Raise a glass

Bruce Mohr felt compelled to fire his shotgun only once during the 35 years he and his wife owned and operated the Red Dog Saloon near Libby.

After all, the Red Dog was, everybody says, a family-oriented bar.

Mohr was at home in the early morning of New Year’s Eve 1997 when an alarm signaled something was amiss at the Pipe Creek Road saloon. He drove over to investigate and spotted “a very large man” with two duffle bags exiting out the back of the bar.

“I said, ‘Stop!’ and I shot over his head with my shotgun,” Mohr recalled during an interview last week at the saloon.

The man, an escaped convict from the Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge, fled the scene with cigarettes and uncooked steaks. Dwayne Edwin Nelson wasn’t apprehended until Jan. 2, 1998, after stealing a four-wheeler and being spotted by a neighbor.

Brent Teske, now Libby’s mayor, was with the Libby Police Department at the time and responded to the scene along with sheriff’s deputies. After Teske spotted blood in the snow near the Red Dog, he asked Mohr if he was sure he hadn’t hit the burglar.

Mohr learned that Teske was teasing. The blood trail was from the stolen steaks.

Years before, when Bruce and Lisa Mohr purchased the Red Dog Saloon in 1984 during a bank foreclosure, Bruce was 30 years old and Lisa was 24.

Bruce first visited the bar as a boy in the company of his father, Merlyn. Bruce played fun games there as a kid and that was one contributor to deciding to operate a bar and restaurant that catered more to families than rowdies.

Today, Bruce is 65 and Lisa is 59. For a couple of years now they’ve been shopping for a buyer for the bar and restaurant — a business that requires full-time attention from its owners.

“It was a lot of fun for a lot of years,” Lisa said. “The customers have been great. But in our hearts I think we were done a while ago.”

Still, it came as a shock when the Mohrs recently announced plans to close the Red Dog Saloon. Its last day under their ownership was Jan. 12.

Loyal customers grieved. John Sievers, 88, a neighbor, was a regular at Red Dog for decades. That’s been especially true on Sunday evenings when he and a few others gathered for what was jokingly referred to as meetings of the Pipe Creek City Council.

“I have so much respect for Bruce and Lisa,” Sievers said, for their dedication to the Red Dog Saloon and its customers.

“It’s just a real homey place. An oasis out here in the mountains,” he said.

The Mohrs said they decided to stay open one last Sunday to accommodate Sievers and other members of the “council” before locking the doors.

Sievers said that final evening left him feeling sad.

“We didn’t want to leave. We didn’t want to stay. I just kind of wanted to cry,” he said.

The Mohrs anticipate the Red Dog Saloon will reopen in the near future under new ownership. As of late last week no deal had been finalized. But the couple said negotiations were underway with prospective buyers who have local ties and verbal commitments to retain much of what has made the Red Dog unique — including its pizza.

When the Mohrs purchased the Red Dog Saloon neither Bruce nor Lisa had experience running a bar or restaurant.

Bruce Mohr, a U.S. Air Force veteran, worked as a mechanic who specialized in German-made automobiles, including Volkswagens, Audis and Porsches. Lisa had worked in a bank and for a clothing retailer.

As it turned out, 1984 was a year of change for the Mohrs.

“We got married, had a baby and bought the business,” Lisa said.

She was six months pregnant when Bruce first showed her the Red Dog Saloon and pitched the idea of buying the then-abandoned and much smaller building.

“I didn’t want to be one of those wives who said no to their husband’s dreams,” she said.

Bruce was born in Laona, Wisconsin, but moved to Libby with his family as a 1-year-old. Lisa was born in Havre but grew up in Great Falls. The couple has two sons.

Mitch lives in Alaska and Brad lives not far from the saloon.

Sievers said the Mohrs maintained an atmosphere welcoming to children.

“Little kids, they’ve got their coloring books, they’ve got games,” he said.

Lisa said her role, keeping the books and handling payroll, was more behind the scenes than her husband’s.

“Bruce can talk to anybody. He’s never met a stranger,” she said. “Bruce was the vision. I was the nuts and bolts.”

In 1991, the Mohrs added a dining room to the small bar.

And the business kept growing.

Lisa believes 2019 was the Red Dog Saloon’s most profitable year, even though they shut down the business in January and February, when the bar often attracts skiers from nearby Turner Mountain.

“We were just kind of overwhelmed all last year with business,” she said. “Our busiest time is June, July and August.”

Food sales accounted for roughly 65 percent to 70 percent of Red Dog’s sales, Lisa said. The saloon’s pizza was a favorite for many locals, but the restaurant also served steaks, burgers and other fare.

The Mohrs attended pizza expositions in Las Vegas that helped them refine their product and Bruce and his brother Mark concocted a pizza dough recipe that depended in part on whole wheat.

The couple first opened the Red Dog Saloon on the night before Thanksgiving in 1984, soon after learning from Helena that they had secured a license to sell beer and wine.

It all happened quickly that day.

“The beer came in at 4 o’clock and people started showing up at 6,” Lisa said.

They’ve been showing up ever since. The saloon, which later procured a license to also sell liquor, has hosted wakes and weddings and birthdays.

Lisa said the Red Dog has been fortunate to have many loyal employees through the years, including long-time waitress Ellen Mills, whose second job has been with Libby Public Schools.

Mills said she started at the Red Dog during the summer of 1996. She said she stayed on as long as she did because Bruce and Lisa were great bosses and she enjoyed her co-workers and regular customers.

“We are all family,” Mills said.

“Bruce and Lisa were always willing to make sure the customers had a good dining experience. They were willing to work with the employees where they could,” she said.

Mills said the Red Dog’s closing is bittersweet but that Bruce and Lisa deserve a rest.

She will miss the moments of catching up with the Mohrs, the regulars and co-workers and the playful bantering that often occurs in a bar.

And she will miss being referred to by regulars as “Ellen of Troy.”

Lisa was asked what she will miss most now that she and Bruce have retired from running the Red Dog.

“We are so grateful…” Lisa said, and then stopped.

Tears welled. She removed her eyeglasses and wiped her eyes.

“…for the overwhelming support we’ve received,” she said.