By Larry Nader, Larry Nader Photography & Art
Published April 11, 2022, for State 48 A2Z
When you mention the city of Tombstone, Arizona to nearly anyone in the United States the first thing that comes to mind is that infamous and fateful October afternoon in 1881 when the Earps and Doc Holliday had their showdown with the “The Cowboys” Billy Clanton and the McLaurys on Fremont Street near the OK Corral. How could you not? The 30-second gunfight is possibly the most repeated story in American cinematic history. But do you know how Tombstone was founded and how it was named?
The origins of the ‘town too tough to die’ started a few years before that famed October gunfight. The US Army established Fort Huachuca in southern Pima County, Arizona Territory in March 1877, and it wasn’t long before an Oregon prospector and army scout named Ed Schieffelin made his way to the new fort by way of California where he had spent some time prospecting.
After his time panning in California, Schieffelin spent a little unproductive time prospecting near the Grand Canyon when he heard about the new fort and decided to make his way south. Under the guise of scouting with the US Army, Schieffelin continued secretly prospecting the area. When a fellow army scout and friend of his, Al Sieber, found out what Schieffelin was doing he told the would-be prospector, “The only rock you will find out there will be your own tombstone.”
Schieffelin would eventually find silver in the area we know as Tombstone and would go on to file two claims for mines in the area. The first claim filed in 1877 was named “Tombstone” for the obvious reasons described above. The second claim, filed a year later, was named “Good Enough” because, as legend has it, the silver ore found was so rich that it was “good enough” to satisfy Schieffelin. It was from these mines that the town and legend of Tombstone were born.
Just like other mining towns, Tombstone was rough and tumble as they come. Yet the lure of riches was enough to keep the flow of miners coming to town. It also brought with it outlaws looking to cash in a different way. As per the Tombstone Chamber of Commerce website, “The popular in Tombstone increased to approximately 7,500 by the mid-1880s. However, this figure only consisted of the white males over the age of 21 that were registered vote. The figure that consists of women, children and other ethnicities, the population was at least 15,000 and possibly as much as 20,000. Tombstone was considered to be between San Francisco and St. Louis as the fastest populating city.”
At one point, Tombstone had more than 100 saloons, a massive red-light district, numerous restaurants, schools, newspapers, churches, several theaters, and even one of the state’s first swimming pools, which is still in use today.
Disaster would strike the young town twice in a short fashion. First in June 1881 when a pair of large fires tore through town and destroyed more than 60 businesses. The town showed its grit and determination and rebuilt from the ashes. A mere 11-months after the first great fire, Tombstone had a second massive fire even more devastating than the first. The May 1882 fire caused roughly $500,000 in damages, three times that of the first fire.
Tombstone was a rough life for many. As with most mining towns, drinking and gambling were high on the list of entertainment for the miners, cowboys, and outlaws of the town. You can imagine what would happen many nights when these two activities were combined. Or maybe it was from an argument over a woman or because of the one human trait that is as old as mankind itself, greed. Many a man was killed in gunfights in the saloons and on the streets of Tombstone.
While every city and developing town needs a cemetery, that need may have been higher in Tombstone than in many other old west towns. Boot Hill Graveyard was used from 1879, when it was called City Cemetery until the New Tombstone City Cemetery opened in 1884, at which point, the closed City Cemetery was referred to as “the old cemetery”. The name Boot Hill wasn’t given to it until the late 1920s when someone decided to call name it after the famous pioneer cemetery in Dodge City, Kansas in hopes of boosting tourism.
Boot Hill, located just outside the historic area of Tombstone on Highway 80, was in dire straits by the 1920s and had become rundown from decades of neglect, and many grave markers were either lost, stolen, or had become illegible. In the 1920s, a group of concerned citizens from Tombstone and around Cochise County began the long, painstaking task of researching burial records, and talking with relatives and older community members to help them restore the cemetery and accurately mark the graves. In all, it took them several years to complete this task, but Boot Hill was restored as it was when it was City Cemetery.
When touring Boot Hill, you will see headstones not only for the men who “died with their boots on” on the hard streets of Tombstone, but also babies, children, and women. Some of the grave markers contain basic information about the deceased, other markers have sarcastic or humorous epitaphs. A grave marker for John Hicks (deceased 1879) states, “Hicks was shot by Jeremiah McCormick, superintendent of the Lucky Cuss Mine. A saloon brawl.” While a marker for Lester Moore, a Wells Fargo agent at Naco, says, “Here lies Lester More, four slugs from a 44, no Les, no more.”
You will find the most infamous occupants of Boot Hill at the beginning of row 2. Right next to Billy Clanton’s father, listed on his tombstone as Old Man Clanton, lies the remains of the three ‘Cowboys’ shot by the Earp brothers and “Doc” Holliday near the OK Corral.
The town too tough to die has lived up to its reputation over the years. Today you can see the town much as it was back before the turn of the 20th century, catch gunfight reenactments on the streets or behind the OK Corral, tour Ed Schieffelin’s Good Enough Mine (a very fun and informative guided tour that takes you into the mine), shop on the streets of Tombstone, grab some grub from one of the many restaurants, visit Boot Hill, or just check out some of the historic buildings nearby, such as the Tombstone Courthouse, and Schieffelin Hall.
Tombstone is probably the best-known Arizona old west town and is on many people’s bucket lists when visiting Arizona. It’s a place that everyone should experience at least once in their life and fun and informative. You can get more information to help plan your visit to Tombstone by visiting the Tombstone Chamber of Commerce.
That’ll wrap things up for this week. As always, thanks for reading, stay safe, and happy travels. Like and follow us on social media (links below) and please share our posts. And feel free to give us your feedback. We’d love to hear from you. Peace!
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