The Town Too Tough To Die

This is the motto for Tombstone, Arizona. This slogan was adopted after the town dwindled to near ghost town status, but then bounced back after tourists began to seek out the town because of its well publicized and fascinating history.
In 1877, Tombstone was founded by Ed Schiefflin. He was camped out in the area when he spotted an outcropping of silver ore. He realized the rich potential of this find but also realized he would need money to develop a mine, so he went to his brother and told him about the discovery. Together they contacted an assayer and
the assayer valued the ore at $2,000 a ton. The three of them staked several claims in the area, the first two being called the "Tombstone" and the "Graveyard."
Soon, word got out about the find and within two years, the population exploded to 15,000 people. In its heyday, there were 5 newspapers in town, the most famous being called the "Tombstone Epitaph." This newspaper is still in business on a somewhat limited basis, now it is mostly a tourist newspaper. Today the town's principal newspaper is called "The Tombstone Tumbleweed."
Soon the town was "invaded" by such famous gunfighters as Wyatt Earp, his brothers Virgil and Morgan, Doc Holliday, Tom McLaury, Billy Clanton and Johnny Ringo.
Gunfights were a way of life in Tombstone, it was one of the most lawless towns in the Wild West of the 1800s. The daily gunfights culminated with the infamous
"Gunfight at the OK Corral" in 1881 between members of the Earp faction against members of the McLaury/Clanton faction. It is generally believed by historians that the gunfight lasted no more than 30 seconds, but it was the most famous 30 seconds in history. Wyatt Earp's brother, Virgil, who was the sheriff of Tombstone, was crippled by gunshot wounds in this volley of gunfire.
In its heyday, Tombstone had more than 100 saloons that operated around the clock, catering to a population of gunfighters, gamblers, miners, cowboys, shopkeepers and prostitutes.
In 1882, Cochise County was created by the territorial legislature of Arizona and Tombstone was named as its seat of government, a distinction it held until 1929.
By the early 1900s, Tombstone started to fall on hard times as mine productivity began to dwindle year by year. By 1929, the population had shrunk until there were only 86 people still living in Tombstone. That is when the county government moved to the burgeoning town of Bisbee, 24 miles to the southeast, where it remains to the present day.
Today the population of Tombstone has rebounded to 1,604. For the past 40 years, the town has maintained a population in the 1,500 range. The town is devoted 100% to reliving its wild and woolly past that made it famous. It is one of the best known "Wild West" towns in the world. The citizens of Tombstone make every effort to glamorize its past by maintaining historic buildings, staging gunfights in the streets and giving stagecoach rides to visitors from all over the world. Boothill Cemetery on the edge of town is one of the most famous cemeteries in the world, alot of famous names from Wild West lore can be seen on the headstones. The cemetery got its name because of all of the people who "died with their boots on" after being killed in gunfights. The citizens of Tombstone have even gone so far as to close three blocks of East Allen Street and restore it to how it looked in 1881, as much as possible. The only motorized vehicles allowed on this portion of the street are delivery vehicles to supply the stores and emergency vehicles. Now the street is full of stagecoaches and foot traffic. However, instead of tearing up the pavement, dirt was dumped on top of the street and evened out to give it the appearance of a street in the 1800s. This is the street the OK Corral is located on and the corral is open for tours, of course. The street is lined with boardwalks, just like in the old days. On the east end of the historic district is the Bird Cage Theater. It was built in 1881 and despite its name, it was once known as "the wildest saloon between New Orleans and San Francisco."
In September 1880, George Parsons made a diary entry that stated " A man will go to the devil pretty fast in Tombstone...Faro, whiskey and bad women will beat anyone."