Barry arranged for two nights at our second Harvest Host “Third & Survey”, to facilitate our time checking out Tombstone. Leann is an awesome host! Extremely personable and helpful. This Harvest Host site has a lot more room than we expected from what we saw online. Since we could dry-camp, we got a wonderfully private, quiet spot with great nature views. (Site #8) (The name is based on its physical location.) There is a smaller area where we checked in that has power for RV. There were several in that section. We preferred out away from everyone.
This is a silver claim near our site that was staked years ago. We are on the “last dirt” of Tombstone. (city limits???)
After settling into our site, we decided to ride our bikes to Johnny Ringo’s for pizza. Leann suggested it to us. The pizza was really good with a nice THIN, crispy – GLUTEN FREE crust! Not easy to find such a (good gluten-free crust that is crispy.
When we got back to Sadie, we enjoyed a glass of wine on our patio.
I brought my laptop outside to start watching “Wyatt Earp and the Cowboy War” on Netflix. (Also recommended by Leann.) We were under the impression from her that it was a movie, but it ended up being a series with six episodes. Glad we got started as soon as we did. We learned quite a bit. Previously, I knew nothing about the Earp brothers or the lawless Cowboys.
EXPLORING HISTORIC TOMBSTONE – “The town too tough to die”
Tombstone was a mining “Boom Town.” The first silver discovery was in 1877 by Ed Schieffelin in the area once called Goose Flats in the high desert. The soldiers of Ft. Huachuca told him all he would find here was his tombstone. When he named his first mining claim, he thought “Tombstone” was appropriate. While his first two claims weren’t profitable, he found a very rich claim in the Tombstone Hills. His brother told him he was a lucky cuss, so he named the mine the “Lucky Cuss.” This claim was quickly followed by many more. Schieffelin definitely “struck it rich.” He loved prospecting. Unfortunately, he died of natural causes in his miner’s cabin in Days Creek, Oregon at the age of 49.
Schieffelin did not wish to be buried in a special cemetery. He just wanted to be in ordinary ground, but with a monument over him.
As we were locking up our bikes an actor asked if we were interested in the gunfights show that was starting in five minutes. I assumed (never good to do) that this was part of the OK Corral gunfight that we came for. We quickly purchased our tickets ($10 ea). It was more about gunfights that broke out in the streets and/or saloons of Tombstone. It was ok, just not what we were expecting, but ok as a preliminary thing.
We moved onto the OK Corral area on Allen St.
“The Gunfight at the OK Corral” was due to start shortly. The entrance was conveniently a gift shop where you purchase the $10 tickets to browse the enclosed outside area and attend the gunfight. I thought the tickets we had previously purchased were also for this. WRONG! Totally separate. Of course.
Site of the real Gunfight at the OK Corral:
I found the life-sized diorama portraying the real locations of those involved more interesting than the staged gunfight in the adjacent “stage” area. The placement of everyone in the empty lot was determined from a sketch and notes from Wyatt Earp!
Ike Clanton put a spin on the attack for the press to make it look like Wyatt and his brothers were the aggressors and that they ambushed Ike and his group purposely to murder them instead of the other way around. The stunt below was absurd and part of his ploy on emotions.
Ike Clanton filed murder charges against Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday, but about a month later the judge found evidence that they acted appropriately in defending themselves. Ike had been a bit too boisterous prior to the shoot out that he was after them.
I was given a copy of the Epitaph that printed 14 full columns of testimony from everyone called for the prosecution and for the defense. The judge’s verdict took up 6 columns. It was pretty cool, but I skimmed for the highlights. 🙂
The Oldest Profession:
Example of a prostitute’s crib:
The Corral area:
I’ve never seen any of the movies pictured below, but I may be up for watching them – or at least give them a shot..
Morgan Earp was murdered through a window while playing pool at Campbell & Hatch Saloon and Billiard Parlor – no longer a saloon, but the sign on the peach building front identifies its location.
Virgil Earp was ambushed one night as he left the Cystal Palace.
The dumbwaiter from the bar area to the upstairs allowed for refreshments to be sent up to the cribs for the working ladies and their clients.
It is said that no respectable lady would set foot in the Bird Cage. Higher class performers knew to perform at Schieffelin for respectable citizens to attend.
Big-Nosed Kate Saloon
Filled with western ambience, we decided to have lunch here.
Great burger! Perfect to share for a light lunch.
A Preserved Mine Shaft & a Surprise down below.
We went down the tight spiral stairs to the basement that currently serves as a gift shop. There is an original silver mine shaft that remains preserved. “Swamper”, a loyal and honest odd job man of the Grand Hotel, was provided a little room in exchange for working. They had no idea in the privacy of this room that he had been quietly digging to a thick silver vein within the shaft! Supposedly, his ghost haunts the Big-Nosed Kate Saloon.
The MEN’s restroom is the one to visit while here! A man coming out told me I had to come in and get a picture. (No one was currently in the restroom.). It’s pretty funny. It took the recycle message I’ve seen at various bar restrooms to a much more complete level!! Hope guys pick the right urinal. LOL Loved it!
Dang, too bad we didn’t know this when we first got here today! LOL
Epitaph Newspaper Building
So who WAS John Clum?
A street over was Schieffelin Hall. I was shocked to learn this was a “first class opera house” for the citizens of Tombstone! June 8, 1881, it became the largest, most elaborate theatre between El Paso, Texas and San Francisco, California!
Schieffelin Hall has been home to the King Solomon Masonic Lodge #5. Today it is used for City Council meetings, local social gatherings, fundraisers and theatrical performances.
The Wyatt Earp house and gallery did not appear to be open, but the information sign was quite interesting.
We continued on our bikes out to the Foothill Graveyard. The “main cast” from today are not buried here, so we didn’t spend much time.
While most boom towns became ghost towns, Tombstone continually re-invented itself at every economic downturn for over a century.
Barry’s drone footage gave me the following pictures. He got some nice aerial views of the area, but especially captured the historic Cochise County Courthouse about two blocks away from us. The two story Victorian courthouse is now a museum dedicated to the west’s wildest mining town. The hangman’s gallows with several nooses are still present, and can be seen on the property of the courthouse in the drone footage below!
Good views of the Harvest Host location in relationship to the courthouse, and the wilderness out beyond Sadie.
Originally, I didn’t really care about coming to Tombstone just for a re-enactment of a famous gunfight, but having watched the 6-episode series “Wyatt Earp and the Cowboy War”, I had a basic understanding of the history which made being here more meaningful. When we visited The Epitaph I got a couple issues of their paper. I really enjoyed learning more about Wyatt (and others) through a timeline type article by Lee Chambers. I can’t believe how much these guys moved around not – within an area, but across different states! Wyatt Earp criss-crossed the lines of thief, crooked lawman, and honest lawman. I took pictures of the article to share it with you.
Goodnight, 🙂
Tomorrow, we head to our third Harvest Host.
So cool that you can RV so close to everything. We were there once but it was to hot to wonder around. Thanks for taking us back through the history of Tombstone!