On this road trip we are stopping in “The Town Too Tough To Die.”   Or you may know it as Tombstone, Arizona.  Saddle up pardner and let’s journey back to 1877 in Arizona Territory and look in on one of the last wide-open frontier boomtowns in the America Old West. A scout for the U.S. Army, Ed Schieffelin, while searching the wilderness for valuable ore samples, located a vein of silver and legally claimed the site on September 21, 1877.  From there, some 2 years later, the town of Tombstone was founded.  It only took a year from the founding of the city to the opening of the Grand Hotel, adorned with fine oil paintings, lush carpets, toilet stands, chandeliers, silk covered furniture, and a kitchen with hot and cold running water.  Silver was big business in those days, and from 1877 to 1890 the town’s mines produced from $40 to $80 million in silver bullion and was the largest silver district in Arizona.  It was booming alright and the population grew from 100 to around 14,000 in less than 7 years.  Within 2 years of its founding, and far removed from any metropolitan city, Tombstone was boasting a bowling alley, 4 churches, an ice house, a school, 2 banks, 2 newspapers (The Nugget, and The Tombstone Epitaph), and an ice cream parlor.  But housed among these nice amenities were 110 saloons, 14 gambling halls and numerous dancing halls and brothels... 

CONTINUED IN THE BEVIL NEWSLETTER-