Amy's Rear View Mirror

Tombstone, AZ

October 2002

 

The Town of Tombstone was founded in 1877 by Edward Schieffelin.

It is not generally known, or remembered, that for a short time in the 1880's Tombstone was the largest community and the fastest growing city from St. Louis, Missouri to San Francisco, California. It sprang up in an Arizona area known as Goose Flats when prospector Edward Schieffelin discovered rich veins of silver in 1877. Schieffelin named his first mining claim "The Tombstone" after being told by soldiers that the only thing he would find in those hills were Apache Indians and his own tombstone.

Ed’s rich silver discovery brought people from all over to seek wealth, adventure, opportunity and few rules. By the early 1880's Tombstone was booming with nearly 10,000 people from all walks of life. By this time there were twelve large general merchandise stores, four hotels, nine restaurants, two drug stores, ten cigar stores, one candy factory, one photograph gallery, two watchmakers, two saddle and harness makers, two tinware and stove stores, two bakeries, one ice cream saloon, two furniture stores, several boot and shoe stores, four dry goods and millinery stores, one large store for furnishing goods, two banking houses, five assay offices and several saloons. There were miners seeking fortune, brothels sprang up, and the gambling industry was booming.

But everything changed in the late 1880's and early 1890's, when the big profitable mines were flooded with water and the extraction of the silver became nearly impossible. Huge water pumps were installed in some of the mines, but they didn't help. With the high cost of retrieving this precious metal, mixed with its decline in market price, the early 1900's saw the end of the great silver boom and eventually the town of Tombstone.

But in Tombstone’s short life as a boom town, legends, stories and myths of the old Wild West existed. By January 31, 1881 Cochise County, where Tombstone resides, was created and by February 1881 Tombstone was officially incorporated as a city.

Virgil Earp, the brother of former Marshal Wyatt Earp, became the Chief of Police on July 4, 1881 and on October 26, 1881 the Gunfight at the OK Corral took place, killing Tom McLowery, Frank McLowery and Billy Clanton. In December 1881, Virgil Earp was shot in the back by an unknown assassin and the infamous Bird Cage Theater and brothel, was dedicated.  In March of 1882, Morgan Earp was killed in an ambush and a few days later Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday and their crew left Tombstone.

Bird Cage Theater was the most famous honky-tonk in America in 1881. The New York Times referred to it as the wildest, wickedest night spot between Basin Street and the Barbary Coast. For 9 years it was open 24 hours a day and was the site of 16 gunfights. It has 140 bullet holes and is Tombstone's only historic landmark preserved in its original state.

When tempers flared in Tombstone it usually resulted with a burial in Boothill Graveyard. Many notorious gunslingers are burried there including the losers of the OK Corral gun battle. The gravesites are authentic.

Tombstone mining claims are located under the city itself; the shafts, the hoist works and heaps of extracted ore of the Vizinia, the Gilded Age, the Mountain Maid and several other mines open oddly enough inside several of the buildings.  This circumstance has created several disputes over ownership due to conflicting titles to both above ground and below ground claims.  Located on a hill nearby are the Tough Nut and Contention mines.

Today, the town of Tombstone survives solely off of it’s historical past and tourism. Less than 2,000 people call Tombstone home. There is still rich veins of silver to be mined, but until silver prices reach around $11.00 an ounce, it would not be probable or profitable to open the mines back up. Today, silver prices are around $5.00 an ounce, so it might be a while. The Great Depression and two devastating fires, along with the flooding of the mines seemed like the death of Tombstone.  However, the legends of Tombstone's past continue to survive through the restoration of its many historic buildings and through the daily tourism that make Tombstone known as "The Town Too Tough To Die".

You can stroll down the boardwalks where Doc Holliday, the Earp brothers, Bat Masterson, Johnny Ringo, and others gathered. Cowboys, vigilantes, and dance hall gals roam the streets even today. Gun fights and six-gun slinging are daily occurances. Stagecoach and wagons drawn by horses and mules clip-clop down the street giving tours of the town.

Images may not be reproduced without permission