If you ever have the opportunity or have a free weekend and
are thinking about going to Tombstone...
DO IT!! There is nothing like being there!
The Bird Cage Theatre story.
Ghosts of Tombstone - thanks, Legends of America!
The Pictures
The Townsite of Tombstone (a name invented by Edward Schieffelin
- see story below) was laid out on March 5, 1879. At that time
Tombstone had 40 cabins and 100 people. Allen Streets lots sold
for $5. By June 20, 1880 there were 3,000 people in the town and
by late 1881 there was over 7,000 people in town and more gambling
houses, saloons, and a larger "boothill" and "red
light" district than any town in the southwest. Population
increased rapidly from that time, and in the 1890's it had reached
a maximum of 15,000. Let's get back to how it all started.......
The Story of Edward Schieffelin.
Tombstone erupted into a boom town when Arizona was Apache Land.
Geronimo, Victorio, and Nachez led their fierce warriors in raids
the length and width of Southern Arizona. Few white men penetrated
this barren, merciless land and returned to tell of it.
In 1877, a prospector by the name of Lewis wandered into the dry
washes, coming down out of the Tombstone Hills into San Pedro
Valley. He discovered several pieces of horn silver and followed
them to an outcropping of high grade silver ore. On the strength
of the specimens that he had brought out with him, A.M. Franklin
and Marcus Katz of Tucson agreed to grubstake him for a share
of his claim.
Lewis returned to the dry washes of the San Pedro confident that
he could go straight to the ledge of silver. However, apparently
he had not pinpointed the location very well as he was not able
to find it again. For long, weary weeks Lewis, combed dry wash
after dry wash, but he found no trace of silver.
Meanwhile, another determined prospector arrived. The newcomer
had trailed into the country with a company of Hualapai scouts
late in the summer of 1877 and had then used Brunckow's cabin
as his base of operations. The prospector was Edward Lawrence
Schieffelin, and he materialized from the desert a tall and wild
figure. Although he appeared fifty years old, he had not reached
thirty years yet. Ed was of a large and powerful build, a type
of the physically perfect man, his bronzed face and flowing brown
hair and beard, and his clear blue eyes told of his free and open
life of the plains and the mountains. He stood five feet eleven
and one-half inches tall and weighed about one hundred ninety
pounds. Ed had been born in Tioga County, Pennsylvania in October
of 1847.
For over ten years he had been seeking a rich ore deposit, but
success had always eluded him. He had begun his search in the
Coeur d' Alenes of Idaho, then across Nevada into Death Valley
and into Colorado and New Mexico. Finally, his search had led
him to into the San Pedro Valley of Arizona.
The tough desert men and the soldiers who stopped at Brunckow's
accepted him without question because they knew he was a close-mouthed
prospector. Shieffelin looked upon the place as a haven of rest,
safety and comfort, secure from the Apache.
Ed strictly minded his own business and, at first light, he was
up and gone into the endless wasteland that leads to what is now
known as the Tombstone Hills and the Mule Mountains. At dusk ,
he reappeared , ate his supper, then climbed into his bedroll
to await another day. Through all the daylight hours, he searched
the dry washes and outcroppings for evidence of ore. On several
occasions, he sighted bands of Apaches near him and carefully
kept out of sight until they moved on. The miners and soldiers
who occupied Brunckow's cabin saw him ride out each day and watched
for his return at night. Other men had come there, ridden out
alone just as Schieffelin did. The other men had not returned.
Soldiers would find what was left of them after the Apaches had
ridden on. At last, one of the soldiers at Brunckow's asked him,
"why do you go off into them hills?" "To collect
rocks," Schieffelin replied. "You keep fooling around
out there amongst them Apaches and the only rock you'll find will
be your tombstone!" the soldier blurted. On one occasion,
it was too near dark for Ed to return to Brunckow's. He chose
a round-topped hill further up the wash for his camp and settled
in for the night among some big rocks.
After a nervous, restless night, Ed was up at break of day and
headed straight for the (Tombstone) hills. All along the wash
he found scattered pieces of silver float. Moving up the wash,
he saw the red and black ledge of silver ore.
