Working Girls in Deadwood

Authors who went to Deadwood for last year's Wild Deadwood Reads author and book festival could take a special tour of the brothel museum there. Knowing that this was a part of Deadwood's past from almost its very beginning, I signed up for the tour.

The doors to the brothels were painted different colors to denote who owned them and the type of establishment they were. This one had a purple door that led upstairs to a parlor. The bedrooms were down a hallway. Most of the girls lived offsite and came to work at the brothel. With a town made up of mostly men, especially miners, the brothels usually did a good business. At its height in the 1880s, Deadwood had over a hundred brothels.

In my book set in Deadwood, Beckett's Brides, the working girls are mentioned, but prostitution doesn't play an important part in the novel. That wasn't what this book was about, and if it was, it would have been from a Christian perspective. However, I think the more research authors do, the more authentic they can make their stories. The trick is to work the appropriate information in so that it becomes a part of the story and not tacked on like a history lesson or textbook. Even when research details aren't used, they can affect the accurate portrayal of the overall atmosphere of the place.

Link to Beckett's Brides

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