April 12: Tombstone, Arizona - The Town Too Tough To Die

Tuesday, April 12th - OK Corral, Gunfight, Cowboys, etc.

Don writes:  I spent too much time as a kid watching cowboy movies and TV shows to pass up a chance to visit Tombstone.  The drive there took us over desert scrubland full of cactus, yucca, cholla, and, of course, tumbleweeds blowing across the highway.  Riding through the rolling countryside punctuated with mesas, draws, and gulches, it was easy to imagine cowboys riding toward town in the 1880’s hoping that the Apaches weren’t hiding behind the next scrub brush or in the next arroyo. 

Tombstone was founded in 1879 and was named after a silver mine.  A prospector named Ed Schieffelin had been told by the soldiers at nearby Fort Huachuca that the only thing he’d find prospecting in that area would be his tombstone.  When he struck it rich, he named his mine the Tombstone Mine and the town adopted the same name.

Many of the buildings in town are original having been built in the 1880’s.  We started our tour with the old Tombstone Courthouse that was built in 1882.  We saw lots of great exhibits describing town life, local citizens, and the legal system as it was in the late 19^th century.  The gallows in the back courtyard was a re-creation, but it showed where a number of bad guys got their necks stretched.

From the courthouse, we moseyed down Allen Street to Big Nose Kate’s Saloon & Restaurant.  The building dates from 1881 when it was the Grand Hotel.  Big Nose Kate was Doc Holliday’s girlfriend and he and the Earps used to frequent the saloon.  Legend says that she got the nickname from her tendency to poke her nose into everyone’s business.  (Judging from the pictures of her, that might not have been the only reason.)  We had a tasty lunch while being entertained by a couple of hombres singing and playing guitar and fiddle.  I spent a few minutes at the bar soaking up whatever Earp and Holliday essence might still be left.  Not much, I’m afraid.

Following lunch, we decided to take a stagecoach tour of the town.  Our coach was modeled after the old Overland coaches that used to bring people to Tombstone from Tucson, a 17-hour trip.  The driver was our tour guide pointing out the different historic buildings and sites using a not-so-original wireless PA system mounted in the coach.  Interesting ride.  I learned that I wouldn’t want to spend 17 hours, or even 1 hour, riding in a stagecoach. 

By the time we finished our ride, it was getting close to time for the daily reenactment of the Gunfight at the OK Corral.  What baby boomer American boy doesn’t remember Wyatt Earp from the TV show of the same name?  And haven’t many of us seen at least 2 or 3 movie depictions of the most famous gunfight in U.S. history?  This was a MUST SEE part of Tombstone!  Of course, it has become a bit commercialized.  I doubt that the Earps and Doc would have really gone after the McLaurys and the Clantons in front of a grandstand full of 200 or so rapt onlookers.  But I digress.

Our price of admission got us into the OK Corral area which contains a number of exhibits showing livery stable accoutrements, information about the gunfight participants and a prostitute’s crib.  (Haven’t really figured out how the crib got into the OK Corral, but it was interesting.)  It turns out that the gunfight wasn’t actually in the corral, it was behind the corral in a vacant lot just outside C.S. Fly’s Boarding House where Doc Holliday lived. 

The show started at 2 PM.  (Whatever happened to high noon?)  Everyone was admitted to the gunfight arena where we took our seats in a covered grandstand area.  Nice touch since the sun was mighty bright and hot.  We faced a vacant lot in front of Fly’s Boarding House and the back of the OK Corral.  The gunfight was staged as a vignette starting a while before the confrontation to set the stage for what was to come.  It was very entertaining with the McLaurys and Clantons portrayed as slightly buffoony, inept bad guys who worked themselves into a lather against the Earps for real or perceived slights.  The Earps and Doc Holliday were cast as lawmen who were fed up with the hooliganisms and petty rustling of the cowboy element in town represented by the McLaurys and Clantons.  Of particular note were the soliloquies of sickly Doc Holliday who waxed poetic and comedic during the show.  The Earps were the tall square-jawed handsome menacing good guys that you expected them to be.  It’s a good thing that the run-up to the gunfight was included in the reenactment since the gunfight itself lasted about 30 seconds.  It was loud and dramatic and the “good guys” won.  (I wonder if they’ve ever considered doing a reversal on April Fool’s Day?)  Got to admit that we were left with the impression that the Clantons and McLaurys never expected to have things get that far out of hand.  Once more, it’s the old “Watch out what you ask for” syndrome.

Doc Holliday

Lin and the Earp Brothers

Following the gunfight, we visited the Tombstone Epitaph, the west’s most famous newspaper.  Founded in 1880, the paper continues to be published to this day.  We picked up a copy of the paper that was published following the OK Corral skirmish.  It contained an interview with the town sheriff who was not a fan of the Earps.  Seems there was some controversy over who started the fight.  However, the Earps were eventually cleared of any malfeasance by a local judge.

From the Epitaph, we sashayed on down to the Bird Cage Theatre, Tombstone’s most authentic attraction.  Opened in 1881, the Bird Cage was a saloon, performance hall, gambling casino and brothel.  It was reputed to be the “wildest, wickedest night spot between Basin Street and the Barbary Coast.”  This place is truly authentic.  It is dusty and dingy and the artifacts displayed are most certainly originals.  When we talked to one of the attendants to suggest that things might need some restoration, preservation, and general TLC, we were told that the owner would rather leave everything just as it is with the original 1880’s dust.  Whatever.  Got to admit that the place feels like it has been untouched since it closed in 1889.  The performance hall still has balcony cribs with the original red velvet drapes that would be closed when the prostitutes entertained their clients during a performance.  And the performances were noteworthy with some of the biggest names in show business making their way to this small town in southern Arizona.  Lillian Russell, Eddie Foy, Sr., Fatima, the Lillian Langtree all performed in the Bird Cage and many of the original playbills are on display.  The card room downstairs still contains the faro table where Doc Holliday dealt the cards.  And things did get wild.  There are many bullet holes throughout the theater lending credence to the claim that 26 men were killed here during its operating years.  This place is definitely part of the real Old West.

By the time we finished with the Bird Cage, the day was pretty much done.  We took one last stroll up Allen Street soaking up the ambience and were happy that we come to visit. The town of Tombstone has successfully maintained many of the buildings from the old cowboy days. A lot of them have been repurposed into western wear, souvenir shops, art, or jewelry stores, but it is easy to see what the old town must have been like back-in-the-day.