Arizon Chronicle #5

Everyone has heard of Tombstone, but many people don't know exactly where it is. It is 'way down south in Arizona, south of Tucson, about 30 miles from the Mexican border. It sits on a mesa (plateau) 4600 feet high, surrounded by fairly distant mountains with interesting names like Dragoons and Whetstones.

It is most famous for the gunfight at the OK Corral – subject of some notable movies:

(The actors played Wyatt Earp & Doc Holliday)

+ My Darling Clementine (1946) – Henry Fonda & Victor Mature

+ Gunfight at the OK Corral (1957) -- Burt Lancaster & Kirk Douglas

+ Hour of the Gun (1967) – James Garner & Jason Robards

+ Tombstone (1993) – Kurt Russell & Val Kilmer

+ Wyatt Earp (1994) – Kevin Costner & Dennis Quaid

... and some TV series: The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, Sheriff of Cochise, and Tombstone Territory.

It was the original county seat of Cochise County, and the old courthouse is now a museum and state park. In some ways, the whole town is a museum!! Allen Street, which was originally the 'main street' has been covered over with dirt, and all the buildings on that street now have boardwalks and porches (It is blocked to cars.) Some people claim to have seen ghosts walking that street where Marshal Fred White was killed, and Virgil Earp was shot. There was a serious town fire in 1882, the county seat was later moved to Bisbee, but the town continues.

The gunfight at the OK corral took place in a vacant lot outside the OK Livery Stable on Oct 26, 1881. It is arguably the most famous shootout in Western history, involving Doc Holiday, the three Earp brothers, the Clantons and the McLourys. In thirty seconds, three men were dead and three were wounded. Nowadays, the fight is reenacted every day in Tombstone.

Seventy-nine years ago, the local folks formed a committee and staged the first formal observation of the gunfight. Called "Helldorado", it has been held every year since then during the third week of October. Starting Friday, it runs three days, with a big parade on Sunday full of Shriners, High School bands, and politicians. <grin> During Helldorado, at least half the men you see on the streets are 'armed and (presumably) dangerous'. They wear western hats and clothes – many in long black frock coats, and some in cowboy garb. The women dress like dance hall girls. Many of the men wear spurs. I wonder how many of them have actually ridden a horse!! (Spurs are kinda tricky, and can send a horse into a mad dash if you're not careful.)

There are ten bars and another six or seven restaurants that serve spirits – six of these have music at least one night a week, and most of them had music on Friday and Saturday night. The Crystal Palace, which my son Tim would classify as a "dive bar" (normally frequented by a bunch of transient and resident bikers) became a wonderful party because of an excellent three piece band called Nightlife. Western music came out of five or six other places all the time, and I was in 'hog heaven' as they say.

On Sunday, the local Cowboy Church had breakfast and a service at Helldorado Town (a permanent western town setting) and my sweetie and I attended. I remarked that you can't go in a bank or a bar with a six-gun but you can go to church! I sang a duet with the song leader while he was warming up. He invited me to join him during the service!!

I declined, but it looks like I have found a permanent place to play some gospel music!!

(The church has a permanent building on the edge of town a mile from my sweetie's mining claim.)

The mining claim, called Pick 'em Up, will be the subject of another chronicle shortly.

Rick Zahniser

Click here to go to Arizona Chronicle #5

Arizona Chronicle #4

This page and all pages on this website are Copyright, Sr_Ric, 2009. 2010. All Rights Reserved.