Bisbee, Arizona

As we traveled west to our winter "home" in Arizona, we made a few stops.  First, Bisbee Arizona.  We'd been here years ago and remembered it as a cute little town so wanted to check it out again.

Bisbee, established in 1880, has been the county seat of Cochise County in southeastern Arizona since 1929 when the county seat was moved from Tombstone.  It is about 90 miles southeast of Tucson and 11 miles north of the Mexican border.  The city was founded as a copper, gold, and silver mining town in 1880 and was named in honor of Judge DeWitt Bisbee, one of the financial backers of the adjacent Copper Queen Mine. 

Today, the historic city of Bisbee is known as "Old Bisbee" and is home to a downtown cultural scene.  Because its plan was laid out to a pedestrian scale before the automobile, Old Bisbee is compact and walkable, although very hilly which you can get a feel for in some of these photos.

Fortunately, we were not there the third Saturday of October, although just a few days shy, so we missed the Bisbee 1000 Stair Climb which is held annually.  It is said this is one of the most unusual and challenging events in the world.  The 4.5 mile course features nine staircases (over 1000 total steps) connected by winding roads.  We did meet some folks who were completing the course early and they were pretty challenged.  We learned that there were many artists set up along the streets painting different scenes and we were not disappointed.

It was interesting to see them from the back so we could see what they were painting.

This sign makes quite a claim. 

Seemed odd to me so I looked it up.  Wikipedia states that it has a typical semi-arid climate with warm to hot summer days before the monsoon brings the wettest season from July to September with 10.65 inches of Bisbee's total annual rainfall of 18.63 inches, often with severe thunderstorms.  The winter can bring occasional rainfall or even snowfall, though typically the winters are typically very mild and sometimes even warm.  Does that qualify as the best year round climate?  It was about 80 the October day we visited which was pretty perfect in my book.

By now you may have learned that Ron likes rocks.  I mean really, really likes rocks.  So he was in heaven when he saw containers of rocks along the roadway.

Holding the distinction of being Arizona's longest continuously operated hotel, the Copper Queen was built from 1896 to 1902 to serve as lodging for investors and dignitaries visiting the nearby copper mine.

The Copper Queen is allegedly haunted and has been featured on at least two paranormal investigation shows, the third season of Ghost Hunters and the sixth season of Ghost Adventures.  The most famous ghost is that of a woman in her 30s by the name of Julia Lowell.  It is said that she was a prostitute and she used the hotel with her clients.  She fell madly in love with one of her clients and when she told him of her feelings he no longer wanted to see her.  She took her own life at the hotel and guests and staff at the hotel say that they feel her presence on the second and third floors of the west side of the building.  Male staff and guests have reported hearing a female voice whispering in their ear and others have reported seeing her dancing provocatively at the foot of the stairs.

The hotel is beautiful inside and out and no, we didn't see or hear any ghosts.

I'm not sure what this is.

August in Bisbee brings the flies out so in 1912, the Commercial Club came up with a way to try to control the flies.  They set up a contest to see who could collect the most flies, with the winner receiving $10 ($326.49 today).  The lucky person was Richard Phillips, who killed about 500,000 flies.  

A plaque next to the Mining Museum provides more information.

Champ for month gets $10

In August 1912, the Commercial Club of Bisbee went public with a novel method of fly control. The seriousness of the continuing typhoid problems experienced in Bisbee around the turn of the century found some relief in humor as well as creativity.

The rules for a 'systematic campaign of extermination' against those 'advance agents of pestilence' were quite straightforward. . . . and the pestiferous little nuisances must now take the consequences.

They will be bottled and trapped and caught, done up in packages and duly measured up and counted. . . It makes no difference how the dead flies are obtained or where within the district. They may be killed either with sticky fly paper, caught in traps or just swatted with a swatter, folded newspaper, or any other fly-killing device. If caught on sticky paper, however, they must be picked off, the committee not volunteering to do this work for the contestant. 

