16. Saloon Numbers Exploded, and They Became Nuisances in Much of America
Before zoning laws became widespread, saloons were often found in the heart of residential neighborhoods. The reek of whiskey and stale beer combined with the stench of vomit and the sight of boisterous staggering drunks – when they were not passed out on the sidewalks – to turn saloons into eyesores and nuisances. In some parts of the country, saloons were especially thick on the ground. In Leadville, North Dakota, the 20,000 inhabitants could take their pick of so many drinking establishments, that there was one saloon for every 100 townspeople – women and children included.
It was even worse in San Francisco, where there was a saloon for every 96 inhabitants. That figure is derived from counting only the city’s 3000 licensed saloons: the city had another 2000 unlicensed drinking establishments. Across the country, men, women, and children, could often be seen as they exited saloons with buckets of beer to take home. As one New Yorker put it: “I doubt if one child in a thousand, who brings his [bucket] to be filled at the average New York bar, is sent away empty-handed“.
