Tombstone is a city in Cochise County, Arizona, United States. It was founded in 1879 by Ed Schieffelin, a prospector in what was then Pima County, Arizona Territory. It was one of the many boomtowns founded in the southwestern United States in that era. The most productive silver mining district in Arizona, it produced some $40 to $85 million in silver bullion (equivalent to about $ to $ today).
Best known as the site of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, the city draws most of its revenue from tourism. According to the 2020 census, the city had a permanent population of 1,308. Tombstone has frequently been noted on lists of unusual place names.
History Tombstone was founded on land historically inhabited by the Hohokam people, who lived in southern Arizona for over 2,000 years. The town was established in 1879 on a mesa above the Goodenough Mine. By 1880, the town had many saloons, gambling halls, dance halls, and brothels. It also boasted four churches, three newspapers, two banks, an ice house, and an ice cream parlor. In those days, the more respectable denizens of Tombstone attended theatrical productions presented by visiting troupes at the Schieffelin Hall, while the miners and cowboys preferred shows at the Bird Cage Theatre.
Underlying political tensions rapidly escalated as the population increased. The townspeople and the owners of the mines were largely from the Northern states, while the ranchers were mostly Confederate sympathizers. Only from the Mexico–United States border, the city was a market for cattle stolen from ranches in Sonora, Mexico, by a loosely organized band of outlaws known as the Cochise County Cowboys. The Earp brothers (Wyatt, Virgil and Morgan) and Doc Holliday had ongoing conflicts with Cowboys Ike and Billy Clanton, Frank and Tom McLaury, and Billy Claiborne. The Cowboys repeatedly threatened the Earps, until the conflict escalated into a gunfight on October 26, 1881. Although the gunfight is often portrayed as occurring at the O.K. Corral, it actually occurred a short distance away, in an empty lot on Fremont Street.
Beginning in 1880, the silver mines penetrated the water table, requiring the installation of pumps to dewater the mines. In 1886, a fire destroyed the pumping station, and it was deemed unprofitable to rebuild the costly pumps. The city nearly became a ghost town, saved only by the fact that it was the seat of Cochise County at that time. The city's population dwindled from 1,875 in 1890 to a low of 646 in 1910, but grew to 1,380 by 2010. Tombstone has frequently been noted on lists of unusual place names.
Founding
Ed Schieffelin was a United States Army Indian Scout during the Apache Wars. While stationed at what would later become Fort Huachuca, he searched the surrounding area, looking for ore. Three people had recently been killed by Apache warriors at the Santa Rita mines in nearby Santa Cruz Valley. When friend and fellow Army Scout Al Sieber learned what Schieffelin was up to, he reportedly told him, "The only rock you will find out there will be your own tombstone", or, according to an earlier version of the story, "Better take your coffin with you; you will find your tombstone there, and nothing else."
In 1877, Schieffelin used Brunckow's Cabin as a base of operations to survey the area. After many months, while working the hills east of the San Pedro River, he found silver ore in a dry wash on a high plateau called Goose Flats. It took him several more months to locate the source. When he located the vein, he estimated it to be fifty feet long and twelve inches wide. Schieffelin took on a partner named William Griffith who financed the filing of the claim in return for a later claim for himself. Griffith filed Schieffelin's first claim, which was named Tombstone, on September 3, 1877.Horn, Tom (1973, ). Life of Tom Horn, Government Scout and Interpreter. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. Originally published in 1904 by John C. Coble. pp. 26–27. . Another account says the first claim was called Graveyard "because it proved worthless and for no other reason."
When the first claims were filed, the initial settlement of tents and wooden shacks was located at Watervale, near the Lucky Cuss mine, with a population of about 100. The Goodenough Mine strike occurred shortly after. Former Territorial Governor Anson P. K. Safford offered financial backing for a share of the mining claims, and Schieffelin, his brother Al, and their partner Richard Gird formed the Tombstone Mining and Milling Company and built a stamp mill near the San Pedro River, about away. As the mill was being built, US Deputy Mineral Surveyor Solon M. Allis finished surveying the new town's site in March 1879. The tents and shacks near the Lucky Cuss were moved to the new town site on Goose Flats, a mesa above the Goodenough Mine at above sea level and large enough to hold a growing town. Lots were immediately sold on Allen Street for $5 each. The town soon had some 40 cabins and about 100 residents. At the town's founding in March 1879, it took its name from Schieffelin's initial mining claim. By late 1879, a few thousand hardy souls were living in a tent camp perched amidst the richest silver strike in the Arizona Territory.
On September 9, 1880, the richly appointed Grand Hotel was opened, adorned with fine oil paintings, thick carpets, toilet stands, elegant chandeliers, silk-covered furniture, walnut furniture, and a kitchen with hot and cold running water. The city was also host to Kelly's Wine House, featuring wine imported from Europe, cigars, a bowling alley, and many other amenities common to large cities.
