“USA 🇺🇸 Arizona ~Tombstone Historic Town with a Shoot-out at the OK Corral, Underground Mine Tour and the Boothill Graveyard”

• October 2, 2023
• By Pen
• 0 Comment

Tombstone
“The Town Too Tough to Die”

This place checked all the boxes for me! I love old historic places, where people have worked hard to keep their stories alive.  There were also horses, with an old-west vibe, still. Everybody is so friendly and very helpful in Tombstone. We felt very welcomed and the atmosphere created, is like stepping back in time.

After we got The Whale parked and set-up at our campground, we hopped in Jonah and drove, just over a mile, to the historic town. We only had that afternoon and the next day to explore Tombstone, so we didn’t waste any time. There is a lot to see and do here, but two half days were just right for us. It was hot and windy.

Nothing in town opened till ten or eleven in the morning, so going early when it’s a more comfortable temperatures doesn’t work well.  Our skin is so dry (from our weeks in the desert, at this point) and are eyes are red from so much dust, just whipping up all around us, as we walked the town. Our second day was also windy, but hey, watching a tumbleweed blow through the historic streets only adds to the atmosphere.

We parked Jonah on a side street, and just walked all over the place.

The Main Street, called Allen Street, is dirt and no vehicles are allowed. I love this. It makes it nice to wander and take photos, without too many modern cars about. There are characters dressed up in period clothing all over. It was so fun!

⬆️ Allen Street

The Town Named Tombstone ⬇️

In 1877, silver prospector Ed Schieffelin set out from Camp Huachuca, an Army post in southeastern Arizona, heading for the Dragoon Mountains. The soldiers warned him he’d find nothing there but his own tombstone. When Schieffelin struck silver, he named his mine Tombstone.

Tombstone, one of the most lawless mining camps in all of the America West, was soon dubbed “The Town Too Tough to Die,” and would experience two major fires in the downtown business district during the 1880’s.

Legend has it that in June of 1881, a cigar ignited a barrel of whiskey at the Arcade Saloon. The subsequent fire destroyed over 60 businesses in the downtown area. But, the town rebuilt itself and kept on growing.

In May of 1882, another fire ripped through downtown Tombstone, destroying a large portion of the business district. Again, the town rebuilt.

Cochise County Courthouse: The imposing building was completed in 1883

The Earp/Holliday hearing, following the gunfight, was held there on Fremont Street, in late 1881. However, plans were underway to build a new permanent Courthouse.
A kiln was built and Chinese brick makers were brought in to Tombstone.  The cornerstone was laid on August 11, 1882 with great ceremony.  “Offerings were deposited in a cavity beneath the cornerstone: coins, cigars, specimens of ore, poems and essays.”

⬆️ China Mary’s House 

⬆️ Perhaps the most famous Chinese person in Tombstone was China Mary (nee Sing, aka Ah Chum), a plump woman from Zhongshan county. She usually wore brocaded silks and large amounts of Asian jade jewelry. She was influential among the whites, and people of other nationalities, and in Hoptown her word was as good as that of a judge or banker. The whites, who preferred Chinese domestic labor, soon learned that Mary was resourceful in finding workers. She guaranteed the workers’ honesty and workmanship. Her warranty was “Them steal, me pay!” All work was done to the employer’s satisfaction or it would be redone for free. Payments, however, were made to China Mary, not to the employee.

China Mary managed a well-stocked general store where she dealt in both American and Chinese goods. White men and Asians were both allowed to play in the gambling hall behind her store. They had to abide by her rules. China Mary seemed to have been an astute investor; she was involved in a number of businesses, including several hand laundries and a restaurant owned by Sam Sing. Mary was also a money lender, and she used her own judgment to determine borrower’s credibility. China Mary is also remembered as a generous lady who helped those in need of money or medical care. No sick, injured, or hungry person was ever turned away from her door. She once took a cowboy, with a broken leg, to Mary Tack’s boarding house and paid the medical bill, herself.

⬆️ The O.K. Corral was a livery and horse corral from 1879 to about 1888 in the mining

⬆️ The movies would depict the famous gun flight at the O.K. Corral happened at the livery stable. BUT, in real life, the 29 second gunfight happened in an area behind what is now, the local City Park ⬇️

Factual: On a cold, snowy and windy October 26, 1881, the most famous gunfight in the American West took place between the two factions. For six more months hostilities would continue until Earp left the Territory in April of 1882.

Wyatt Earp lived in Tombstone for 28 months.

