By Florence Denslow, Enid, Oklahoma

An irritable urge to “civilize” the cowpunchers who traveled the cattle trails of the Cherokee Outlet resulted in the first and only saloon ever operated legally in Oklahoma’s Indian reservation areas where the Otoe and Missouri tribes lived, now a part of Noble County.

J. W. “Buck” Eldridge, of Red Rock and later Guthrie, had the urge to civilize the cowboy one hot day in August 1903, as he rode along a cattle trail in what is now Noble County. He heard some shots in the distance and stopped for a time until he heard more shots down the trail. It was then he decided the cowboy needed some “civilizing” and he thought a tall, cool; foamy glass in the hot August weather would do the trick.

Years later when he told the story he neglected to tell the details of how that legal permit for his saloon was obtained, but he did relate that Thomas H. Doyle, then an attorney in Perry, obtained the permit for him. Eldridge returned to Red Rock and his first salon. It was no more than a shanty with a canvas top that was put up in a single afternoon.

Eldridge did relate that he obtained his permit for the saloon by agreeing never to sell liquor to Indians and as far as anyone ever knew he never did. The “Yaller Dorg” saloon soon became a Red Rock institution. The shack was replaced by a brick structure and the saloon became celebrated in song, poetry and stories, as did Eldridge.

Eldridge gives Zack Miller credit for naming the saloon. He and Zack were having a conversation when Zack asked him what he was going to name the salon. Eldridge replied, “
I think I will it after that old yaller dorg that came in last night. I think it will bring me luck.” And it did bring him luck. Eldridge took care of the old dog several years before he finally wandered off.

Opening night of the “Yaller Dorg” was a success. Zack Miller “rode down” with a delegation of 75 of his 101 Ranch cowboys and others came too.

As Eldridge recalled years later the celebration got going pretty good and the cowboys got out their guns. They riddled the roof of the saloon and Eldridge decided right then that there would be no more gunplay in his saloon, and there never was. When “the boys” came back for “another shootin’ spree” Eldridge is said to have back them into the corner and laid down the law.

He became a deputy sheriff so he could back up the laws he laid down for the saloon.

Among the customers of the “Yaller Dorg” between 1903 and statehood in 1907, were the great and the near great who visited the 101 Ranch. These came from all corners of the world. L Henry Starr was a customer, as was Tom Mix, who at the time was a cowboy on a nearby ranch.

When Eldridge said he wanted to “civilize” the place he meant it. He ruled it with an iron hand. He built houses in Red Rock, and let families pay for them whenever they could. He helped promote and built the first cattle-dipping vat in that vast cattle country.

He maintained his saloon in an amazingly decorous fashion. Nobody got “plastered” in the Yaller Dorg. Eldridge invited his customers to leave before they reached that stage. He told the womenfolk that all he needed was a word from them to bar husbands from his premises and therefore he gained the popularity of the women. He had a great many requests of this kind and he never went back on his promise.

In addition to operating the salon, Eldridge found time to farm a 300-acre tract and act as a booster for Red rock. On one occasion he put an ad in the paper saying he would buy anything that any farmer brought to town. He and William Donahoe, later a Perry resident, never let a farmer leave town with any of his produce.

They thought it would give the town a bad name if farmers couldn’t get rid of their cattle and produce and grain when they brought it in, so if nobody else wanted it Eldridge or Donahoe took it.

Hundreds of visitors from the east got their first visit to a “western” saloon at the Yaller Dorg as guests of the 101 Ranch. There were so many requests for souvenirs of the place that Eldridge had some cards printed bearing a picture of the bedraggled yellow dog. The reverse side carried a touching poem about a “Yaller Dorg: written by Ernest Jones, later a judge in Noble County.

The success of Eldridge’s venture into the saloon business led other to try to get permits, but no others were granted. No one seems to know the reason. Liquor restrictions became increasingly stringent, but the Yaller Dorg was never bothered until it passed out of existence with statehood.

Eldridge thought drinking promoted fellowship and the means of passing many a pleasant hour. But one must remember that when Eldridge ran a saloon, it was a legitimate, respectable place.

Later Eldridge operated a service station in Guthrie.

Transcribed by Mollie Stehno