Given we were in Cochise for two weeks, we had a few rest days. On a couple of those days, we spent some time in Tombstone, Arizona.
What an odd town with and interesting history.
I took the following information from the city's website: http://www.cityoftombstone.com/
Tombstone, aka "The Town too Tough to Die," was one of the most renowned of Arizona's old mining camps. It is named Tombstone because when Ed Schieffelin came to Camp Huachuca with a party of soldiers and left the fort to prospect, his comrades told him that he'd find his tombstone rather than silver given the aggressive Apaches in the area. In 1877 Schieffelin named his first claim the Tombstone, and rumors of rich strikes made a boomtown of the settlement that adopted this name.
Days of lawlessness and violence, which nearly had then-President Chester A. Arthur declaring martial law in Tombstone and sending in military troops to restore order, climaxed with the infamous Earp-Clanton battle, fought near the rear entrance of the O.K. Corral, on October 26, 1881. Over the course of 7 years the mines produced millions of dollars in silver and gold before rising underground waters forced suspension of operations.
So, really, it's big claim to fame is a big gun fight at the OK Corral where people died in the street. It's so romanticized. Today a gunfight in a city would have people appalled, crying about how we should return to the good old days, and demands for justice against the thugs doing the shooting. Yet here, this gunfight prompts tourism.
Another unusual aspect of the town were the people there. There are grown men and women walking around in period costumes. Though, I don't really think they view them as costumes always. No joke.
Other people - clearly tourists - were wearing contemporary clothes with their gun holsters and pistols displayed. They looked like geeky Yosemite Sams or something.
To be fair, I'm sure they looked at us like we were odd. It was clear we were not from there.
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