Tombstone, Arizona. Oh, the images of the Old West those two words conjure up in the American psyche: The Earp brothers, O.K. Corral and the trials of a booming, silver mining town in the 1880s combine to create the legend of “The town too tough to die”.
The town was named by Edward Schieffelin, a scout for the soldiers at Fort Huachuca in the 1870s, who, in his free time, scoured the mountains of the southeast Arizona Territory seeking his fortune. A soldier told him that the only stone he would find was his tombstone. But Schieffelin was one of the lucky ones. When he located the richest silver vein in the area, Tombstone was born.
Photo of Tombstone’s founder, Edward Schieffelin,
taken by famous western photographer, C. S. Fly.
Four blocks of the original town have been beautifully preserved and visitors can dine in Big Nose Kate’s Saloon, originally owned and named for Doc Holliday’s girlfriend, or the just as famous Crystal Palace. Both boast massive, dark, 19th century bars original to the structures. A variety of shops occupy the town’s buildings where one could walk in a city-slicker and walk out bedecked top to bottom in western garb from a wide-brimmed Stetson and ornately designed fist-sized silver belt buckle to sturdy, hand tooled leather boots. Other stores sold jewelry of all styles but predominantly silver and turquoise creations. You could don a dance hall dress or cowboy gear to have a vintage style portrait taken and cool down in the heat of the day with an ice cream cone. The Tombstone Epitaph newspaper was founded in 1880 and continues to print a monthly edition making it the National Newspaper of the Old West.
Big Nose Kate’s Saloon.
The bar at the Crystal Palace Saloon.
A stagecoach, drawn by a pair of complacent horses, ambled through the streets while the western attired guide drawled on about the town’s history in a twangy country accent.
Chris and Jay opted to learn Tombstone’s history from the museum located at the old Tombstone Courthouse State Historic Park. Displays explained the history of the Apache Indians in the Territory, successful and failed negotiations between them and the whites, the Earp brothers and the real story of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, about assaying silver from the mines, the Chinese’s role in the populations, and the actual, untouched court room from its mining heyday. Chris marveled at the rich brown tone fabric and tiny waistline of a schoolmarm’s dress.
The gallows adjacent to the Courthouse.
Actors depicting the Earp brothers and their friend, Doc Holliday, roamed the streets posing for pictures with visitors and interacting with their nemeses the Clantons and the McLaurys, cowboys that were suspected of robbing stagecoaches and poaching cattle. As the street conflicts between the actors increased an ever larger crowd gathered around them and they carried the act through the town and into the O.K. Corral where the legendary confrontation was played out on a ground-level, outdoor stage just a few paces from the actual gunfight site.
The faceoff at the O.K. Corral.
During the previous week, Jay’s back had gradually become more painful to the point of rendering him bedridden the first two days of their stay. He rallied the afternoon of the third day just in time to see the gunfight and he and Chris got front row seats for the show as it would have been impossible for him to climb the bleacher seats that lined one whole wall of the enclosure.
The show lasted about half an hour and told the story, mainly from the Clanton’s and McLaury’s side, of what led up to the thirty second gunfight, on the afternoon of October 26, 1881, that left three of the cowboys dead and wounded Doc Holliday and Virgil and Morgan Earp. Debate, as to exactly what happened and why, continues to this day and the event has been played out in numerous novels and movies since it was first publicized in Stuart Lake’s biography of Wyatt Earp in 1931.
Due to Jay’s back pain, they never got to Boothill Graveyard, Tombstone’s cemetery. They were told it is a must-see destination and that the epitaphs on many of the headstones are witty and memorable so they decided it was an excuse to make a return trip next year.
Not wanting Jay’s back problems to escalate, Chris did the lion’s share of the preparations Jay would normally do to move the RV but by the end of the two hour drive to Tucson on Thursday, March 17th he could hardly walk and to bed he went until they could see a chiropractor the following Monday.
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