He estimated the vein to be fifty feet long and twelve inches
wide. Ignoring the cactus spines and sharp rocks, Ed climbed to
the ledge. Breathless , he reached it, ran his hand lovingly over
its rough surface than sunk his pick into it prying our several
pieces. They were dark and heavy with pure silver! He had found
it! A real strike! After searching for over a decade, he had found
a bonanza! All the years he had wandered through the lonely desolate
mountains and deserts; starved, blistered and frozen and faced
death so many times, were as nothing. Now the wealth he sought
was in his grasp! The vein of silver that he had exposed was pure
and soft and a coin pressed into it , left a clear imprint. Ed
smiled to himself as he thought of the words, "All you'll
find out there will be your tombstone." If the Apaches had
found him he probably wouldn't have needed one. Recalling the
warning, he mused over the word "tombstone." Yep, he
liked it! Might make a good name for his claim."
Schieffelin did not realize it at the time, but he had named a
mine, the hills where it lay, an entire silver lode, and a town
yet unborn. It would be a town whose fame and riches were soon
to astound the world!
Ed collected a bag of samples, put up claim markers, then headed
across the desert for Tucson. When he had completed filing his
claim, he started for Globe. His brother Al had a good job up
there and would have some cash money. In return for that badly
needed cash, Ed would make him a full partner. In Globe, Ed was
dismayed to discover that Al had moved to Signal, Arizona. He
wasted no time as it was a long trip across the mountains and
desert.
Brother Al was not particularly impressed with the story or Ed's
bag of ore samples. He was not about to put his hard earned cash
into such a "wild venture". His advice to Ed was to
forget all about that silver ledge and go to work! Ed would not
give up so easily, however, so Al brought a foreman to examine
Ed's ore samples. The foreman looked at them and pronounced them
"worthless". Shieffelin could do no more, so he took
a job in the McCracken Mine. Even after several weeks of mine
work, Ed still could not believe that his ore was of no value.
Finally, he met Richard Gird, the assayer at Signal and Gird agreed
to assay his ore samples.
Gird was astounded to find that Ed's ore showed that he had found
a rich strike, with values running over $2,000 a ton. The assayer
immediately offered to finance development of the mine in return
for a one-third interest. Al was also to come in as a partner
with a one-third share, the other equal share to be retained by
Ed. The three men bound their agreement with a handshake, nothing
was ever put into writing and all three men kept their verbal
agreement even though it involved over a million dollars.
Richard Gird bought mules, wagon, guns, food, mining tools, a
transit, level and assaying equipment. When their supplies were
loaded, they set out on the trip to the very center of Apache
land. They arrived in Tucson in the late Spring and stopped at
Bob Leatherwood's Corral for a few days to rest. They could easily
have been daunted as every day reports were coming in , telling
of Apache raids and murder in the very area they were about to
enter. Such news did nothing to change their plans. The decision
was made to ride alert with rifles in hand. One of them stood
watch at all times. Two of them watched from the ridges while
the other packed and hitched the mules.
They traveled south up the San Pedro River and made a wide circle
around the Mormon settlement of St. David. Permanent camp was
set up at Brunckow's where several fresh graves were mute testimony
to recent Apache raids.
Ed led the way up the dry wash to his ledge of silver. The three
partners began to remove ore from the vein immediately. Dismay
struck when they found out that it pinched out three feet down.
The claim was apparently not worth working. Gird and Al were keenly
disappointed and complained about giving up good jobs at Signal.
The distant hills seemed to mock him but Ed said nothing. He knew
that silver was there somewhere. Several weeks of fruitless prospecting
followed. Ed searched each and every wash for the elusive ore
body, meanwhile keeping an eye out for Apaches. Frequently, signal
smoke rose from the Dragoon Mountains and answering columns of
smoke climbed from the ridges of the Whetstones. Each new day
brought new dangers but Ed continued to draw on that inner strength
he had paid for with nearly ten years of his life prospecting.
