A Day in Tombstone, Arizona - Friday, April 29, 2022

For the next four days, we'll be traveling with our friends Rick and Jan as our guides. We are in their neck of the woods, so to speak. 

We pulled out of Willcox, Arizona at 9:15 am and followed Rick & Jan to Tombstone, Arizona. They have a half-day of activities planned for us.

When we arrived in Tombstone, we parked our RVs in the RV parking lot. It was at the bottom of a gully.

Bob had never been to Tombstone and I had been there about 30 years ago with a girlfriend. To tell you the truth, I didn't remember much because things had changed. When I went, they did the shoot-out in the street. Now they have an O.K. Corral where they do the shoot-out.

When we walked up the hill from the parking lot, our first look at Tombstone's old downtown was when we turned onto Allen St. which is closed to vehicles. It looks very old west with wood boardwalks, saloons, stagecoaches, and a dirt road.

The Bird Cage Theater Museum was our first photo ops. Some of the girls were trying to get people to visit the museum.

We explored along Allen St. on our way to the O.K. Corral and Historama. Shops were just opening for the day, so the crush of crowds had not yet arrived.

Rick, Bob, and Jan.

Big Nose Kate's is where we had lunch.

I like the name of the store.

A book store.

Rick and Jan, our trusty tour guides, brought us to Tombstone's Historama for the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. The O.K. Book Corral is here, too. (Ten points for a clever title.) 

Once we paid to get in, we could go into the small museum behind the gift shop, and then make our way out into the courtyard where there were all kinds of things to look at, including old saddles, carriages, surreys, a branding shop, and a place to pan for gemstones. 

Extension-top Phaeton.

Cunningham Hearse complete with a
display of undertaker's tools inside it.

A blacksmith's shop for making brands.

A few brands are on display.

From the courtyard, we passed through a gate to another courtyard filled with buildings containing more history. This time, we learned about Geronimo, the Apaches, "soiled doves" and their "cribs," how the O.K. in O.K. Corral came to be, and Camillas Fly (a not-so-well-known photographer back in the day) who is now earning the respect and kudos he deserved.

Speculation on how the O.K. 
came to be.

The drug of choice in the 
late 1800s.

The "cribs" were the brothels.

A typical crib.

How fashion has
changed over the years!

Old West forms of
entertainment.

1880s belles.

Parlor houses and brothels.

From this courtyard, after viewing a mechanical re-enactment of the O.K. Corral, we used our tickets to go into the O.K. Corral. Here is where we would see a live re-enactment of the shootout at the O.K. Corral. This is where all the people were cramming themselves onto the bleachers for the first show of the day.

We enjoyed watching the actors play out the story of the shootout. Most of the actors were real hams. They had us yelling "Yay" whenever the good guys came out, and "Boo" whenever the bag guys came out. It was fun and a bit campy.

Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp.

When the show was over, we shopped in a couple of stores and then made our way to have lunch at Big Nose Kate's Saloon. What a beautiful place inside!

The entrance door to
Big Nose Kate's Saloon.

We sat next to the entertainer!

Pretty stained glass.

The bar on the left is the original.

The windows facing Allen St.

Here's a little piece of history of Tombstone that I did not know. On May 3, 1887, at 3 pm, an earthquake with violent shaking that lasted a full 30 seconds bowed the walls of buildings, shattered windows, and knocked merchandise off the shelves. At Crystal Palace Saloon "globes from the lamps were shaken from the chandeliers and fractured into thousands of pieces."

But Tombstone was not the only town that suffered the effects of the quake. At the Abbot Ranch at Sulphur Springs, water mysteriously bubbled out of the ground "where water had never been." Roughly a mile in length, it was large enough "to supply one hundred thousand heads of cattle." Over on the hillside, a stream of water was "belching forth." Many papers commented that if the water continued to flow...,  it would make the Abbot property "the most valuable ranch in Arizona."

According to the US Geological Survey, the quake's radius measured a rough 400 miles and appeared to have originated in Mexico where severe destruction and death occurred. Many villages were destroyed. In Oputo, in the state of Sonora, nine people were killed; in the town of Bavispe 150 people perished.

After lunch, we were off to the Good Enough Mine Underground Tour. We donned our hard hats and followed the guide for a walking tour that went 100' underground and lasted about 45 minutes. Our guide talked to us about how silver was mined, the daily lives of the miners, and the other ores and minerals that came out of this mine.

Bob, Rick, Jan, and other tourists.

The ocotillo are in full bloom.

Jan and me waiting for the
mine tour to start.
[Photo by Bob Alton].

Heading down into the mine.

Mine passageways.

Layers of rock in the mine.

Our tour group in the mine.

At the end of the tour, we walked past a few animals. The donkeys were pretty cute.

Cute sign.

Not a donkey!

We had one more place to visit before we left Tombstone. We wanted to see the "Historama" which was included with our O.K. Corral ticket. The Historama diorama presentation started on the hour and we arrived a few minutes after the hour so we ended up sitting in the second row. The presentation gave the history of Tombstone, the Comanches and Apaches, and how the town grew.

The Historama turned to show 
more history.

Some of us slept through parts of this. (I won't name names.)

When the show was over, we walked through more of the side streets and had ice cream! 

Stagecoach rides were available
for a price.

The old Cochise County Courthouse which opened in 1883 is beautiful. It is now an Arizona State Park Monument and Museum. You see, Cochise county changed the location of the county seat to Bisbee, Arizona in 1929, so this courthouse was no longer needed. A new courthouse was built in Bisbee.

The Tombstone Courthouse
Historical Monument opened
in 1962.

On the way back to our RVs, we walked down Allen St. one more time. Our curiosity drew us in to look at a couple of places on our walk out of town.

A train collector's store.

A train collector's store.

Another stagecoach.

This mural is in another bar
on Allen St.

For our next stop on this part of our Arizona tour, we will be exploring the town of Bisbee. Rick and Jan have even more in store for us.

Stay tuned for the Bisbee blogs coming up next.