The West That Wasnt - Tombstone, AZ
Contents
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 and exaggerated 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 standings. 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.
Places of Interest
- The Golden Eagle Brewery: Located on the corner of 5th and Allen streets, the Golden Eagle Brewery was owned and operated by Swiss immigrants Godfrey, Manfred and Charles Tribolet. They brought on German brewmeister Bernhardt Wehrfritz, who eventually became the long-term owner. The Golden Eagle specialized in "beer and beef." It was established in 1879, and quickly became a favorite watering hole and eatery. In the great fire of 1882, the building was destroyed, but was rebuilt and reopened as the Crystal Palace. The business expanded, adding a second story for offices, which were used by none other than the U.S. Deputy Marshal Virgil Earp, among other notables. A shining feature unique to the Golden Eagle was a magnificent 45-foot long mahogany bar.
- City Hall
- Tombstone Courthouse & Jail
- Occidental Hotel
- O.K. Corral & Livery
- Schieffelin Hall & Theatre
- South-Western Ice Co.
- Tombstone Mining & Milling Co.
- Spangengerger's Gun & Hardware Store
- A&F.A General Store
- Grand Tartan Distillery and Gaming Hall
Notable Locals
- Johnny Behan: Sheriff of Cochise County. Has close ties to and sympathies to Angus Laroq. Is considered by many to be soft on crime due to spending too much time collecting taxes (of which he skims 10% off the top)
- Angus Laroq: Got in on things early in Tombstone after being cleaned out in Abilene, when land was cheap, and grand schemes could be formed that would shape the future of the town for years to come. Laroq owns the best provisioned General Store in town, and the Grand Tartan Brewery and Saloon
- Phineas Draycott: One of several local morticians and undertakers, Phineas stands out for several reasons. He was one of the first to take up the business in Tombstone. Because of this, he has had to deal with some of the more mysterious corpses that have come to the public's attention. He has gotten a bit of a reputation around town for some of his diagnoses in the early days, when locals were regularly dying from unnatural causes. Since then, the weird ones tend to get shunted off to him, and it has done nothing to quell his suspicion that something strange is afoot around Tombstone.
- Javier Moreno: Not everyone in Tombstone is a miner. When a man needs a nice suit, they go See Javier at The Argento. Not only does he sell and tailor the finest men's clothing in town with his unique silver-thread embroidery, he has a partnership with the jeweler, Iago Mercado, who sells his wares from within The Argento.
- Iago Mercado: A fair-haired Spaniard come to Tombstone hunting for silver. Not as a prospector or miner, but as a craftsman. He collects particular samples of pure silver bullion and uses them to make all manner of jewelry, buttons, cufflinks and the like to match Javier's styles, along with women's items to complement their men's outfits. He also is known to make custom items such as crucifixes, silver hand mirrors, letter openers and hatpins. All of his goods are made from locally-sourced silver from his own stock. Some customers have been turned away and started rumors about Iago when they asked him to make custom works from silver bullion they supplied.
- Doc Rouska: With her accent, the Widow Rouska is rumored to hail from Eastern Europe or Russia. She settled near Tombstone with her husband and child, both of whom died tragically. To maintain upkeep on her homestead just outside of town, she took up business as a physician, tending to the ill and injured. With the rowdiness of Tombstone, there is usually no shortage of the latter. Being a slight, delicate thing in her early 40's, she usually leaves the heavy lifting--when necessary--to her assistant, Lazarus.
- Lazarus: Tall, sallow-skinned and dressed from head to toe in a black wool suit, Lazarus is Doc Rouska's ever-present aide-de-camp. In addition to helping her out moving bodies, Lazarus has been known to eject rowdies or unsavory customers from her office from time to time.
- The Perkins brothers: Dave, Clem, and Pete Perkins all work at the Laroq Ranch. Clem and Pete are affiliated with the Cowboys, and are well known by the community as local troublemakers, but they always seem to evade punishment, or get off easy when they don't. Dave is more level headed, and not inclined to ride with the Cowboys, but his loyalty to his brothers requires that he skirt the line of lawlessness more often than he cares for.
- Father Ian Roscommon: The local Catholic priest. He is kind, yet stern, and unshakeable in his faith. Deep down, he feels that something is not right with the land, that God is calling him to take action, but he is lost as yet as to what that action might be. This causes him no end of turmoil, and has resulted in the Good Father hitting the bottle a bit more than is prudent, perhaps hoping that the word of God might be made clearer with the hearty application of some good old Irish Whisky.
