Town size

[Cory]

I ran across this post this morning about a small gold rush mining town near the Montana and Idaho border and thought for those wondering about what to put in to their old west towns this is a good example. Note that many of these businesses would share a building.

The townsite of Louisville occupied only 1/2 acre but there were many buildings in and around the town.

In January 1870, Louisville had 1,000 residents in the area. There were 100 houses, 9 stores, 14 saloons, 1 hotel, 3 bakeries, 2 doctors, 2 drug stores, 1 banker, 2 express houses, 1 dress maker, 3 butcher shops (dealing out about 1500 to 1800 pounds of beef a day), 1 shoe maker, 4 blacksmith shops, 2 wash houses, 12 general merchandise stores, 1 brewery, 1 justice of the peace, 2 houses of ill fame, and 2-24 hour restaurants.

[FifteensAway]

Louisville?  Could it be Lewiston?  Like to hear more.  That's over 60 businesses with counting the houses.  Be an awesome model.   

[warlord frod]

14 Saloons  on a half an acre. What were they the size of a closet? 

[Cory]

No, several hundred miles from Lewistown (a cowtown), Louisville was the first of several towns on Cedar Creek in NW Montana. Supposedly the creek had a population of 2 in 1869, then over the winter word of their gold strike spread and 6-7,000 people moved in to the valley before the next real snow sometime in October of 1870. The placer gold soon played out and Louisville was abandoned over the winter of '74/75.

And Warlord, old west saloons tended to the small side. While most were probably scattered around rather than in town, most saloons would have been less than 500 sq ft. As the adage of the day went "when its too cold or dark to pan, drink" and packed crowds helped keep a person warm. After all, cutting firewood just meant less time to pan. I have seen quite a few log saloons used as chicken coops or sheds. Some were large, and Hollywood ones need room for the cameras, but most were small with low ceilings and piss poor lighting, hence the difference between the large numbers on saloon cards and the smaller, daintier ones on parlor cards.

[Scrubber]

That is an extremely lot of building to cram into an area less than half a football field which normally takes up 1.3 acres.

[FifteensAway]

Thanks for the clarification - will do some more hunting about. 

And, folks, the statement in the OP about half an acre refers to the 'official' town but also states much of the other buildings are scattered about, I'd expect based on numbers over several total acres - but not in the 'official' town.  I live in "Sacramento" to most people but not in the actual city of Sacramento.  I expect same applies to Louisville, MT.