⬆️ An 8-foot bronze statue of Ed Schieffelin, (founder of Tombstone) is in the city park

When Wyatt Earp arrived in Tombstone in December of 1879, he planned to establish a stage line but soon discovered there were already two in the town. Instead, he partnered with the owner of the Oriental Saloon to run a gaming business for a quarter percent of the proceeds.

He also took a side job as a shotgun rider on the stage lines for Wells Fargo shipments.

⬆️ This statue depicts one of the most famous historical figures of American Western history, Wyatt Earp (1848-1929), who was a frontiersman, saloonkeeper, gambler, and lawman. The statue is just outside of the Main Street town, at the original home he used to own.

⬆️ Mattie Blaylock, second wife of Wyatt Earp: photo from 1871 in Fort Scott, Kansas.

During the days of the old west, drugs were used and abused. The drug laudanum (shown), also known as Tincture of Opium, was a popular remedy for a variety of aches and pains, as well as an effective cough suppressant.

Laudanum came in liquid form and its main ingredients included 10% powdered opium, morphine, codeine, and alcohol. This mixture created a highly addictive potent narcotic because of its high morphine concentration, and was sold without a prescription until early in the 20th century.

Laudanum was sometimes linked as an instrument for suicide. For example, on July 3, 1888, Mattie Blaylock, second wife of Wyatt Earp, died from an overdose of laudanum. Mattie’s death was ruled a suicide. Apparently despair, from being trapped by both her addiction and the depression she felt when she could not make it on her own, it is said it caused the suicide.

An inquest was held and the coroner in Pinal, Arizona Territory questioned a local man named T. J. Flannery. The coroner asked Mr. Flannery if he knew the deceased and he said he did. Mr. Flannery said her name was “Mattie Earp.” The coroner asked Mr. Flannery “did you hear the deceased threaten her own life?” Mr. Flannery testified that Mattie had threatened her own life. He said that Mattie had told him “Wyatt Earp had wrecked her life by deserting her and she didn’t want to live.”

⬆️ The Longhorn is a restaurant located on historic Allen Street. Originally built in 1881, the building that houses the Longhorn has been a prominent fixture in Tombstone’s historic district for over a century. The saloon has been restored to its original glory and retains much of its Old West charm.

We enjoyed coffee and shared some French toast, while we waited for the town to open up on our second day visit. ⬇️

⬆️ The Crystal Palace Saloon was initially built in 1879 and has since been restored to its former glory. The saloon was a popular gathering place for cowboys, miners, and other residents of Tombstone during the town’s boom days.

The Crystal Palace Saloon is known for its ornate decor, which includes a large mahogany bar, stained glass windows, and a pressed tin ceiling.

⬆️ Locals refer to Fifth and Allen; the corner where the Crystal Palace Saloon stands, as “one of the bloodiest intersections in American history.”

In 1880, Clara Spalding Brown, a correspondent for the San Diego Union, wrote of the violence: “When saloons are thronged all night with excited and armed men, bloodshed must and needs ensue occasionally.” 

⬆️ ⬇️ The original Jail, including the original door handle with a date
Wow, if those walls could talk!  

     ⬆️ The Railroad Depot

⬆️ This was the original clinic/house of the Tombstone Doctor.
For the record: Doc Holiday was not the town doctor. He would spend most of his life at the poker tables in the Saloons. He died very young, at 36, reportedly of Tuberculosis. 

The Bird Cage Theatre is another story. It was a saloon, theater, gambling hall and brothel. Legend has it, that no self-respecting woman in town would even walk on the same side of the street as the Bird Cage Theatre.

It opened its doors on Christmas Day 1881 and ran 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year until closing its doors in 1889. In 1882, According to legend the New York Times reported, the “Bird Cage Theatre is the wildest, wickedest night spot between Basin Street and the Barbary Coast.” Evidence of this can still be seen in the 140 supposed bullet holes that have been found in the walls and ceiling.

The Bird Cage was named, so the story goes, for the cage style crib compartments suspended from the ceiling. It was in these “Bird Cages” that the “ladies of the evening” entertained their customers.

The story goes that they were the inspiration for the song, “She’s only a bird in a gilded cage,” which was quite popular during the early 1900’s.

⬆️ Big Minnie Bignon (shown) was married to Joe Bignon, the owner of the Bird Cage Theater in Tombstone, Arizona. She had a variety of roles at the Bird Cage including Madam, actress, prostitute and bouncer. Joe Bignon often promoted Minnie as “230 pounds of loveliness in pink tights.”

In her role as bouncer, Minnie acted when an incident occurred in 1889. Reportedly, there was a violent disagreement between a Mexican woodcutter and the bartender, Charley Keene over the price of whiskey. When Keene asked Big Minnie to send for Marshal Bob Hatch, to remove the hostile customer, she replied; “you don’t need Bob Hatch, I’ll put him out myself!” and she did, without delay.

