"Lady of the Evening"... "Soiled Dove" ?

There was not a lot of opportunity for respectable single women in Bannack. They might find
employment as a schoolteacher, laundress or cook but some wanted something more exciting and
profitable. Hurdy Gurdy Girls were entertainers. They danced with the men for a living and they
might make as much as fifty cents or even a dollar a dance. A good attractive dancer could earn
a good living and there was a great demand for their service.
The name Hurdy Gurdy Girl is derived from a very old musical instrument, known as a Hurdy Gurdy
that was played by turning a handle. Because these instruments were used in saloons and dance
halls, the women who danced there became known as Hurdy Gurdy Girls.
Hurdy Gurdy Girls were not always "ladies of the evening". They were entertainers who provided
companionship and comfort to their patrons. Even so and even if they weren't prostitutes, it made
little difference to the respectable ladies and any social contact between them was purely
accidental.

"Hurdy Gurdy houses were running in full blast until nearly daylight Monday morning with their wide doors on the ground floor open all day and night, with string band and clarinet that could be heard the whole length of town, running two sets 8 girls all the time, and 50 cents a dance and treat your parnter and yourself which cost 50 cents more and you got poisoned to boot, and the bartender took good care that the gold dust balanced well on his side of the scale." --Reminiscences of Robert Kirkpatrick October 1863


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