Then, just as when discouragement was beginning to set in, Ed
discovered a new outcropping! "You're a lucky cuss!"
Al told him. Ed must have agreed , for that is how the famous
"Lucky Cuss Mine" got its name. When Gird assayed the
samples from it, they ran to $2,000 a ton!
Three days later, Henry Williams and Oliver Boyer also discovered
a ledge of rich silver. Gird claimed that this discovery was on
a claim already posted by he and the Schieffelin brothers. This
disagreement grew into an involved argument. Afraid that they
would lose out entirely, Williams and Boyer finally agreed to
share the claim. They named their end of the claim "Grand
Central" and, because of the quarrel over it, Gird and the
Shieffelins named their parts the "Contention". These
two mines were destined to become the richest in the Mining District.
The City of Tombstone was built on a flat mesa, surrounded by
the Whetstone, Mule, Burro, Huachuca, and Dragoon Mountains. Early
in 1879, Allen Street lots sold for $5 each and the town had forty
cabins and a population of 100. A year later. in 1880, four town
sites were thriving in the mining district. Tombstone, the largest,
was near the Toughnut Mine; Richmond was one and a quarter mile
southwest, and Charleston and Contention were on the San Pedro
River, eight miles away.
In two short years the population of Tombstone was to soar to
over 5,000 people. Within the same period of time , the Bird Cage
Theatre, the Cochise County Court House, five local newspapers,
the Crystal Palace and Oriental Saloons were built, and the Gunfight
at the O.K. Corral had taken place.
As the monied investors moved in, the Schieffelin brothers sold
their mining claims. Only 35 years old, wealthy and famous, Ed
wanted to see how the rest of the country looked. He visited New
York, Chicago, Washington and numerous large cities. He stopped
at the most famous hotels and dined in the finest restaurants.
Wherever he went people gathered to stare at the man who had found
a whole Mountain of Silver. However, civilization could not dim
his fond memories of the old days in the deserts and mountains.
Ed longed for the peace and solitude where he could spend weeks
on end alone and never see a human being.
In 1883, he sailed a boat up to Alaska and prospected up the Yukon.
No rich ores were found so Ed returned to San Francisco. That
fall, he married a Mrs. M.E. Brown, a native of Virginia, but
a resident of San Francisco. The marriage took place in La Junta,
Colorado. Part of that winter the couple spent in Salt Lake City
and in the spring of 1884 they went to Alameda, California where
they bought a home.
Unimpressed with city life, Ed bought a ranch near his brothers,
Eff and Jay, in Oregon. In September, 1896, for some unexplained
reason, he returned to Alameda and made his Last Will and Testament.
In his will he divided his worldly goods between his wife, Mary
, and his brother, Jay: "I give my wife, Mary E. Schieffelin,
all interests, both real and personal properties - in Alameda
and Santa Clara Counties, California - also fifteen $1,000 University
of Arizona Bonds. All other properties, both real and personal,
I give to my brother, Jay L. Schieffelin."
Once more, the love of prospecting drew him back into the mountains.
There in Douglas County, Oregon, he found his peace and contentment
in a remote cabin on a ridge above Day's Creek. It was here that
his nearest neighbor, a man named Jackson, found him dead on May
12, 1897. Though only 49 years old and presumably in good health,
Ed Schieffelin was gone. The Sheriff was brought from Canyonville
and an inquest was held at Ed's cabin. The coroner ruled that
Ed had died of a heart attack.
There is still raging a controversy over whether he discovered
yet another bonanza. Reports exist that say the last entry in
Ed's diary read, "Found it at last! Richer than Tombstone
ever hoped to be!" Ore samples lying in the cabin assayed
at over $2,000 to the ton. Schieffelin was buried near his cabin,
20 miles East of Canyonville. He was not to lie there long, as
his last wishes were found among his papers. They were: "It
is my wish, if convenient, to be buried in the dress of a prospector,
my old pick and canteen with me, on top of the granite hills about
three miles westerly from the City of Tombstone, Arizona, and
that a monument, such as prospectors build when locating a mining
claim, be built over my graveyard or cemetery."
