Winthrop, Washington · Founded 1972
A Winthrop Western-theme mainstay opened in 1972, with a name tied to local kitchen-worker lore rather than frontier-era continuity.
Three Fingered Jack's Saloon is a working saloon and restaurant in downtown Winthrop, Washington. Methow Valley News reported that Corky Scharf opened it in 1972, during the town’s modern Western-theme redevelopment, and named it for kitchen employee Jack Lemma—not for an 1890s mining-era founder.
Corky Scharf opens Three Fingered Jack's Saloon in Winthrop during the town's Western-theme redevelopment.
Source: Methow Valley News, “New owner of Three Fingered Jack's treasures saloon's traditions,” May 15, 2019.
The venue is named for Jack Lemma, a kitchen employee who had lost fingers in separate workplace-related incidents, according to a later local ownership profile.
Source: Methow Valley News, “New owner of Three Fingered Jack's treasures saloon's traditions,” May 15, 2019.
A specialized Washington bar-history source reports that state regulators again permitted the word “saloon” in bar signs and advertising, a change cited to explain Jack’s “oldest legal saloon” slogan.
Source: SeattleBars.org / Rotgut.org, “Three-Fingered Jack's Saloon, Winthrop, WA,” 2012.
Methow Valley News reports that Seth Miles purchased Three Fingered Jack's from Mike and Lisa Clayton.
Source: Methow Valley News, “New owner of Three Fingered Jack's treasures saloon's traditions,” May 15, 2019.
Every claim gets rated. A business's own website can never earn "documented."
The current business opened in 1972, according to Methow Valley News and an independent Washington bar-history source. Its claim to be the “oldest legal saloon” concerns a later legal distinction over the use of the word “saloon,” not continuous operation since the nineteenth century.
A Washington bar-history source explains that the slogan refers to August 16, 1979, when the state allegedly again permitted “saloon” in bar signs and advertisements after an earlier prohibition. The venue’s 1972 opening makes this a legal-terminology distinction, not a statewide seniority claim; direct state Liquor Control Board confirmation is still needed.
Methow Valley News reports that Corky Scharf opened the venue in 1972 and named it for Jack Lemma, a kitchen employee. The account describes Lemma as losing one finger at a chopping block and another through an incident involving blasting caps; it does not support the Jack Cully mining-founder story.
No reliable state record or credible contemporary reporting was located to support this claim. It should not be repeated as part of the venue’s history without a Washington liquor-control archive source.
Three Fingered Jack's Saloon was founded in 1896 by miner and bartender Jack Cully.
Methow Valley News reported that Corky Scharf opened Three Fingered Jack's in 1972 and named it for kitchen employee Jack Lemma.
Source: Methow Valley News, “New owner of Three Fingered Jack's treasures saloon's traditions,” May 15, 2019.
The venue is Washington's oldest operating saloon.
The business opened in 1972. Its “oldest legal saloon” slogan refers to a reported 1979 change affecting the legal use of the word “saloon” in business signs and ads, not to statewide operational seniority.
Source: Methow Valley News, “New owner of Three Fingered Jack's treasures saloon's traditions,” May 15, 2019; SeattleBars.org / Rotgut.org, “Three-Fingered Jack's Saloon, Winthrop, WA,” 2012.
Three Fingered Jack's survived Prohibition as a soda fountain and card room.
The documented current business opened in 1972, so it could not have operated through Washington's or the nation’s Prohibition era.
Source: Methow Valley News, “New owner of Three Fingered Jack's treasures saloon's traditions,” May 15, 2019.
Jack’s survives because it works as both a community restaurant and a visitor-facing Old West experience at the center of Winthrop’s deliberately themed downtown. Its real story is a successful 1970s tourism-era business, not a survivor from the Methow Valley gold rush or Washington’s Prohibition period.
Three Fingered Jack's Saloon opened in Winthrop in 1972. Methow Valley News reported that Corky Scharf founded the business during Winthrop's Western-theme redevelopment and named it for kitchen employee Jack Lemma. The venue became a long-running downtown restaurant and bar, but it did not operate through Washington Prohibition or begin during the nineteenth-century mining era.
No. Three Fingered Jack's opened in 1972, so it is not Washington's oldest operating saloon in the ordinary historical sense. Its “oldest legal saloon” slogan refers to a claimed 1979 legal change permitting the word “saloon” in business signs and advertising, a distinction that should not be confused with a nineteenth-century founding or continuous operation.
A 2019 Methow Valley News profile says the business was named for Jack Lemma, a kitchen employee. The report says Lemma lost one finger at a chopping block and another in an incident involving blasting caps, giving rise to the nickname that inspired the restaurant’s name.
No. The current Three Fingered Jack's Saloon opened in 1972, decades after national Prohibition ended in 1933 and after Washington's statewide Prohibition era. Stories that it survived Prohibition as a soda fountain or card room do not fit its documented opening date.
176 Riverside Ave, Winthrop, WA 98862
(509) 996-2411
The venue’s current site lists breakfast Friday through Sunday, an all-day menu, a full bar, and seasonal events; confirm current hours before visiting.