The Life and Death of Eleanor Dumont

The forgotten tale of America’s first female Blackjack dealer

Eleanor “Madame Mustache” Dumont, Public Domain

Eleanor Alphonsine Dumont, born around 1829, made a living as one of the first professional female blackjack dealers in the United States. For the better part of three decades, she made her way across the western frontier in mining towns such as Deadwood, South Dakota to Bodie, California.