Factions
Businessmen
The businessmen of Tombstone are largely Northern Republicans. They supported the Union during the Civil War, and have come to Tombstone to make an honest living and build something that will last; getting in on the action early means that they have an eye for a good deal, drive, and a bit of luck that this opportunity has panned out well for them so far. They make their money off the mines, and the silver that flows out of them. They serve the miners of course, but also all the other attendant needs of that group, and all the others that have flocked here to keep the mines profitable. The more people that settle here and the more well provisioned they are, the more silver that can be mined to line their pockets. As a whole, they cannot well afford to oppose or alienate any other groups. Even when it comes to unsavory customers like the Cowboys, they hold their noses and offer them goods and services due to the bandits' free spending habits.
The Cowboys
The Cowboys are considered by some historians to be one of America's first examples of organized crime. In Cochise County, their numbers were estimated to run from 200-300 members at the height of their influence. Comprised mostly of Southern Democrats and former Confederates or Confederate Sympathizers, they can be a definite threat to those in power, or anyone that crosses them. It is suspected by many that they act with such impunity in the region because they have allies in place within the halls of local power, and they actively work to ensure that fellow members or those that will aid them are elected or appointed where it will do them the most good.
Due to high taxes in Mexico on such goods as tobacco and liquor, many Cowboys worked as smugglers in the early years of their operation. When the Mexican government fortified the border with outposts and patrols, they focused more of their attention on cattle rustling and horse thievery. However, they are not above any other criminal enterprises, so long as it can turn a profit. They have also been known to rob stagecoaches, intercept bullion shipments, pillage farmsteads and cheat at cards.
Miners
The miners of Tombstone are a simple but sizable lot. Many came to strike it rich, or simply earn a decent day's pay. As the city expands, their quality of life improves in many ways. An orderly and prosperous Tombstone benefits them the most. Because they are the most obvious and numerous group, they often take the brunt of any bad news that comes to town.
The Cattlemen
The wide open ranges of the American frontier lend themselves naturally to ranching, and the Cattlemen wasted no time in moving their herds where the people were and there was land for grazing. Many of the agrarian types in the West came from the South, and that is where their sympathies still tend to lie politically, but they are still businessmen, and most of them attempt to earn an honest living. Still, there are others who aren't above purchasing rustled cattle and re-branding them, otherwise the Cowboys would have no one to sell them to.
With their business requiring a lot of acreage, the Cattlemen tend to control the most land, with Angus Laroq owning a thousand acres and hundreds of cattle and horses. This also means in the West that Wasn't, there is a good chance that a rancher may be the first to discover something unexplained when it affects his land or livestock.
The Lawmen
Many icons of the American frontier, and legends of the gunslinger era were the lawmen: Sheriffs, Marshals, Rangers and the like. Some were known for their brave exploits and the desperadoes they brought down, while others were known for their villainy and corruption. So far removed from any central authority, sometimes a frontier Sheriff's word was the last one when it came to dealing with criminals, and their word was rarely questioned. Many lawmen operated with little in the way of oversight or accountability, and only had to answer to the people come election time. A sheriff could also appoint deputies or under-sheriffs who acted as extensions of his office.
The Army
While the U.S. Army didn't have a strong presence in Tombstone, they definitely had an interest in the general area. At this point in history, the Army in the area was largely concerned with securing the border with Mexico, and fighting hostile Indians. There are always likely to be some scouts or cavalrymen on hand in Tombstone, as it pays to keep an ear to the ground and listen to what the locals have to say about what's going on. Plus, compared to their forts and the open ranges, it is a wild place to gamble, drink and visit the brothels.
Indians
They are always out there in the hills and valleys and open ranges. This was once their land, until the settlers came and displaced them. The most notable of the hostile tribes nearby are the Apache, and there is a set of them that have taken a marked interest and hostility toward not just Tombstone in general, but the mining operations specifically. While not having the numbers to attack the town outright, the Apache are known to conduct raids and other small-scale attacks on less well-defended settler outposts and operations. If anyone knows what strange things might be lurking about, there is a good chance it might be one of the natives. The tricky part of getting that information, though, lies in getting on their good side without getting scalped! The white man has already taken everything from them, so being helpful may not be a high priority. If it comes to helping to stop something that may threaten them all, though, they may be more cooperative.
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.
