"Lincoln's Silver Dollar Bar And Giftshop"

If you have ever had occasion to travel through western Montana, you've probably seen the billboards that say things like "SEE $10,000 IN SILVER DOLLARS AT LINCOLN'S SILVER DOLLAR BAR AND GIFTSHOP!"

Sure, it's a tourist trap, but an interesting one, nonetheless. I remember begging my dad to stop by there, back in the summer of 1968. We were enroute from the Vancouver area (where we lived) to Northwestern Ontario, (where we would eventually move). We were driving through the northwestern states this trip, because we had already gone the Canadian route three years earlier (in fact, my dad liked this route so much, we would take it again in 1971, but I digress).

Now, I imagine that some of you would scream "Sacrilege!" at the thought of a few thousand Morgan and Peace dollars pounded into a bar top and covered with liquid plastic, but to me, as a 7 year-old, the concept was just, well, interesting.

I never realized, though, that the place had such a history behind it.

The story starts in 1951, when Gerry and Marie Lincoln built a small bar along old Highway 10, just west of Alberton, Montana. According to an article I read,

Back in those days Montana was home to the silver dollar. Lots of people were paid their weekly wages in "cartwheels." If you made a small purchase, you had to be careful about paying with a big bill, because you'd probably get your change in silver dollars. On October 1, 1952, Gerry cut a round hole in the top of the bar and pounded a silver dollar into it and inscribed his and Marie's names beneath it.

Other people liked the idea and just a year later the collection of silver dollars had grown to over 2,000, and the Lincolns changed the name of their business from "Cherry Springs Bar" to "Lincoln's 2,000 Silver Dollar Bar." Since then the collection has continued to grow, and the business kept changing its name until it hit 10,000.

In 1956, Gerry would die in a car accident, leaving his widow, Marie, to run the business on her own. Her oldest son, Rex, helped out, and returned upon his graduation from college to take over operations.


1. An outside view of the original Bar.


2. "2500 Silver Dollars"


3. The number has now grown to 4000.


4. The bar goes Kodachrome in the late '50s.


5. Another color picture from the same era.


6. And another.


7. A detail of the bar top. Feel like crying yet?


8. Getting bigger in the early '70s.

The above pictures are how I remember the place; in fact, it was a kind of Trading Post, with the bar on the left side of the building and the Gift Shop on the right side. The Gift Shop was a wonderous place, where you could get stick candy, colored tumbled rocks, coonskin caps, any number of wall hangings, and assorted souvenirs, all emblazoned with the store's name and logo. Tourist kitch, sure, but from back in the days before most of it was made in Japan or other places in Asia. The one thing I longed for was a belt buckle with an inset Morgan dollar, but that was not to be, as the price tag back then was around $10, and I had to contend myself with a gold metal keychain in the shape of an arrowhead, and an inset Indian Head penny for $2 instead. All my dad bought was a travel decal of the place to put on the back of the family camper, and of course we got some stick candy (3 sticks for a dime!) in various flavors. My little brother got an "Indian" drum.

Highway construction necessitated the business moving, as the plans for a new Interstate highway, the I-90, put the bar right in the path of the new road. The bar was moved 50 miles west to Haugan, Montana in 1976. By this time, the number of silver dollars had grown to 10,000.


9. The sign says it all!


10. Winter


11. Spring?


12. A Close-Up of the building sign.


With even more room, the place has expanded past what it started out as, adding a restaurant, RV park and casino, and you can also gas up there. Here are some pictures of the modern version, with the number now at 50,000:


13. Still expanding!

As you can see, the bar is much larger and airy with its twin skylights:


14. The new bar is much larger than the old one...it looks as though it is as big as the old building itself.


15. Higher walls = More dollars!


16. As you can tell, Montana is indeed "Big Sky Country".


17. Up the walls...is the ceiling next?

It looks like this place is truly a "goldmine" as far as tourism goes. One of these days, I'll have to go and check out the "new" location.

Has anyone else ever been there?

Below, a selection of the types of souvenirs that were once available: