|
Featured
Travel Destination
Tombstone - The Town Too
Tough To Die
-
As I stare out the window at the drizzling sleet and shiver at the
plunging temperature gauge, I can only dream of warm places and re-live
fond memories. And, immediately, one of my most favorite destinations
comes to mind --
Tombstone,
Arizona. Filled with
history,
ghostly legends, and high temperatures, I
wonder what Christmas looks like in the
Arizona desert.
One of the most lawless mining camps in the
American West,
Tombstone
was soon dubbed "The Town Too Tough to Die.”
The mining camp was born when a
prospector named Ed Schieffelin looked out on the mountains from where
he stood at Camp Huachuca,
Arizona. Thinking that
the rich colors of the mountains looked like a promising place to
prospect, he commented on this to a nearby soldier. However, the
soldier was quick to warn him that the area was controlled by
Apaches
and responded him "All you'll find in those hills is your tombstone."
However, Schieffelin was not deterred,
and the next year, in February 1878, he set out to hills alone in
search of his fortune. After hiding for two nights from the
Apaches he spied what looked like it might be a silver vein on a
ledge high above his hiding place. Climbing to the ledge, he
pried out several pieces of pure silver and was elated when he
estimated the vein to be some fifty feet long and twelve inches
wide. Remembering the soldier’s warning he called his vein,
which would later become a mine, "Tombstone.”
After filing the first two claims he found
two more sites laden with silver ore, which he dubbed the "Lucky
Cuss” and the "Toughnut." In no time at all, word spread that silver had been
discovered and other prospectors began to search the area. Before long, more mines began to open including, the Grand Central,
the Charleston and the Contention mines, and a mining camp was born
named after Ed’s first claim – Tombstone.
More ....
|
|