Colorado Madams

In 1858, prospectors discovered gold where Cherry Creek meets the South Platte River (today's downtown Denver), sparking a gold rush that drew more than 100,000 fortune seekers to the territory. Among them were enterprising women seeking their own motherlode-riches dug straight from the pockets of miners, merchants, railroad workers, and any other men with money to burn. These soiled doves and madams of early Colorado were more complex-and more intriguing-than conventional western lore might lead you to believe. Meet Ada Lamont, a preacher's widow turned prostitute, perhaps the first woman to advertise her wares on Cherry Creek. And Verona Baldwin, scandalized by one of the wealthiest men in California, only to turn her shame into fame as the owner of the most exclusive parlor house in Denver. Here too is Laura Evens, who went to a costume ball dressed as a nun, and Trinidad's savvy Mae Phelps, a leader in offering health care to working girls and a founder of a rest home for retired prostitutes.