⬆️ My partner in crime ❤️

⬆️ There are two operating stagecoaches in town. This gives days off to both horses and humans 

A Chinaman opened a very successful Chinese Food Restaurant in Tombstone, back in the day. I’m thinking this guy may have been the first of his kind, making Americanized Chinese Food! He apparently was very generous and was always helping those in need; to a fault. He also never retaliated against those who stole from him ; doing wrong. He still gave them free food. He worked his whole life and died penniless. He was buried in the Boothill Graveyard.

⬆️ ⬇️ Late lunch was at “Big Nose Kate’s Saloon,” which was the first and original “Grand Hotel” in Tombstone. It did burn down, back in the day, but parts of the flooring and the bar were salvageable. Big Nose Kate was also a real person who lived in Tombstone.

Daryl got a Bacon Burger and I got the best Reuben Sandwich, ever! If it’s going to be overpriced, at least it was good, right? ($40 plus tip) Great food and atmosphere!  There was live music, and lots of dress-up going on. There are also a few places in town where one can rent a costume and dress-up in period clothing, including guns/holsters to wear and walk around in. Fun stuff.

**Doc Holiday and Big Nose Kate would arrive in Tombstone in early 1880. Kate quickly realized the opportunity in Tombstone, setting up a large tent with several girls and lots of cheap whisky, becoming the first “sporting house” in town. Doc resumed his habit of gambling, as usual.

⬆️ We would learn from our underground mine tour, this shaft reaches the underground, from the then Grand Hotel, which is now Big Nose Kate’s Saloon.
The circular staircase is original.

⬇️ We took a stagecoach ride around the town. ($15 pp) The driver narrated about all the history and pointed out original buildings, from those times, which are still being used, today. Our horse team, who did the real heavy lifting, were Sam and Andy.

⬆️ Reflection photos of our stagecoach ride, which was super cool!

Make no mistake, Tombstone was a rough place to live, back in the day. Whew!
I did not realize just how many buildings are still original to the western days of the 1800’s. Opium Dens, Chinese Food Restaurant, Doctors home, Wyatt Earps home….and the like.

Boothill Graveyard ⬇️

After our early dinner, we drove to the Boothill Graveyard. It cost $6 pp to enter the graveyard. After our stagecoach ride, where we heard about the names of real people; prominent figures of Tombstone, for one reason or another, we would then see many of their final resting places. It was all quite interesting. 

We learned that this particular graveyard was thought of as the place for sinners. Some family members would go so far as to exhume the bodies of family members from this “graveyard of ill repute,” and re-bury them in a more respectable city cemetery.

Walking around and reading the grave markers… well there were  definitely a lot of wild events, that led these people to early graves, in a very lawless town.

There are many “unknown” grave markers, but that’s only because the city could not verify exactly who was who, in some cases; though there is an actual verified document from the 1800’s with names of every soul buried within. The names es are all listed in this hand-out.

Boothill Graveyard was Tombstone’s third graveyard. It was full by 1884, and the current City Cemetery was created.
It is estimated that there are between 250 and 440 people buried at Boothill.
Outlaws and respected citizens share this hallowed ground, and it is open to visit, daily.

⬆️ ⬇️ The graves of O.K. Corral gunfight casualties Billy Clanton, and brothers Frank and Tom McLaury, in the Boothill Graveyard 

⬆️…..Angered by Heath’s light sentence, for masterminding murder, a mob formed in Bisbee. Joined by others from Tombstone, they forcibly removed Heath from the Cochise County Jail on the morning of February 22, 1884.
His lynching was immortalized by frontier photographer C.S. Fly.

When Mary (China Mary) died of heart failure in 1906, the town folks had a large turnout for her service. A death certificate showed that “Ah Lum” died on December 16, 1906, at the age of 65. Although local official John E. Bacon typed the wrong name (AH-overstrike C(hina) Lum), the date matched the cemetery marker for China Mary, and the certificate was clearly meant for her. China Mary was buried in Boothill Graveyard, beside her friend Quong Gu Kee, who died of natural causes on April 23, 1893. Also nearby were Foo Kee, candy store owner, accidentally stabbed in a fight; Hup Lung, for whom no details are available.

⬆️ Two Chinese who died of leprosy.

There were two Madams known as “Dutch Annie” working in Tombstone, Arizona during the 1880’s.

