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To Live and Die in Tombstone — Part I
A few nuggets from the rich history of the Tombstone area
The founder of Tombstone was prospector Ed Schieffelin, who was the first to scour the pointed hills and discover a deposit of silver that was rich enough to launch a boomtown. Before beginning his explorations, Schieffelin was told, “You ain’t gonna find no riches there. All you’re gonna find is your own tombstone.” Obviously, a man with a wry sense of humor, Schieffelin remembered this when he named the town.
Tombstone is famous for its gunfights. Modern-day actors portraying Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and the Clantons re-create the gunfight at the OK Corral on a daily basis.
The real-life Wyatt Earp seemed to have been born with a lucky horseshoe. He was the only one of the shooters to emerge from the OK Corral unscathed, and improbably, Wyatt would live till he was 80, the last survivor of the notorious gun battle.
Today, the hills east of Tombstone show active prospecting around the old ghost town of Gleeson, where owners guard their mining claims with wire, threatening signs, cameras, and sensors that beep if one moves too close to the property line.
