The West That Wasnt - Tombstone, AZ

What the History Books Tell Us

The City of Tombstone, Arizona (formerly Pima County of the Arizona Territory; currently Cochise County) was founded by prospector and former U.S. Army Scout Ed Schieffelin. Tombstone became one of the last boomtowns of the American frontier. The mines there produced between 40 to 85 million dollars (at 1880's exchange rates) in silver bullion, and grew from a population of roughly 100 miners at the outset to approximately 14,000 residents at its peak.

In the mid 1880's, the mines hit the water table, necessitating massive pumps be employed to drain the water and allow further digging and ore excavation. Not long after, a fire destroyed the pumps, and that--coupled with a huge decrease in the price of silver--made it unprofitable to rebuild or replace the pumps. This started the rapid decline of the city. Tombstone nearly became a ghost town, narrowly avoiding such a fate due to it being the Cochise County seat until 1929. Over the next 20 years, the population dwindled down to about 600 residents in 1910. Over the next century, the population would roughly double, but in the 21st century, Tombstone earns most of its revenue from tourism, regaling people from all over the country with the wild tales of gunfights between lawmen and bandits, and inspiring people with the drive and entrepreneurship that made Tombstone a shining jewel in the middle of a vast desert wasteland for a brief flash of American history.

Even before its founding, the area was rough and tumble, riddled with tragedy and violence. All that money to be made drew men of all moral standing. Plenty were honest businessmen, looking to make a fair and decent living, while many were less scrupulous, and grifted at the fringes, preying on others and running all sorts of devious schemes.

The West that Wasn't

Tombstone, Arizona was founded by Ed Schieffelin in 1877. He had been a prospector and miner from the age of 17 in about 1865, and had traveled far and wide in the west, searching for a claim. From his start in Oregon, he had traveled to Idaho, Death Valley, Colorado, New Mexico, and California. He surveyed the Grand Canyon, but found no gold there. He had heard that the US Army was hiring Hualapai Indians as scouts in the area to counter the Apache threat, and to secure the border with Mexico. He accompanied the scouts on their missions, and took these opportunities wandering about to prospect part time, ranging out from Camp Huachuca. He finally settled in the hills east of the camp, and began prospecting full-time. This area was extremely dangerous for settlers, as hostile Apaches were closer than the cavalry at Camp Huachuca, which was only 20 miles away.

In 1876, Schieffelin led a party to an old abandoned mine near San Pedro to search for silver ore. At the mine was an old cabin built by the mine's founder, Frederick Brunckow. This location had a bloody history of which Schieffelin did not heed, either blissful in his ignorance, or blinded by avarice. Before departing, Schieffelin's friend Al Sieber--a fellow army scout--tried to warn him, telling Schieffelin, "The only rock you will find out there will be your own tombstone." Schieffelin did not heed his friend's advice, and used Brunckow's Cabin as his base of operations. Before long, Schieffelin and his group were attacked by Apaches. One of his men was killed in the attack, and this fresh blood on the cursed ground awakened the dormant spirit that tainted the place with invitations of violence and death.

After the attack, Schieffelin threw himself into surveying the countryside, a man possessed. He needed to dig, but he could only make it so far by himself. To dig as deep as his new master needed, he would have to find a way to make the process profitable for others to help him. After a few months searching, guided by the voice of the fell spirit riding the haunches of his greedy mind, Schieffelin found silver ore in a dry wash. This led him to a silver vein. Schieffelin's first mining claim was filed on September 21, 1877. He named it Tombstone. Some people thought this was because the claim was sited near the grave of the dead miner from Schieffelin's group killed by the Apaches. Others thought it inspired by Al Sieber's warning. No one suspected that the entire mesa was a tombstone in its own right that marked the prison containing an infernal spirit.

In an alarmingly short time, Tombstone blossomed from a mining camp of roughly 100 people into a boom town with a population of roughly 14,000. Several mines were established, and all day long, ton after ton of ore-laden rock was excavated and hoisted to the surface. The mines grew deeper every day, creeping closer and closer to the tomb hidden deep within the mesa.

Conflicts

The Natives are Restless

The basis of the location of Tombstone centers around an eldritch spirit that was defeated and entombed ages ago by ancient shamans. The bloodlines of several nearby Indian tribes descend from those warriors and wise men, and some of them uphold half-forgotten traditions and myths that count them as keepers or protectors to hold the ancient evil at bay. While the local Apache tribes attacking invading settlers would, on the surface, seem perfectly normal and no one would really question it, some of the Apache in this area feared that outsiders might come and disturb ancient spirits, and their aggression in this region was an attempt to stop that. Now that Tombstone has become so well established, any chance for the Apache to fully drive off all the settlers is virtually nil. Still, they are a threat, and might attack those that wander too far from civilization, or perform the occasional raid on outlying ranches and independent mining claims.

The Ranchers and the Cowboys

In this time and place, it was no compliment to be called a "Cowboy." Noted by an editorial in the San Francisco Examiner, they were "...the most reckless class of outlaws in that wild country...infinitely worse than the ordinary robber." Cowboys were a loosely organized group of friends, shirt-tail relatives and acquaintances who often teamed up to commit various crimes, and frequently came to each other's aid when one of the rotten bunch was in trouble. Tussling with one of the Cowboys was a dangerous proposition, because like as not, more of them would crawl out of the woodwork before long. Cowboys and other outlaws engaged in plenty of criminal activity, most notably cattle rustling and smuggling across the U.S./Mexico border, but stagecoach robberies were not out of the question. Plenty of legitimate businessmen had no end of problems with these bandits, especially the local Cattlemen, who often suffered from their horse thievery and cattle rustling. The Cowboys were considered one of America's first and most influential bands of organized crime.

Old Wounds Run Deep

The Civil War is still fresh in peoples' minds, and many an older gent about town might have fought on one side or the other; many younger folk had a father or grandpappy who fought, as well. Many of the business owners, miners, townsfolk and lawmen were northern Republicans, while most of the Cowboys and farmers and ranchers tended to be Confederate sympathizers. These various groups constantly butted heads over resources allocation and land usage, and the size and scope of local government.

Political Shenanigans

It was not uncommon in Cochise County for officials to appoint their favored toadies into key political positions that tended to the integrity of local elections. When these (not so) subtle machinations failed, local bandits were not even above coercing locals to cast ballots in their favor, to help elect officials who were sympathetic to their causes, and who were more likely to let them off the hook for their criminal acts.