D e s e r t E x p o s u r e March 2010

Rebirth of the Buckhorn

After an extensive, year-long makeover, the historic Pinos Altos restaurant and saloon will soon reopen. Here's an inside look at what's new and what's happily unchanged.

Story and photos by John Catsis

Before we get too far into this story, let me first share the news that the historic Buckhorn Saloon and Restaurant in Pinos Altos will reopen this spring.

"Dink" Tatsch looks forward to the day when the Buckhorn reopens its doors in Pinos Altos.

It will have the same charm as before, the same delicious meals and drinks, all the while enjoying more space, an efficient state-of-the-art kitchen, a new private dining room, and up-to-date restroom facilities. It'll also have a waste-treatment facility that's out of this world — that is, if you're into that kind of stuff.

The Buckhorn was closed in March 2009 when parts of the building began to crumble. "I was concerned about safety," said Dink Tatsch, who owns the restaurant with his daughter, Tenniel. "It needed a total remodel, so I shut it down."

Now, a year later, the Buckhorn has been completely rebuilt from just behind the bar. New concrete slab. New walls. New insulation. New roof. And even the saloon portion in front has had its improvements. You wouldn't know it, but the massive bar was cut into six pieces, then moved six feet and reassembled to provide access for expansive restrooms compatible for handicapped visitors, plus a wide hallway to a new private dining room in the rear. New, discreet paintings of nude ladies now grace the saloon walls. A new wooden floor that resembles the original provides sure footing. Dink bought #3 grade oak flooring, complete with knots and other blemishes, so it would closely resemble the aged original floor it replaced.

Past the restrooms, a new private dining room has been constructed. It features an ancient pot-belly stove and a new tin ceiling that has been antiqued with an unusual reddish tint. Sconce lighting and finely detailed wood trim cornices complete the look. While tables and chairs still awaited installation, it appeared this room is likely to seat about two-dozen diners, perhaps a few more.

The original dining room looks much as it did last year and is virtually the same size. The only discernible change is the new ceramic tile floor. Rest easy, dear reader: Despite the new construction and upgrades, the Buckhorn saloon and restaurant still looks very much as it always has.

A visit to the Buckhorn in early February revealed a facility that appeared to be only a few weeks away from completion. The kitchen, which once had four different levels, now has just one. Except for the deep-fry equipment, everything else in the kitchen is new. That includes two recently installed gas ranges. A 20-foot-long counter separates the cooking area from the wait staff, providing space for prepared meals waiting to be delivered. A dishwashing facility is located in a separate room, which will be served by three wall-attached on-demand hot water heaters. A giant walk-in freezer is at the rear.

Forty percent of the total renovation cost will be unseen by the general public, although it is plainly visible outside the back door and across Spring Street, next to what is believed to be the oldest home still standing in Grant County. To the casual visitor it looks not unlike a giant concrete walled park. It's not. Dink called it an "evaporation transfer bed," which he described as somewhat like a leach field for a septic system. The bed is more than 50 yards long and perhaps 25 yards wide. The waste-treatment facility includes two grease traps and a septic system.

Without this special waste-treatment setup, the Buckhorn would not have met current health standards. Dink had little choice but to build it, because there is no community sewer system in tiny Pinos Altos, and whatever it was the Buckhorn used to dispose of kitchen and restroom waste would not have met today's state standards. Fortunately, Dink already owned the land on which the treatment facility is located, conveniently just a few feet behind the restaurant.

Gale Tatsch was born in Silver City and given the name "Dink" by his father because of the child's small size. Dinky. Now about six-foot-three, Dink is no longer dinky, but he still prefers to be called by that name. "Rhymes with stink," he tells folks with a smile upon first meeting them.

Dink attended Silver City schools and New Mexico State University for a short time before returning to this area. He settled in Pinos Altos, where he has lived ever since. He says he wouldn't live anywhere else. The small, unpretentious rough-hewn community seems to match Dink's personality.

Dink learned the construction business from his father, Frank, who is remembered for his work on the Murray Hotel in downtown Silver City, and for constructing numerous buildings on the Western New Mexico University campus, plus the New Mexico Museum of Space History in Alamogordo.

In Pinos Altos, the elder Tatsch created plans for a western-style hotel a block south of the Buckhorn, but changed his mind and built the three-quarter-scale replica of Fort Cobre at that location instead. He also designed the front of the Pinos Altos volunteer fire station located on state Highway 15. "He was a very creative guy," Dink recalled. Frank Tatsch also purchased the Hearst Church for a reported $250, later adding the hearse that carried Pat Garrett to his grave. Garrett was of course the sheriff who killed Billy the Kid in 1881.

