Its name referred to its proximity to the depot, it was the First Chance to wet your whistle when you arrived and the Last Chance when you left. It was managed by combinations of three people for a few years before going out of business. It was owned by Chris Hehli who was a barber and offered hot and cold baths. The saloon was run by Hehli, George/John "Dick" Deckert, George Reitz & A. J. Maxwell at times. It burned down in the Oct '83 fire, rebuilt in brick, with pipes bringing in artesian well water (Well #2). June of '84 the saloon closed briefly with an aborted attempt to sell it. Maxwell took over the saloon and Hehli focused on the barber shop. In '85 they called themselves a bank, offering check cashing. Baths were two bits, or you could buy eight tickets for two bucks.
Chris Hehli was born in Switzerland, learned the brewing craft, came to the US in '66. He went from PA to MN to Bismarck, where he called himself "King of the Barbers" (1872-77). Heads west to Fort Benton, south to near Bozeman, then east again in a mackinaw to Old Town in Oct '78. He left his Bismarck barbershop (now "King Barber Shop" to Thomas H. Deckert and W. A. Franklin. He moves to the new townsite in December, opens another "King of the Barbers" barber shop (with baths) on Park Street in '79, just south of Prof. Bach's saloon. Dick Deckert is in partnership by the summer of '80, leaves Hehli to manage Comer's Barber Shop, but is back the next year when Hehli adds a saloon onto the barber shop. The next year, a new building is mentioned (the First Chance-Last Chance). It is unclear whether there were two buildings at the same time. If so, the original one either had a saloon added, but was primarily a barber shop / bath house, or the new saloon was actually the addition that took almost a year to complete.
There may be some confusion about the two Deckerts. Thomas also came to Miles City and may have been in business with Hehli there too, by 1880. They may have both bought out Comer's barbershop, or maybe just Thomas, in '84. John "Dick" may have never actually been involved with Hehli, the write may have confused him with Thomas (and getting his other christian name wrong as well "George").
There was another George, George W. "Fatty" Reitz. These people seemed to try various combinations of partnership. Hehli & Maxwell. Reitz & Maxwell. Then just "Reitz's Saloon". Reitz served customers in their boats during the great flood. Reitz and Maxwell had a dog "Chub" who had a notorious sweet tooth. The fire of '85 did some damage, but the brick walls protected the business well.
A. J. Maxwell had a full plate and varied career history before and after his collaboration with Hehli and Reitz. In the four or five years before he partners with the barbers & bartenders, he was a mail contractor on the MC-Deadwood Stage Line, losing 5 horses to robbers in '80. Before that, on the last day of '79, he shot and killed Willima Behrman Fort Keogh deserter at his mail station on the Little Missouri. In '82 he opens a "sample room" called the "Miles City Health Office" in the space previously occupied by Bertrand's and by Jim Kane. He is also the supt of the "Western Stage Line" between MC and Spearfish. At the end of the year, he's taken over the Tongue River mail/stage route (MC to Birney). Runs the Maxwell Post Office on the Mizpah, 48 miles from MC, for at least two years. Still listed as owner/operator of the Deadwood Stage Co.
There had been a one-story wooden frame building at the NE corner of 7th and Main since at least '82. Maxwell may have owned it that early. The Deadwood Stage Coach office is either in it or next door. In '86, Maxwell is hauling stone to replace the building, which is definately his by then. The Post Office was to be in the first floor at the end of the year. By this time the RR would have completely destroyed the stage coach lines.
