Opium Dens In The Wild West

During the 1800’s in America the Western frontier was being explored and settled by adventurous people and along with these first towns that sprung up, so did opium dens. One of the reasons for this is because as the railroad expanded so did the towns and the opium den was thought of in the same respect as a saloon to many of the people in these towns.

One of the most famous records of opium den use was during the building of the railroad in the Western United States; this is where large tents were set up to serve the railroad workers and the townspeople where the rails were built through towns.

While these opium dens were built the primarily for the men of the town there were some women that participated in smoking opium. Although, not as many women participated in opium dens they had their own source of the opium with the use of laudanum.

The opium dens were not only found in the United States during this time period, they could also be found in parts of Europe and Asia and were quite popular just as they were in the wild west. The opium den gained more notoriety in the old west than it did any other time in history and was an accepted way of relaxation for the people of this time, even being depicted in movies concerning this era in time.

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