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The Brothels in White Pine County, Nevada
An Age of Innocence
by Hal Peterson
March 2000
In the '30's, an item of fascination for many of the high school students was the area reserved for legal prostitution, or "the line", as we called it. In the moral climate of the day, only married people "did it"; others who did were bad at best and evil at the worst! This attitude changed as we matured, of course, but for us at the time the "line" was morally out of bounds. So we did as any normal teenager would do - we went to see for ourselves!
From time to time, after afternoon band practice in the park, some of us would take the long way back to the high school by crossing Altman to the "line". At that time there was a series of rooms in a line, each with a Dutch door, and with one of the girls sitting in a chair by the open door. We would cluster on the corner, nervously making jokes and trying not to stare. One or two of the braver (and bigger) ones would walk along the line and start some sort of conversation if possible. On their return to the group there was usually some bragging and recital of a 'daring' conversation they had had. Sometimes the rest of us would walk down the center of the road watching the braver ones.
As I remember it, the women were not in the least appealing. Their clothing was not especially provocative, they were, to us at least, quite old, and my basic recollection is that they were blowzy, to use a word we used then. The price at the time was two dollars, well beyond our reach even if one of us had dared, but the incentive was not very strong. I should note we seldom saw any men in the area. It appeared that business was bad in the afternoon. Also, to be fair, I am sure the more attractive women only took their place in the evening after the shifts had changed at the mines and smelter.
It seems very juvenile now, our attitudes. We came away feeling naughty, daring and, I suppose, still curious about what went on there. It also seems like a long time ago. It was indeed an age of innocence.
"Yet ah, that Spring should vanish like the rose, that youth's sweet scented manuscript should close" - a verse from the Rubaiyat"
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Last Updated on 06/08/2007