The Oasis- A friendly little neighborhood bar
Pub Date: 7/1/2005
By Paul F. Vang for
the Montana Tavern Times
1974 was a tough year in Harlowton, Montana.
Harlo, as locals call it, is the county seat of Wheatland County, and the town s original name was Merino, in recognition of the local sheep industry that thrived in the area when Montana was still an infant state. Agriculture is the mainstay of Wheatland County, but at its heart deep in its heart Harloton is a railroad town.
For years, Harlowton was a division point on the old Milwaukee Road, and the beginning point of a long stretch of electrified rail line. In fact, in 1900, citizens changed the town s name to Harlowton in honor of Richard Harlow, a Milwaukee Road executive who built a branch line of the Milwaukee Road to Lewistown to the north.
In 1974, the Milwaukee Road a company that was apparently always in financial trouble throughout its history closed its operations in Montana, one of a series of actions on its way to its eventual collapse. For a town of 2,000, the loss of those railroad jobs was a severe blow, triggering an exodus of local residents who had to relocate to find work.
The Milwaukee Road doesn t go through Harlowton or any place else in Montana any longer, though on the west edge of town, a gleaming mint-condition Milwaukee Road locomotive is a reminder of the community s railroading history.
Harlowton now has a population of 1,075, and while it may be smaller than in its heyday, it s hanging on. And some of Harlo s former residents are coming back to reconnect with their roots in their small but colorful home town.
One of them is Susan Brunner, manager of the Oasis Bar in Harlowton. Her parents left Harlowton when Susan was just age four, moving to the West Coast. Susan came back to the area some years ago, in part to work for a relative who owned a bar in Two Dot, west of Harlowton.
Susan is typical of many Montanans, working two jobs and trying to keep a balance in life. She had just come in from her day job as a teacher in the Harlowton public schools when I stopped in to interview her.
An interview with a scribbler for the Montana Tavern Times was, for Susan, no big deal. When I was tending bar in Two Dot, a person who said he was with the Baltimore Sun spent the whole day in Two Dot, and talked with local residents as they came in the bar.
With a smile, Susan recalls, They really gave him a line of stuff, too. We didn t think anything would ever come of it.
But to their surprise, a couple months later the Baltimore Sun sent them a copy of a newspaper with a full-page feature article on Two Dot. We got mail from people all over the country who had read the article, she says.
The Oasis Bar is a relative newcomer to the Harlowton bar scene, and was built in the early 1940s. There were a lot of historic old bars in Harlowton, back in the railroad days, Susan says, and many of them are now gone.
In fact, there are still quite a few bars in Harlo s historic old business district, an area distinguished by its collection of literally rock-solid sandstone buildings that were built for the ages.
A relative newcomer, the Oasis Bar was nevertheless built to last. The bar s refrigeration system compressor, located in the basement of the building, recently needed servicing. Susan says that when the technician got to the machine, he found a service tag on the compressor that said, We support the War effort. From the dates on the tag, it was clear that the war was World War II, and this was the bar s original compressor a machine that kept on going until it had to be replaced just a couple months ago.
Harlowton bars, Susan says, tend to have a fairly well-defined clientele. The Stockman Bar on the next block, for example, is traditionally where area ranchers and cowboys tend to gather. The Oasis is the gathering place for old railroaders and other working men.
And what is the basis for customer loyalty at the Oasis? Susan doesn t hesitate. We have the best bartenders and the coldest beer in town, she says.
Tourism is also a small part of the bar traffic and in the fall, visiting hunters boost traffic, though Susan says that hunters aren t as much of a factor as they might have been in years past. It s just too difficult to get access to private land in this area. Years ago, we might
have given hunters suggestions on where to go, but we can t do that anymore.
The Oasis also has a reputation for being a peaceful place. I don t think we have any ghosts, Susan says. There haven t been any shootings here maybe a fight or two, but that s about it.
That s just fine with her. I don t like it when I get called at home, late at night, and told that there s a problem happening and they ve called the police, she says.
We re a friendly little neighborhood bar trying to make ends meet, she says in summary.
The business is owned by partners Sandy Fisher and Mike Corcoran, a couple who have residences both in Harlowton and Arizona. They ve owned the business since 1996, about the time that Susan came in to be a part time bartender, a job that evolved into her becoming manager in 1998.
Of her return to her childhood home, Susan says she is appreciative of Harlowton.
Harlo is a nice quiet place to live. It s laid back.
She pointed out a customer at the end of the bar and said, He was a dean at a state university in California. He came back here to Harlowton when he retired.
The laid-back lifestyle may not be for everybody, of course. With a chuckle, Susan says, My son in Seattle says, Let s go visit my Mom. She lives 40 years ago.'
Source: The Montana Tavern Times, July, 2005, published monthly by Continental Communications, 125 W. Granite St., Suite 102, Butte, MT 59701.