by Bradley G. Courtney
Robert “Bob” Brow, born circa 1857 in Missouri, was a true western pioneer. His name is the one most associated with the early days of Prescott’s iconic Palace Saloon, the oldest, if not most historic, saloon in Arizona—perhaps even the West, and the man himself led a fascinating Old West life.
In the early 1870s, when Bob was in his mid-teens, his father, Jacob, moved the family to the Dakota Territory where they stayed for a short time in its capital city, Yankton. In 1875 the adventurous Brows journeyed into the Black Hills, a region now part of western South Dakota. Gold had been found in a narrow canyon of the northern Black Hills called Deadwood Gulch, where Jacob saw an opportunity. He and his sons—Bob was now in his late teens—joined an expedition of miners in a supplementary role. Brow had bought a sawmill of the crudest type to set up wherever the miners decided to settle.
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