An Outlaw’s Legend by Pam Crooks

We’ve recently returned from a family trip to Durango, Colorado, a place that has been on my bucket list for years, not only for the western vibe but mostly because of the infamous train ride that it’s known for.

Like most everyone else who has visited Durango, we took the Durango-Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad train through the San Juan National Forest, an authentic ride through the mountains and wilderness much as it would have been back in the late 1800s. After 3 1/2 hours (which didn’t seem nearly that long thanks to our entertaining guide and beautiful scenery), we stopped in Silverton for a 2 1/2 hour visit before we boarded the bus back to our VRBO. (We took the bus back since it was literally 2/3 of the time faster, but we could have returned by train if we’d wanted a reverse view of what we had seen going up. LOL)

If I thought Durango had a western vibe, it had nothing on Silverton.

Quaint and full of history, we had our choice of restaurants to go for lunch, and we ended up going to the Lacey Rose Saloon, a bar and restaurant next to the legendary Grand Imperial Hotel. After a lovely meal, we meandered out of the saloon and stopped short at the bar. Though the hotel was built in 1882, the beautiful back bar was added in 1902. Made of tiger wood maple and graced with large mirrors, its carvings are stunning for the Victorian period.

 

And here’s the best part.

While in the throes of Silverton’s silver mining hey-day, outlaws and prospectors alike spent time in the saloon to slake their thirst and engage in some spirited gunplay. Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and Bat Masterson were among them, and if you look closely, you can see that a bullet once pierced that beautiful tiger wood maple above the mirrors. Folks say it was Bat Masterson’s bullet. If true, either he’d fired a warning shot that day–or he wasn’t as good of a shot as he was known for.

Now this is interesting. Once my ex-military brother spied this photograph, though, he made a certain detail clear. That bullet was a casing–not a bullet projectile and therefore not Bat Masterson’s bullet. The saloon’s bartender did say it was a .38 special casing that had been placed there as a landmark in the last twenty or thirty years to help people locate the hole.

Hmm.

Was the hole originally made by Bat Masterson’s bullet, then filled in with a modern-day .38 casing for the tourists’ benefit? We may never know for sure, but all stories start somewhere, right?

That’s what legends are made of.

 

Do you have someplace that’s on your bucket list to visit?

(I want to go on a cruise to the Bahamas! And then maybe to Ireland . . . )

Have you been to Durango?  Silverton?  On the Durango-Silverton train?