Prostitution thrived in pioneer Colorado.
Noel, from the Introduction.
Such persistence allows her to offer rich detail on shady ladies who rarely used their real names or even stuck with the same professional name for long.``--Thomas J.
She has been researching these elusive women for the last fifteen years.
Although other authors have flirted with Colorado\'s commercial sex, Jan MacKell provides a detailed overview.
MacKell has unearthed numerous colorful and often touching stories, like that of the boy raised in a brothel who was invited to play with a neighbor\'s children and replied, ``No, my mother is a whore and says I am to stay at home.`` ``Delicacy, humor, respect, and compassion are among the merits of this book.
She traces many to their graves, through years filled with abuse, disease, narcotics, and violence.
She used census data, Sanborn maps, city directories, property records, marriage records, and court records to document and trace the movements of the women over the course of their careers, uncovering work histories, medical problems, and numerous relocations from town to town.
Jan MacKell provides a detailed overview of the business between 1860 and 1930, focusing her research on the mining towns of Cripple Creek, Salida, Colorado City, and similar boomtown communities.
Mining was the principal occupation and men outnumbered women more than twenty to one.
Prostitution thrived in pioneer Colorado
