Huckleberries: Wallace native’s book pulls curtain back on Silver Valley sex trade

Huckleberries Wednesday:

Many Inland Northwesterners have heard of Maggie “Molly B’Dam” Hall, the prostitute with a heart of gold who is buried in Murray, Idaho. But few outside of Wallace have heard of Dolores Arnold, one of the most influential and prominent Wallace community leaders and madams of her day.

We snicker about the open prostitution formerly allowed in Wallace. But know little about it. Some might know the names of the last four houses: Lux, Luxette, Oasis and U & I. Or may know that the last house shut down in 1991 shortly before the FBI raided illegal gambling places in the Silver Valley. But the closure had more to do with the struggling valley economy and AIDS than the raid.

Now, Heather Branstetter, a Wallace native who began her research in 2010, has published a book that will fill in the large gaps about the notorious sex business in Wallace.

“Selling Sex in the Silver Valley: A Business of Doing Pleasure” is neither sensationalized nor romanticized. Huckleberries has received an advance copy. It will be available for purchase May 15 (History Press, $21.99). The book is divided into three sections: straightforward history, Branstetter’s commentary on the Wallace sex trade, and firsthand, oral history accounts. (Warning: The third section offers some R-rated, eyewitness testimony.)

Branstetter explains the why of the sex trade as well as the who. More here.

• You can see a video of Cathleen Ryan/Wallace Brewing interviewing Heather Branstetter about her book here.