On February 1, 1881, following an act by the 11th Arizona Territorial Legislature, Cochise County was created from the eastern portion of Pima County, and Tombstone was designated as the county seat.11th Arizona Territorial Legislature No. 7 AN ACT To create the County of Cochise. Telegraph service to the town was established that same month. On February 21, 1881, the village of Tombstone was incorporated as "The City of Tombstone, of the Territory of Arizona."11th Arizona Territorial Legislature No. 39 AN ACT To incorporate the City of Tombstone, to define its limits and rights, to specify its privileges and powers, and provide for an efficient government for the same. In early March 1880, the Schieffelins' Tombstone Mining and Milling Company which owned the original Goodenough Mine and the nearby Tough Nut Mine (among others), was sold to investors from Philadelphia. Two months later, it was reported that the Tough Nut Mine was working a vein of silver ore across that assayed at $170 per ton, with some ore assaying at $22,000 a ton.
Early conflicts
Under the surface were other tensions aggravating the simmering distrust. Most of the Cowboys were Confederate sympathizers and Democrats from Southern states, especially Texas. The mine and business owners, miners, townspeople and city lawmen including the Earps were largely Republicans from the Northern states. There was also a conflict over resources and land, with the agrarianism of the rural Cowboys contrasted to Northern-style "big-government" development.
At that time, theft of cattle and smuggling of alcohol and tobacco across the Mexico–United States border about from Tombstone were common. The Mexican government taxed these items heavily and smugglers earned a handsome profit by sneaking these products across the border. The illegal cross-border smuggling contributed to the lawlessness of the region. Many of these crimes were carried out by outlaw elements labeled "Cow-boys", a loosely organized band of friends and acquaintances who teamed up for various crimes and came to each other's aid. The San Francisco Examiner wrote in an editorial, "Cowboys [are] the most reckless class of outlaws in that wild country...infinitely worse than the ordinary robber." At that time in Cochise County, it was an insult to call a legitimate cattleman a "Cowboy". Legitimate cowmen were referred to as cattle herders or ranchers. The Cowboys were nonetheless welcome in town because of their free-spending habits, but shootings were common.
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
On the evening of March 15, 1881, three Cochise County Cowboys attempted to rob a Kinnear & Company stagecoach carrying $26,000 in silver bullion , en route from Tombstone to Benson, the nearest railroad freight terminal. They attacked the stagecoach near Drew's Station, just outside Contention City. Eli "Budd" Philpot, a popular and well-known driver, and a passenger named Peter Roerig riding in the rear dickey seat were both shot and killed. Deputy US Marshal Virgil Earp, with his temporary deputies and brothers Wyatt Earp and Morgan Earp, pursued the suspects. That set off a chain of events that culminated, on October 26, 1881, in a gunfight in a vacant lot owned by photographer C. S. Fly near the O.K. Corral, during which the lawmen and Doc Holliday killed Tom McLaury, Frank McLaury, and Billy Clanton.
Two months later, on the evening of December 28, 1881, Virgil Earp was ambushed and seriously wounded on the streets of Tombstone by hidden assailants shooting from the second story of an unfinished building. Although identified, the suspects provided witnesses who supplied alibis, and the men were not prosecuted. On March 18, 1882, while Morgan Earp was playing billiards at 10 p.m. at Campbell & Hatch in Allen Street—in the heart of Tombstone's still-current downtown—he was killed by a shot through a window that struck his spine, as Wyatt looked on. Once again, the assailants were named but escaped arrest due to legal technicalities. Wyatt Earp concluded that official justice was out of reach. Armed with warrants obtained via the U. S. Marshal's Office, he led a posse of US deputy marshals on what became known as the Earp Vendetta Ride, pursuing and killing four of the men they held responsible.
Much of the Cowboy-related crime subsided after the Earp family left Arizona in early 1882. John Horton Slaughter was elected Cochise County Sheriff in 1886 and served two terms. He hired Burt Alvord, who as a 15-year-old boy had witnessed the shootout between the Earps and Cowboys. Alford served very effectively for three years until he began to drink heavily and associate with outlaws, as had Earp-era County Sheriff Johnny Behan, a close friend and constant protector of the law-breaking Clanton family and their friends.
Boothill Graveyard
Of the number of pioneer Boot Hill cemeteries in the Old West, so named because most of those buried in them had "died with their boots on", Boothill in Tombstone is one of the best-known. Tom McLaury, Frank McLaury, and Billy Clanton, killed in the O.K. Corral shootout, are among those buried in the town's Boothill Graveyard.
Silver mining
Tombstone boomed, but founder Ed Schieffelin was more interested in prospecting than owning a mine. Ed was one-third partners with his brother Al Schieffelin and Richard Gird. There were several hundred mining claims near Tombstone, although the most productive were immediately south of town. These included the Goodenough, Toughnut, Contention, Grand Central, Lucky Cuss, Emerald, and Silver Thread. Due to the lack of readily available water near town, mills were built along the San Pedro River about away, leading to the establishment of several small mill towns, including Charleston, Contention City, and Fairbank.
Schieffelin left Tombstone to find more ore and when he returned four months later, Gird had lined up buyers for their interest in the Contention claim, which they sold for $10,000. It would later yield millions in silver. They sold a half-interest in the Lucky Cuss, and the other half turned into a steady stream of money. Al and Ed Schieffelin later sold their two-thirds interest in the Tough Nut for $1 million, and sometime later Gird sold his one-third interest for the same amount.