Tombstone - A Quick History

Just for a little while, try to place yourself in the Tombstone of the early 1880s. Experience the sights and sounds of a rather untidy little town in southeastern Arizona Territory at the start of one of the west's biggest silver booms.

Ready? Okay, first, it's hot! Hot and dry and probably windy. The air carries the presence of horses and wood fires, the absence of indoor plumbing. The sound of metal on rock rings from the nearby hills.

You are surrounded by an ever-increasing gaggle of hopeful prospectors, eager merchants, steely-eyed gamblers, ladies of negotiable affection, and all of the other hangers-on that gravitated toward the elusive riches. Many of they are not terribly bright, and few of them have bathed in the recent past. Getting the picture?

Frontier towns were not places for the timid, and Tombstone was certainly no exception. There was little or no law in the early days. There was not nearly as much gunplay as is depicted in the movies and novels, but there was just enough to keep the wary behind closed doors after dark. There were still random Apaches roaming the mountains of Arizona Territory, and there was enough loose money to attract the attention of the stage robber, the thief, the element that preferred to prey on their fellow man.

Greed was the principl motivator. Greed drove the prospectors into the hills in search of mineral wealth. Greed brought the merchants and thw saloon owners and the faro dealers. A few of them attained fabulous wealth. Most spent frustrating months or years grubbing for their share before moving on to the next bonanza or dying in the effort.

Tombstone - A Quick History is, of all things, an entertaining history lesson. It talks of the formation of the geology, of the very earliest inhabitants, the Palio-Indians.

It follows the Apache, described as the toughest human organism, through their wars with other tribes, with the Spanish and Mexicans, and finally with the white eyes.

The formation of one of the west's foremost mining districts was primarilly due to the fabulous strike of Ed Schieffelin, a tireless prospector. Dodging roaming Apaches, Ed started a mining bonanza that soon brought thousands of hopeful prospectors and merchants of all kinds to the southwestern desert.

Tombstone was also the sight of the infamous Gunfight at the OK Corral, less than 30 seconds of mayhem that was to define Tombstone for readers and TV and movie fans all over the world.

Tombstone - A Quick History takes you back to the day of the gunfight, to the adrenaline-laced newspaper reports of the next day to give you most accurate accounts of the battle.

Tombstone - A Quick History is a series of extended snapshots of the formation and evolution of one of America's foremost mining towns.