Big Jim and the Cowboy Bar

MEETEETSE – “I probably shouldn’t be sitting with my back to the door,” Jim Blake said with a sly grin as he looked over his shoulder before submitting to an hour-long interview. “That’s how Hickok went out, but I’ve been shot twice, stabbed three times, and lost my eye to a shovel attack. I reckon whatever happens, happens.”

Of all the Wyoming characters to walk through the doors of Meeteetse’s Cowboy Bar over the years, owner “Big Jim” Blake is probably the most colorful. The former bodyguard for Marty Robbins, author, historian, and long-time saloonkeeper is finally ready to give up his title, however, putting his beloved bar on the real estate market after 23 years.

Built in 1893, the Cowboy Bar is the self-proclaimed “oldest saloon in the Basin” and once served as a hangout to Butch Cassidy, Kid Curry, and infamous Cody-area bad man Earl Durand. Having written 28 books on the local area, Blake is familiar with all of their stories. “Durand was thrown out of this bar and thrown into the river by the Argento brothers [in 1939],” noted Blake. Durand would go on to lead lawmen on an 11-day manhunt before being killed outside of Powell.

Blake’s journey to becoming the owner of one of Wyoming’s wildest bars has been a long, eventful one, filled with equal parts violence and old-fashioned romance. Starting as a husky doorman for go-go clubs in San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood, it wasn’t long before Blake was noticed for his talents as a bodyguard. After a chance meeting with country singer Marty Robbins, Blake was invited to accompany the singer on tour in the 1960s. It was a friendship that would last for many years. “I would’ve died for him,” Blake remembers, and many times, he almost did.

While on tour with Robbins, Blake interceded when a drunken fan tried to attack Robbins in the parking lot. He was shot in the chest, and although gravely injured, returned to California to heal. During his “rest period,” Blake was set up on a blind date by a friend with a pretty 17-year-old named Sharon. “She was the prettiest and toughest woman I had ever met,” remembers Blake. “On the seventh date I asked her to marry me, and she kept putting me off, but when she finally turned 18 we made it happen. We’re going on 50 years.”

The Cowboy Bar

Rejoining Marty Robbins on tour, the two stopped at the Cowboy Bar during a string of shows in Wyoming. “We had a drink here and I always remembered the place,” said Blake. After retirement in the 1990s, Blake and his sons toured the United States, looking for a new place to settle. Eventually, they returned to Meeteetse. “The place was for sale and the town was nice, so I figured, what the hell,” said Blake. “Been here ever since.”

Blake and Sharon quickly fell to work running the saloon and adjoining café, relocating their extended family to Meeteetse and raising three generations of kids and grandkids. It wasn’t long before Blake and Cowboy Bar became Wyoming celebrities, known for great service, rollicking parties at the bar, and unique Wyoming service.

The bar has been featured on “The Late Show with David Letterman” and as a character of sorts in the television series “Longmire.” The building once served as the town’s newspaper office, and during prohibition the town’s elders met in the back room while the local law enforcement turned a blind eye to their “civic meetings.” Today, the Cowboy Bar features an 1893 Brunswick bar made of Rosewood and Cherry, and a piano that Blake’s father hauled from Illinois to California strapped to a Model T in 1930. “He had to go over the mountains in reverse, because the damn thing was so heavy,” laughed Blake. Last summer, English piano master Simon Mulligan dropped in for a vacation lunch with his son, and treated the bar patrons to a mini recital on the old piano. “It’s bad out of tune,” said Blake, “but he made it sound like he was playing for the queen.”

On good nights, the saloon is standing-room-only, while Blake admits that things have slowed over the years. “We still get real good Friday nights, but it seems everybody wants to be over in Cody these days.”

After medical problems due to his earlier excessive weight and previous altercations, Blake spent over a year in the hospital, lost 200 pounds, and finally had an earlier bullet removed. “That damn bullet had caused all sorts of infection throughout my whole body,” said Blake.

While selling his trademark saloon was a hard choice, Blake takes it in stride. “It’s time for me to finally slow down and just enjoy the life I got left.”