“Bordellos existed across the frontier throughout the rough and tumble days of settling the Old West,” the narrator says. “But one of the most famous of them all, the Yellow Hotel in Lusk, operated openly on the main street until 1978.”

Burke was a woman far ahead of her time, Rollins told the Star-Tribune on Wednesday.

“She was a very astute and very tough business person,” he said. “But the thing is, she also had that other side where she was always helping people.”

Booming business

In 1919, Burke arrived in Lusk with a business partner after stints in Alaska and Casper, according to the documentary.

“They pitched a tent across from the railroad station and announced that they were open for business,” the narrator says. “With the nearby Lance Creek oil boom in full swing, business was good indeed.”

On the same spot, Burke soon opened her Yellow Hotel, according to the documentary.