EDITOR’S NOTE: Get ready for a new edition of “Vegas Myths Busted” every Monday, along with a bonus Flashback Friday edition. Today’s featured story was originally published on Dec. 16, 2022.
Back on Feb. 2, 1994, while constructing the light rail that now links two casinos, Whiskey Pete’s and Buffalo Bill’s, across Interstate 15 in Primm, Nevada, workers made a surprising discovery. A tract hit a decaying plywood coffin, revealing the contents inside. The find should have put an end to a popular Nevada myth, but instead, it only added fuel to the fire.
Peter “Whiskey Pete” McIntyre, the iconic figure behind the casino’s name, was believed to have been buried with his iconic 10-gallon hat, six-shooters, and a bottle of moonshine whiskey. However, the actual contents found in his coffin by Bruce Sedlacek, the construction crew supervisor, debunked these tales. The coffin only contained his bones, a tuft of hair, shirt, dentures, with no guns or whiskey bottles, and was not buried upright as speculated.
According to Sedlacek’s account to Casino.org, the misinformation surrounding Whiskey Pete’s burial is widespread.
Unraveling the Whiskey Pete Legacy
For 46 years, travelers between Las Vegas and California have pondered the story of Whiskey Pete while passing by the impressive 16-story Whiskey Pete’s casino structure. Pete McIntyre, a former miner who delved into bootlegging during Prohibition, ended up opening the State Line Station, a gas station on the Nevada-California border.
Despite allegations of maintaining a speakeasy and engaging in bootlegging, the truth about McIntyre’s life lacked the glamour often associated with the Whiskey Pete legend.
The Truth about Whiskey Pete
Contrary to popular belief, McIntyre was not the jovial character depicted in the casino’s sign’s mascot. Records reveal he had a history of violent behavior, including incidents where he shot at visitors exiting his gas station.
Reports from the Las Vegas Review and Las Vegas Age shed light on McIntyre’s contentious relationships and conflicts, including the shooting of a local postmaster.
A Rollercoaster Life
McIntyre’s tumultuous union with Lauretta Frances Enders was marred by allegations of instability and inappropriate behavior. Despite the marital troubles, McIntyre’s declining health led him to seek treatment at a sanitarium, where he eventually passed away in 1933.
After McIntyre’s passing, Enders managed State Line Station before selling it. The site has since transformed into Whiskey Pete’s casino, a testament to McIntyre’s controversial legacy that continues to intrigue visitors.
The Legacy Lives On
Legends of McIntyre’s reburial in a moonshine cave are mere fabrications. In reality, his body was respectfully reinterred in the same area where it was originally found after the coffin’s accidental discovery.
“When we found him, I went and told the owner,” Sedlacek recalled. “We were instructed to reinter him in the same location, so we crafted a new coffin and reburied him with care.”
While Whiskey Pete’s casino remains operational, the affiliated 777-room hotel has yet to reopen since the pandemic. The hotel currently serves as overflow accommodation for Primm Valley Resort, with its future status uncertain.
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