It was about that same time, perhaps as early as 1870, that the Buckhorn was built. Susan Berry, director of the Silver City Museum, recalls documentation showing the owner in 1871 to be James Bullard, who with his brother, John, founded Silver City. It's possible that Bullard built the Buckhorn. Twenty years later the saloon apparently escaped destruction from the fire of Dec. 10, 1891. The next day, according to a story in the Silver City Enterprise, "the entire business portion of the town was a mass of seething flame." It did not list the Buckhorn as one of the destroyed buildings.

Not much is known about the saloon until Dink's father, Frank, bought the Buckhorn in 1957. "The south half was a grocery story," recalled Dink, "and the north half was the saloon."

Frank Tatsch got rid of the food market and expanded the Buckhorn, adding a kitchen where there had once been living quarters. He also added a fireplace in the bar. According to an interview with the elder Tatsch published in the July 25, 1982, Albuquerque Journal, the Buckhorn was doing "about ten dollars a day business" when it changed hands.

In 1969 Dink's father designed and built the Opera House next door, using old materials, so it would fit in with the neighborhood and resemble buildings from Pinos Altos' early history. He had a thing about maintaining Pinos Altos as it might have looked in the late 19th century. Above the door he erected as sign reading, "Established in the '60's." Someone might assume it meant the 1860s. It was part of what Frank Tatsch called "the flim flam or con (which) was part of this area's history, and that's the reason for the sign. It's just another flim flam."

The first performance held at the Opera House was the melodrama "She Was Only the Miner's Daughter, or Did She Dig." In the lead role was none other than Susan Berry, playing the part of Meli Puckett.

The passageway between the Opera House and the Buckhorn was retained during the restaurant's reconstruction.

Frank Tatsch, who remained active until his death in 2002, also took an interest in the Buckhorn's food. From the time the Buckhorn became part of the Tatsch family, it gained a growing reputation for its steaks and seafood and hamburgers. It was not unusual for folks from Las Cruces or Tucson to make the trip to Pinos Altos solely for dinner and perhaps the melodrama.

For these reasons it was an easy decision for Dink to rebuild the now-legendary restaurant, instead of just walking away from it. Much of his father's love of the Old West apparently has rubbed off on him.

With reconstruction underway, visitors would drop in from time to time, either because they didn't know the restaurant was closed, or because they wanted to know when it would re-open. One visitor came from Japan. During this reporter's visit in February, three persons came into the Buckhorn, all checking on construction progress. They included weekly visitors Susan Rice and Steve Clark, both of Pinos Altos, and Rick Moreno of Silver City. Dink took the time to show all of them around.

When asked when the Buckhorn would re-open, Dink grabbed the pencil tucked under his Tatsch Construction Company baseball cap and pointed it aimlessly around the saloon, still filled with tools and debris. He gave them all the same answer: "When it's ready."

Another frequent visitor is his daughter, Tenniel, who comes up from her home in Las Cruces, sometimes with Dink's granddaughter, Tristin. Dink said Tenniel has contributed a number of design and building suggestions as construction progressed. "We have a great relationship," he said.

During the past year of reconstruction, a few discoveries were made. They included some old newspapers, poker chips and bottles, all of which Dink said will be placed on display. What will not be shown is perhaps the most significant discovery made during this process: About 10 feet inside the front door, near the entrance to the main dining room, workers removing the old saloon floor discovered what they called a tunnel, about four feet tall and three feet wide. It ran about five feet toward the southwest, roughly paralleling Main Street. Dink called it little more than an empty hole.

What was its purpose? Dink believes it was used "to escape from the Indians," who were especially active and angry during Pinos Altos' early history. This theory was echoed by Suzi McGrumbley, co-owner of the Pinos Altos Ice Cream Parlor and Caf´, who believes the tunnel was used to circle around any raid and attack from the rear. What remained of the tunnel has since been filled in.

Some familiar sights will continue to greet diners when the Buckhorn re-opens. The lady-of-the-evening mannequin that Dink has renamed "Toy" (she originally was known as "Debbie") will again take her place on the shelf above and to the right of the bar. "Mike," the giant bison head, will grace the opening over the passageway to the kitchen. The buffalo was raised at Frank Tatsch's ranch near Pueblo, Colo., and was about eight years old when a taxidermist received the opportunity to preserve its memory. You might say Mike is still a member of the Tatsch family. And, yes, at the end of the bar, "Indian Joe" will return to take his place on a stool. Live music also will return to the saloon.

Dink Tatsch says his father "liked the Old West." It's obvious by the new "old" look
of the Buckhorn Saloon and Restaurant that Dink likes it, too.

John Catsis is a Silver City writer.