Free Glimpses

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The transition from traditional housewife to ‘lady of the evening’ probably came rather swiftly after Dell/then called Marie Fisher discovered that she was at least the second wife of a man already married. This can only be a good ‘guesstimate’ as there is no known fact of this event. Even her family always wondered why this came about (per great-niece Loraine Fisher).

She entered the profession about 1912, coinciding with the death of a woman in childbirth who was married to a man of the same name as her ‘husband’. At that time, she would have been ‘living in sin’ for about five to seven years and hence without skills could expect to work as a maid, housekeeper or similar lower class lower pay. However the adventurous Marie chose a socially lower class job with much higher pay and travel opportunities.

She focused on the entertainment needs of the lonely men who poured into the uncharted west to strike it rich. In 1919, the genteel and gracious Burke opened the Yellow Hotel brothel in Lusk, Wyoming, where she reigned for six decades, until 1978. Although condemned for her profession, she was beloved for her generosity and her devotion to the community. For example, during the Depression, Burke financed Lusk’s water-power system and single-handedly saved the town from going bankrupt.

Read interviewed locals, historians, and Burke descendents to present a fascinating story of a little-known entrepreneurial powerhouse.

“As a teenager in Lusk, Wyoming, I was only 16 when I first met this unique lady, Dell Burke. I still have vivid memories of a most classy courtesan. June Willson Read has accomplished a near miracle in bringing Dell back to life for all to also know and appreciate.

“You will recognize the scent of expensive French perfume and be amused at how she paid for nearly everything with carefully prepared packets of $5.00 bills. Pleasure was her business. But Dell’s pleasure was making her clients the happiest men in that part of the world.”

--George Wm. Treat Flint, Executive Director, Nevada Brothel Owner’s Association

“It is a difficult journey to discover the family history of a private person. I was happy to collaborate with June Willson Read, whose extensive research helped find some of the missing pieces of the picture of my great aunt, Dell Burke, one of the self-made women of the West. The summer of 1981 focused on the estate of one of the last madams of the West, but as you read Frontier Madam, you will learn the rest of the story.”

-- Loraine A. Fisher, great niece of Dell Burke

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I had always wondered who Great Uncle Ed Willson was and why he was not often mentioned in other stories about the building of the Running Water Ranch I grew up on. I ran into pictures of him and stories about his involvement in the Guernsey ranch in the early 1900s, in a book Cowboy Days, by Charles Guernsey. And family lore seemed to indicate Ed had a drinking problem, but somehow this did not seem a likely reason to run him off –unless there was more. Well, the MORE became much more as I read the letters.

The little one room gray wooden homestead building in the ranch orchard had some mystery, but was more in my mind a great place to play – we called it the playhouse. And in my teen years, I moved out there in the hot summers to renovate it, and enjoy some privacy with the cats. Discovering my grandmother’s plans for it in 1935 amazed me.

Observing the changes in technology fascinated me. The letters include descriptions of early use of the telephone, which began to replace letters and telegrams, the early airplanes which drew the intrigue of automobile drivers to stop and watch, how early radio was a delight, and on and on. The advent of electricity, stoves and more pleased my ancestors no end.

Letter writing was much more in use – of course, no internet with email, hand held cell phones, texting, etc., replaced this as the years passed. Letters were handwritten generally – a few were typed by a secretary type here and there – and often long and full of information. A frequent occurrence was to repeat some of what the other person had said or asked, and then to go on almost as though the conversation was right there.

I was so privileged to have access to these bits of family history – these very few members of future generations will have a similar privilege. I look forward to continuing to unravel my family’s past through the letters.

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