On my way to Tombstone I passed Saguaro National Park. It was basically one of those parks you just drive through. Indian legend says that our spirits become Saguaro Cacti and in turn they are considered sacred. They also say that if you look across the desert at certain times (like sunset and sunrise) the Saguaro look like people.  Infamous Allen St. in Tombstone. I took a tour on this 120 year old stage coach.
They call Tombstone "The town too tough to die". Unfortunately Tombstone suffered from two significant fires during the height of it's popularity. After the second fire in 1882 the town struggled to rebuild. At it's peak the town was around 20,000 people all looking to strike it rich in the silver mines. They pulled $37,000,000 out of the mines before they filled with water at 600ft. They attempted to bring in pumps to continue mining but didn't have much success keeping them running. Shortly after the mining stopped the town was deserted. They say that the population of Tombstone went from 20,000 to 200 in one months time.
The mining claims are still valid and there is still millions of dollars in silver in the area. Because the price of silver is so low the cost benefit isn't there to spend the money to deal with the mine flooding problem.  An original gun store that opened doors in Tombstone when the town was first founded. They had hundreds of vintage guns there that were once used by infamous people. They actually put up dummys in the exact spot of those involved in the famous gunfight. The Earps and Doc Holliday on one side and the Claytons and McLaureys on the other.    The actual site where the gunfight at the OK Corral took place. Actually the gunfight between the Earps and Claytons was in an alley next to the OK Corral. However, they didn't want to call it the gunfight in the alley so they used the Ok Corral.
This was a huge event at the time. They actually have the newspaper article from the day after the fight in 1881 explaining the incident in the words of actual witnesses.
This was significant because the Earps and the Claytons had been fighting for a year or so. It finally came to a head and resulted in this famous gunfight. In less than 30 seconds over 30 shots were fired. Virgil Earp, Morgan Earp, and Doc Holliday were all hit but not fatally. Wyatt was the only one not hit at all. One Clayton was unarmed and ran from the scene, one Clayton was killed and the McLaurey brothers were killed. The actual events were very similar to the movie Tombstone with Kurt Russell. The town marshall tried to arrest the Earps after the fight and Wyatt said, "I don't think I'll allow you to arrest us today."
Later the Earps stood trial for the event and were found not guilty of murder. This is isteresting later when you see the tombstone on the craves of those killed.
The town puts on a recreation of the event. These guys are part of the gunslingers club. They love what they do and use real guns with blanks. They were very interactive with the audience before re-enacting the gunfight. The demonstrated how a blank could still kill at close range by shooting a coke can full of water. It knocked the can right off the table and but a huge hole it it. They were also a little political. One guy laid his gun on the ground to show us a gun trick. He then yelled, "Kill!" at it. Obviously it did nothing and he went into the NRA mantra, "Guns don't kill people, people kill people".      By far the coolest thing in all of Tombstone is the Bird Cage Theater. This is the only Allen street original building. It has not been refurbished only maintained for saftey. The reason why it's original is because it was the only Allen street building not destroyed by either Tombstone fire. When Tombstone was deserted this building was boarded up as is. In 1955 a family bought the building. When they took the boards off they found it totally untouched and still containing all the original furnishings. When you go in you are literally stepping back in time. They say there are over 180 bullet holes in the walls of the theater and then dozens of people were killed within its walls. Check out the picture and explaination of the bullet holes in the stage.
The piano along with several other items had not been moved in over 120 years. The hearse buried all but 6 of the bodies in Boot Hill.
Did you know that people who didn't have money and wanted some whiskey would put a bullet on the bar. The bartender would pour a small glass of whiskey, the equivalent of 12 cents or about the cost of the bullet. That's where the term "shot" came from.    Remember in the movie Tombstone when Curly Bill got all whacked out on opium and started shooting at the moon. When the Marshall at the time (Marshall White) approached him to disarm him he was accidentally shot. Wyatt then pistol whipped Curly to knock him out. Here is Marshall White's actual grave. Call me crazy, but, a graveyard really doesn't seem like the place for humor. Remember that I said the Earps were found not guilty of murder for the Ok Corral gunfight. Clearly the Clayton gang thought differently as you can see from the writting on the Tombstone of those killed. Tombstone could have really benefited from my Leveraging Diversity class. Clearly this should say murdered by native americans. |