When Ed's wished were known, his brother , Charles, telegraphed
them to Tombstone on May 17, 1897. Mayor Emanuel made all the
funeral preparations and Colonel William Herring prepared to deliver
the eulogy. Ed Schieffelin was laid to rest on Sunday May 23,
1897, with his wife, mother, brother and a huge crowd of friends
present. They gave him the largest funeral in the camp's history.
Saloons, stores and offices closed and people came from all over
the country to take a last look at the man who had found a Mountain
of Silver worth $85,000,000. His body was dressed in his old red,
flannel shirt and his faded prospector's clothes. Beside him were
placed his pick, shovel, the battered canteen he had carried the
day he had made his strike.
The plaque on the gigantic miner's monument (with a sixteen foot
base diameter and twenty-five foot height) reads:
Ed Shieffelin, died May 12, 1897, aged 49 years, 8 months. A dutiful
son, a faithful husband, a kind brother, and a true friend."
Ed followed his dream into the Apache-infested wasteland and won
wealth and everlasting fame. He found his Tombstone, just as the
soldiers had predicted, and he will sleep in the shadow of it
for all eternity.
Our Gunfight at the OK Corral page.
1. "The Chronicles of Tombstone" $14.95 - A carefully
researched and documented account of Tombstone's turbulent times,
including many of the colorful personalities that inhabited Tombstone.
Many Photos.
2. "Tombstones Boothill" $11.95 - The story of those
buried in the Old West's first boothill and how and why they got
there.
3. "Legendary Characters of Southeast Arizona" $11.95
- A sequel to the "Chronicles of Tombstone". Many more
of those colorful characters from Southeastern Arizona history!
4. "John Henry" $24.95 - Factual information about Doc
Holiday that has never been in print. Over 100 pages of photos
and documentation.
5. "The Clantons of Tombstone" $24.95 - The first book
ever written on the Clantons. Over 100 pages of documentation
and photos.
Note: Red Marie's Bookstore does not accept credit cards. All books
are postpaid in the U.S.A.
Ratings according to Leonard Maltin's Movie and Video Guide (Four stars is the very best, one and a half stars is the worst)
For more detailed information on most Native American Nations and Indian Tribes click here and you will find our interesting Native Americans Page
Tombstone 1882
Sixteen-horse team hauling Tombstone ore.
Courtesy Ben T. Traywick. Copyrights and All Rights Reserved 1996:
Ben T. Traywick. "The story of Edward Schieffelin" from
Ben T. Traywick's book entitled "The Chronicles of Tombstone",
which can be purchased at Red Marie's Bookstore, P.O. Box 891,
Tombstone, Arizona 85638. Below is listed some selected books
about Tombstone by Mr. Ben T. Traywick:
Hollywood movies made on the subject:
"Tombstone" 1993 **1/2 (two and a half stars) Kurt Russell
"Wyatt Earp" 1994 **1/2 (two and a half stars) Kevin Costner, Gene Hackman
"Gunfight at the O.K. Corral" 1957 *** (three stars) Burt Lancaster,
Kirk Douglas, Rhonda Fleming.
"My Darling Clementine" 1946 **** (four stars) Henry Fonda, Victor Mature, Linda Darnell.
A short story about the film is told HERE.
Other Links:
2. Tombstone Streetmap (current)
3. Tombstone and nearby Ghost Towns (I need a new link!)
4. Chiricahua Mountains near Tombstone
A monument dedicated to "Geronimo's Last Stand" can be found here.
5. Chiricahua National Monument near Tombstone
6. The O.K. Corral - includes news reports of the time.
7. Destinations: Tombstone, Arizona
8. Tombstone Gunfights and Gunfighters (I need a new link!)
9. Oriental Saloon - Tombstone
10. Subdivisions of the Apache Tribe and much more Apache information.
11. Arizona Indian Tribes - History
12. Arizona (SouthWest) Indian Culture
13. Johnny Ringo's Gravesite
Return to the American West homepage.