Tombstone

June 28 - June 29, 2013

Have you seen any of the "Tombstone" movies? Not being a big fan of "westerns," I don't think I've ever watched one all the way through, but Rick has watched them all several times. His favorite is the one with Val Kilmer and Kurt Russell.

Tombstone is a real place and the movies are based on real events in 1881. The shootout at the OK Corral actually happened, though there is some debate about who the real "good guys" were. There's no debate that police chief Virgil Earp duputized his brothers Wyatt and Morgan along with Doc Holliday in order to help him disarm the "cowboys" Frank and Tom McLaury and Tom and Ike Clanton, who were waiting to confront Doc Holliday.

Ike Clanton ran away when the shooting started. The three "cowboys" who stood their ground were all killed. Virgil and Morgan Earp were both badly wounded and Doc Holliday suffered a superficial hip wound. Only Wyatt Earp walked away unscathed. The town was divided about whether the lawmen were "just doing their job," or whether it was an execution. The Earps were even arrested, tried, and acquitted. Tombstone does a pretty credible reenactment of the gunfight several times each day.

Tombstone has done its best to retain its old west feel in the downtown area. There are a number of original buildings and the sidewalks are still wooden. The road is paved, but closed to traffic in order to preserve the historic feeling.

Tombstone came into being because it was the site of a large silver mine which continued producing silver until 1889. We took a tour of the "Good Enough Mine." It was interesting to see how primitive and dangerous mining operations were in the 19th century.

 

 

 

 

Since Tombstone has a higher elevation than Tucson, we "enjoyed" temperatures that were about five degrees less than those in Tucson. That meant that it only reached 108 while we were in Tombstone!