SUPER RARE MONDAK, MT TRADE TOKEN 
RATED EV-8 
 
Most Western boomtowns depended on mining, but Mondak—platted in 1903 on the border between “dry” North Dakota and “wet” Montana—was a liquor town. Its Montana saloons existed to separate booze-thirsty North Dakotans from their coin. Mondak had a hard reputation; its first recorded death was one C.H. King, who died of inebriation.
More than a dozen saloons lined the Montana side of State Street, Mondak’s major thoroughfare. Early entrepreneur Jake Seel and brother John built a one-room log saloon astride the state line—the front door on the Dakota side and the serving bar in Montana. Seel painted the state line on the floor, but once patrons had legally purchased booze on the Montana side, they could sit and drink anywhere in the saloon.