Why did saloons have these swinging doors? (Is it even accurate they had these?) It looks very impractical as the dust from outside would constantly be blown in by the wind
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Doors like that primarily exist to provide visual separation between two spaces while minimizing their impact on people walking between those two spaces. Today you primarily see them indoors separating restaurant kitchens from dining rooms. Their presence makes it clear to diners they should just stumble in, but it’s easy for servers to pass through in both directions, even when their hands are full.
In saloons they served a similar purpose. They created a bit of a separation between the inside and the outside while allowing people to freely pass between if they wanted to. They also had the practical benefit of discouraging animals from wandering into the bar. The lack of an airtight seal was mostly irrelevant, as it warm weather the windows would be open anyways, since there was no AC. Pretty much all saloons also had normal doors they could close in bad weather or if they were closed.
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