Tombstone
One standout feature of southeast Arizona is the old mining towns, the most famous of which is Tombstone. The town began when silver prospector Ed Schieffelin, who was warned that if he kept prospecting in what was then untamed Apache territory, “All you’ll find will be your tombstone,” struck it rich. He named his claim Tombstone in honor of that prediction. The name stuck, and soon the boomtown adopted the same name.
I am really impressed with how well that town has embraced its history for tourists. Up and down Allen Street the locals dress in period costume and stage gun fights on the streets and in the saloons. And they are well done. They bring Tombstone to life with plenty of humor. They also encourage audience participation. It’s really a lot of fun.
The Legend
The must-see gunfight is at the O.K. Corral where the Earp brothers Wyatt, Virgil and Morgan, along with Doc Holliday, faced off with Billy Clanton and the McLaury brothers, Tom and Frank. Clanton and both McLauries were killed in the exchange. Some in the town took the side of the victims, famously claiming the three men were “Murdered in the streets of Tombstone.”
On one visit, after seeing a couple of these gunfights and having a nice meal at the Crystal Palace Saloon (I highly recommend it), I headed down the street to see the famous Boot Hill Cemetery.
I wasn’t quite prepared for what I saw. Yes, it is preserved and renovated to appeal to tourists, but this is where you realize that these events and times involved real people with real lives. The gunfights tell you about the legends. Boot Hill tells you about the people. I will let the dead tell their stories.
The People
Even the legends were real people. Here are the graves of Clanton and the McLauries. Real graves for real men.
Marshal Fred White was Tombstone’s first town marshal. He went out one night to collect pistols from some drunken cowboys firing their guns around town. When he was accepting Curly Bill’s pistol it accidentally went off and shot Marshal White. White didn’t die for two days and insisted the shooting was an accident. Wyatt Earp also testified that the shooting was an accident, and Curly Bill was cleared. This is quite different from the story portrayed in the movie Tombstone.
