Take me to Tombstone: visiting a Western landmark
Written by Finn Martin
It turns out the Old West didn’t blow away with the tumbleweed. Although ghost towns and country horse rides picket the American southwest, a few true historic Western towns remain preserved and ready to be rediscovered by the intrepid, far-stepping Bruin. Full of colorful characters and living history, the silver mining town of Tombstone, Arizona, invites you to explore the grounds of one of the most mythologized stories in the West.
An hourlong drive southeast from Tucson, Arizona, along the United States’ southmost highway, the Interstate 10, the town of Tombstone requires some effort to reach, but the trek is worth it. Book a stay across the street from the action at the Tombstone Motel, a rustic quarters which will have you sleeping next to pistol lamps and beneath poker table ceiling lights (watch out for Geronimo in the bathroom – more on him later). If you spot a framed photo of a dapper man with a handlebar mustache, you’d be justified in mistaking him for Val Kilmer. While the gentleman in question may look like the star of the 1993 hit movie “Tombstone,” you’re actually seeing the real Doc Holliday, a bronze pistol-toting hero of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral.
While Tombstone got its name from a witty warning told to a prospector, the town’s popularity today owes a heavy debt to this legendary gunfight, a shooting skirmish sparked by months of greed and threats that would never have happened had a man named Ed Schieffelin turned tail. In 1877. Schieffelin, a silver prospector on the hunt, set out to make a claim in the desert hills of the San Pedro Valley. Soldiers stationed nearby and on the watch for a ruthless Apache warrior named Geronimo (I promised we’d circle back) warned Schieffelin that he would only find his tombstone there. But instead of a grave, Schieffelin’s shovel struck silver – a vein that in sum produced a total of 32 million troy ounces of silver, the equivalent to roughly $2.3 billion today! This kind of cash was bound to bring trouble, and it did when crime and law collided only four years later. A band of cowboys hustling stagecoaches en route to town found themselves face to face with Marshal Virgil Earp, his deputized brothers Wyatt and Morgan, and the dentist, gambler and gunfighter Doc Holliday. The men met in a lot behind Tombstone’s O.K. Corral: 30 seconds and 30 shots later, the cowboys lay dead and the law victorious.
The silver vein may have died, but the town of Tombstone continues to mine the story. Reenactments of the shoot-outs can be found in treble each day with no shortage of companies to watch. Two troops of reenactors stood out the most to me. There is no better place to start than a trip to the site of the O.K. Corral itself – for six dollars entry, you can watch a 30-minute resurrection of the gunfight in the place where it really happened (plus, you will be treated to actual historical artifacts you can’t see elsewhere). If this acting leaves you wanting, check out the gunfights at the Old Tombstone Western Theme Park. The Old Tombstone Western Theme Park is comparable in price and time but offers a more comedic routine that seeks to invent new stories rather than retell the more well-known shoot-out. Spending your money there, additionally, can leave you gratified from more than just the show, as the acting troupe chiefly employs military veterans.
If you survive the gunfights without taking a slug, follow the gunfight’s procession by visiting the nearby Boothill Graveyard. Buried inside this 1878 cemetery are the cowboys from the O.K. Corral shooting as well as other notable figures. The tombstones show the changing history of Tombstone as waves of Civil War veterans, freedmen and immigrants passed through the town. Try to stroll through these grounds before dusk to catch a gorgeous sunset in the nearby Dragoon Mountains.
Feeling parched and dusty after a day in the desert? Take rest at the Crystal Palace Saloon. Surprisingly, this is the only place in all of Tombstone where you can watch the movie “Tombstone” (which is played throughout the day on loop over the bar counter). Most everything in this town comes chicken-fried with a side of beans, but this landmark establishment also offers up a mighty New York steak, a series of classic Southern dishes and Americana selects such as burgers and pizza. One unique quirk about the restaurants in Tombstone is that they all serve up a soda that they like to dub, of course, the Doc Holliday – a more cherry-flavored Dr. Pepper.
History buffs, Old Western fans and students searching for adventure beyond the borders of California will all enjoy a visit to the town of Tombstone – a perfect journey for a long weekend. So grab some friends, find a time and make the journey to this landmark spot that symbolizes the historical expansion into the West!