Green’s Dictionary of Slang

Bitter Creek n.

In phrases

from Bitter Creek (adj.) [the image of Bitter Creek, Wyoming, as an outlaw town]

(US, Western) very tough.

1871		G.A. Crofutt Tourist’s Guide 77: The freighter [...] would ‘ring his popper’ and swear that he was a ‘tough cuss on wheels, from Bitter creek.’.
1879		in J.G. Rosa Gunfighter (1969) 41: Give me room and I’ll whip an army. I’m a blizzard from Bitter Creek.
1884		C.F. Lummis letter 25 Jan. in Byrkit Letters from the Southwest (1989) 235: They keep a respectful distance from me, evidently deeming me a fighter from Bitter Creek.
1900		Harper’s Mag. May 891: I’m wild, and woolly, and full of fleas; / I’m hard to curry above the knees, / I’m a she-wolf from Bitter Creek and / It’s my night to ho-o-wl.
1930		in Century mag. (N.Y.) 885/2: [He] said: ‘I am a fighter from Bitter Creek; I’m a wolf, and this is my night to howl. I’ve three rows of front teeth, and nary tooth alike.’.