounding area:

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www.FindingBrokeback.com

  Revised 13 May 2016