The first Dutch Annie (shown left) operated a parlor on Sixth Street in the Red-Light District. She was called the “Queen of the Red-Light District” and like the others of her profession, her real name is unknown.

Dutch Annie was a kind and generous soul, who could be counted on to give generously to miners in need. She gave money frequently to them during difficult times. Although she was a “soiled dove,” Annie was looked upon as a camp angel. Numerous times she was known to take a miner, down on his luck, and give him a new start in life. Annie’s generosity earned her the respect of the citizens of Tombstone, at every level of society.

When she died in 1883 her funeral at Boothill Graveyard was attended by more than 1,000 citizens, who formed a procession following the hearse. This included mourners from all walks of life; including the town’s most prominent citizens and nearly all the girls from the Red-Light District. (It is this woman who is buried with the grave marker). 

The second Dutch Annie (shown right) came later and in contrast to the earlier Dutch Annie, we know about her, primarily, because of her arrest for using indecent language. The arrest was reported by the Prospector newspaper, Tombstone in their August 27, 1887 edition.

From Tucson to Tombstone ⬇️

We left the East side of Tucson; our last stop, and made an easy drive to Tombstone, in just over an hour.

We stayed at the Tombstone RV Park, which is quite nice!
Funny thing…. We pulled into our space next to the same RVers we were neighbors with in Las Vegas, just last week. (Small world).

⬆️ Notice our site number: “resting place,” as in “here lies.” 🤣

Day Two:

We spent another half day in Tombstone. The town begins closing up around five in the evening, except some restaurants.  We had a lot of fun and by the time we left for the day, we were filled-up on all things Tombstone!

The Shoot-Out At The O.K. Corral 

I just found out, while eating at Big Nose Kate’s Saloon, Daryl has never watched the latest “Tombstone” movie with Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer…..WHAAAT? 🤣
So guess what we will be watching in the near future!!

⬇️ In the 30-minute play, real guns are used, but blanks are used in place of real ammo. It was a good show and worth the time and the $15 pp. Included in that price we went into a small theater and watched a presentation on “50 Years of Tombstone History. It was narrated by Vincent Price, so it’s dated, but it was very good.

Originally spelled with periods, this term outlived most similar abbreviations of the era owing to its use in President Martin Van Buren’s 1839 campaign for reelection. During the presidential campaign, candidate Martin Van Buren was supported by a political club in his home town of Old Kinderhook originally called the “Oll Korrect” club. The name was later changed to “Old Kinderhook” and then shortened to “O.K.”

The “Good Enough Mine” Underground Tour ⬇️

A Real 1880’s Silver Mine, 100 Feet Below the Surface, in Tombstone

The “Good Enough Mine” Tour is a 45-minute fully narrated tour that takes you into a real 1880’s silver mine. This was walking tour that took us 100 fert below the surface to the workings of the mine.

See what silver ore looks like, and learn about how it as processed. Beautiful rocks, minerals, and original artifacts. Well lit path, and easy walking. This was all done all by hand, no power tools and only candle light, back in the 1800’s.

There are over 300 miles of mine workings under Tombstone and the surrounding area. You will see where men worked that started the rush in the southwest and made Tombstone the largest city between St. Louis and San Francisco, in the early 1880’s.
It was all about millions in silver at 1880 prices.

Anybody can do this tour. You can even bring your dog!

Underground port-a-potty

There is still lots of Silver ore to be mined, but the price of the ore dropped below what mining would cost to get it out ⬇️

⬆️ Silver in them, that rock wall

A BRIEF TIMELINE OF TOMBSTONE ARIZONA

• 1877: Ed Schieffelin discovers silver in the area and later Tombstone would be built.
• 1879: Tombstone is founded and named after a warning given to Schieffelin that he would find only his Tombstone if he continued to search for silver in the area.
• 1881: The gunfight at the OK Corral occurs between lawmen and a group of outlaws, including the legendary Wyatt Earp.
• 1882: Tombstone becomes the county seat of Cochise County.
• 1884: A devastating fire destroys much of the town, but it is quickly rebuilt.
• 1886: Tombstone’s last major silver mine closes, leading to the town’s population and economy decline.
• 1929: A large earthquake damages many of Tombstone’s historic buildings.
• 1962: Tombstone becomes a National Historic Landmark.
  

October is a big month in Tombstone. In fact, on Daryls birthday; October 26, 73 years before he was born; in 1881, the shootout at the O.K. Corral, took place. 
More October dates: 

https://www.desertusa.com/dusablog/october-dates-in-tombstone-history/

*************

~Next stop, Lukeville, Arizona, and then we cross the border to 
Mexico, for almost a month’s stay!!!

ARIZONA