This posts tells us about 4 new Idaho additions the TGT and identifies chips from 2 of them. This post is a lot longer than I like to post. Since both chips were found in the same place, I did not want to break it into 2 parts.

A couple months ago Paul McDonald sent me the cowboy on a bucking horse arodie chip. It was new to me. I ask him where he got it. He told me it came from an ebay seller in Castleford, Idaho. I asked for the address and email and got the lady's phone number. Her name was Dana Winson and a very nice lady.

Email from Dana,

Hello gene! Sure give me a call! and no the King and Hart's has always been called King and Hart's. Originally called King and Hart Club. Now called King and Hart's Bar and Grill. Thanks Dana

She told me she found 300 of the arodies King & Hart's bar/restaurant she had taken over and was remodeling. They were in a basement room with a well camouflaged doorway. She said King & Harts had both card games and slot machines in the early days of the place that was built in 1947. I prodded her for info on prior owners and she gave me the name and phone number for Bud Randall. I called Bud.

He gave me as many names as he could remember, He confirmed they had a lot of slot machines close to 100 and high stakes poker games. He said players came long distances to play in the poker games. He said they used chips but he did not remember the chips as it was well over 50 years ago.

Here is the succession of owners as he remembered.

Dewey King and Clyde Hart 1940's - about 1953
Swede Olson took over roughly 1953
Pud Lewis late 1950's
Bud Randall Pud's nephew took over after some years. .

Bud Randall did not buy the chips. That means King & Hart, Swede, or Pud Lewis did. Arodie's were issued from 1951-1967.

Enter our "Friend Of The Hobby."

King and Harts

King & Hart’s was opened in the mid 1940’s and is closed for remodeling today. Here’s a current view:

The chips were found by Dana Winson who had purchased the bar and was giving the place an overhaul.
Here’s some pics of the interior of the place before it was redone:

My note: Dana has given up on the remodeling of King & Harts and has returned the place to the seller.

King & Hart’s is named after the two original owners: John Dewey King (1899-1987) & Clyde Everett Hart (1907-1975). King and Hart were brothers-in-law, King having married Hart’s sister in 1920.Some local news from July 1945 which sounds like it might be the beginning of King & Hart’s:

By the mid 1950’s Hart had moved several miles east to Kimberly, ID and King was running a place called the River Club a few miles north near Buhl—not sure whether either of them still had an interest in King & Hart’s.

Here’s a bottle opener which is stamped on the other side:
“If you got to go, go to the River Club. Dewey King. 5 Mi. No. of Buhl, IDA”

My note: A very graphic bottle opener? Well, I thought I had seen it all, BUT!!!

One of Everett Hart’s kids was named Edward. He died in Las Vegas in 1994. In 1951 an Edward Hart burglarized King & Hart’s. No mention that he was the son of Everett but he was the same age:

Last Frontier Club

My Note: Dana Winson also found 12 of the Last Frontier Club chips in the hidden room at King & Hart's

She thought they were from a Reno, NV club. After consulting with David Spragg we decided they were not Reno chips. I wound up with 5 of each Cowboy arodie and Last Frontier Club chips for our inner circle and set off on a search for more info.

Re Enter our "Friend Of The Hobby."

The Last Frontier Club chips were found in 2010 in a storeroom of an old bar named King & Hart’s in Castleford, Idaho (pop. 226).

When and how the Last Frontier Club chips arrived at King & Hart’s is unknown by me--I suppose it could’ve been anytime from the 1940’s to the 2000’s, brought there by King or Hart or someone else.

Although the story of how the Last Frontier Club chips made their way to King & Hart’s may be a mystery, I think there’s a good chance that the info below might explain the origin of the chips.

On December 23rd 1946, about 140 miles east of Castleford, a new “swank” club opened its doors:

The Last Frontier Club had a grand opening but was immediately beset by problems which hampered it success. Within a year of its opening the State of Idaho passed new laws which made it illegal to sell liquor by the drink in establishments located outside of incorporated municipalities--which made it illegal at the Last Frontier. The owner James Edward McNichols went through hoops over the years to try to get a liquor license for the club.

In March 1948 Idaho liquor agents raided the Last Frontier and made arrests—but not for liquor violations:

Another problem for the Last Frontier was that it was constructed near a large fertilizer plant which would occasionally deposit a layer of malodorous dust upon the club. McNichols sued the fertilizer company for damages—he lost. During the damage suit trial a man named Ball who was responsible for maintenance of the club’s exterior neon lighting testified:

My note: Wow! I bet that was a stinker!

The lack of a liquor license and the presence of fertilizer weren’t good for business and perhaps led to an almost fatal situation for the Last Frontier Club: in the spring of 1949 the US Bureau of Internal Revenue slapped an $88,000 lien on the it. In May 1949 it was put up for sale:

(the “legal entanglements” mentioned in the article above refer to liquor licensing)

My note: Cost $200,000 to build in 1946. IMO this would be considered a "Carpet Joint" by any standards.

The club went unsold and McNichols was able to get it back by paying off his tax debt. In 1950 he tried to sell it himself:

It went unsold. The club reopened briefly in December 1951 but liquor licensing issues forced it to close after a few weeks.

ad from Dec 1951:

McNichols tried to sell the club again in March 1953:

The club went unsold again. McNichols opened the place occasionally for private parties and continued to try to get a liquor license up to the time of his death in 1960 at age 63.

Prior to opening the Last Frontier Club McNichols operated a place called the Shamrock Club.
Sally Rand appeared there in 1942:

This particular card was signed by Rand for a guy whose name appears to be Dewey—too bad it doesn’t say “To Dewey King”

Four years later in April 1946 the Shamrock was raided:

My note:
King & Harts - Castleford
Last Frontier Club - Pocatello
Shamrock Club - Pocatello
River Club - Buhl
Where are the chips from the Shamrock Club and River Club?

I believe the arodie attribution is 95% good. No reason I can think of for 300 chips made in the 1950's-1960's being in a place that had gambling in the 1950's-1960's than they were used for gambling.

IMO there is no doubt on the Last Frontier Club chips. Steve Goodrich our resident expert on Idaho Illegal chips agrees with me. Steve made this year's convention for the 1st time in several years. Welcome back friend.

Paul McDonald has the cowboy arodie auction starting on ebay Sunday July 14th.
Dana Winson told me she would put the rest of the Last Frontier Club chips on ebay,