The Pioneer has roots back to 1868 when a saloon opened in a tent, at the current location. (The building is now the Western Folklife Center, which is a local museum of sorts. Go visit if you are in Elko!)

The brick hotel was completed in March 1913.

Kenneth Scott, who purchased the hotel in a county auction, (Frank Robinson and George Ouderkirk previous owners) obtained a gaming license in 1945 and for the first time, legal gambling took place at the Pioneer.

Scott sold the hotel to the Chilton and Trounday families in April 1981, the hotel was gutted and re-modeled and opened again in September 1983, but closed by December.

-=-=-

This raises some questions. I don't see a Pioneer hotel casino, Elko listed anywhere, not in my (antique) TGT and no chips in TCR 6. Am I missing something? Do we have a UFC "Pioneer" from this period that might match up with Elko? Did the new Pioneer that was open for only three months have a casino license?

I'll need to get the Historic Quarterly for 1985 #2, featuring the Pioneer Hotel to follow up on more of the story, if there is more.

Also interesting and missing, is any mention of Bing Crosby ownership of the Ranchinn although he was the Honorary Mayor of Elko from 1948 until his death in 1977.