When a contestant desires to turn in his or her proof of prowess as a fly exterminator, the flies are to be placed in . . . a pasteboard box. The county health officer will be the judge of the contest and will count and measure flies that are killed

Bisbee has taken a position at the front in advance of all other cities in the southwest in war upon the fly and typhoid fever germs… – Bisbee Daily Review, August, 1912

The anti-fly crusade is at its end. Richard Phillips was the winner of the competition, exterminating within 5,000 of 500,000 flies – Bisbee Daily Review, September 3, 1912

The effectiveness of such a campaign? Alas, "more flies this year than last, despite a more aggressive fly-swatting campaign among the public generally…" – Bisbee Daily Review, June 8, 1913

We continued walking the streets....

.....and stopped at an interesting shop.  I'll admit it was shortly before Halloween but this display was odd.

As we headed back to the RV we made a detour to Sierra Vista which we heard was a cute town with a weekly Farmer's Market and today was the day.  We didn't spend too much time there but we did enjoy the market.

We had a great time talking with a woman who makes her own jewelry and when we picked something out, she detailed how she'd made it.  

We love turquoise!

My eyes glazed over but it was fun to hear how she did it.  And then she was kind enough to take a photo with me.

It was a fun day!

Tombstone, Arizona

The next day we visited Tombstone.  Once again, we'd been here before but it had been awhile.  I'm not sure we were dying to get there, though.

Tombstone was founded in 1879 by prospector Ed Schieffelin in what was then Pima County  It became one of the last boomtowns in the American frontier.  The town grew significantly into the mid 1880s as the local mines produced $40-80 million in silver bullion, the largest productive silver district in Arizona.  The population grew from 100 to around 14,000 in less than seven years.  It is best known as the site of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral and today draws most of its revenue from tourism.

The town was established on a mesa above the Goodenough Mine.  Within two years of its founding, although far distant from any other metropolitan area, Tombstone had a bowling alley, four churches, an ice house, a school, two banks, three newspapers, and an ice-cream parlor, alongside 110 saloons, 14 gambling halls, and numerous dance halls and brothels.  The ladies and gentlemen of Tombstone attended operas presented by visiting acting troupes at the Schieffelin Hall opera house, while the miners and cowboys saw shows at the Bird Cage Theater and brothel.

Our first stop was the site of the Gunfight at the O.K Corral.

The gunfight occurred on October 26, 1881 and lasted less than a minute, 30 seconds according to some testimonies.  It is generally regarded as the most famous gunfight in the history of the American Old West.

The gunfight was the result of a long-simmering feud.  Cowboys Bill Claiborne, brothers Ike and Billy Clanton, and brothers Tom and Frank McLaury were on one side.  On the other side were Deputy U.S. Marshal and Town Marshal Virgil Earp, his two brothers and Special Policemen Morgan and Wyatt Earp, and temporary policeman (and best friend of Wyatt) Doc Holliday.  Billy Clanton and both McLaury brothers were killed while Ike Clanton and Billy Claiborne ran from the fight.  Virgil, Morgan and Holliday were wounded, but Wyatt was unharmed.  Virgil made the decision to enforce a city ordinance prohibiting carrying weapons in town and to disarm the Cowboys.  Although Wyatt is often erroneously regarded as the central figure in the shootout, he was only a temporary assistant marshal to his brother.

Wyatt Earp drew this map in 1924.

A life-size replica makes it easier to visualize (my dad loved to visualize things).  Cowboys in the foreground, Earps and Holliday in the back with Wyatt right next to the window.

Some interesting items.

This antique 1860s plantation saddle was ridden by Kurt Russell when he played Wyatt Earp in the movie Tombstone.  The saddle was used in the scene where Wyatt first meets and rides with Josephine Marcus, the woman who would later become his common-law wife.

We walked through town which has been kept fairly authentic.

It was lunch time so we wandered around looking for someplace to eat.

We didn't stop so didn't try the coldest beer in town

The miners and cowboys favorite place to frequent.  But we didn't stop.

Nor did we stop here.

We finally settled on this place.

The Crystal Palace was originally established in 1879 as the Golden Eagle Brewery and started off as a significant hub of activity in town.  Tragedy struck when the entire town was ravaged by a devastating fire in 1882, which reduced the Crystal Palace to ashes.  However, the resilient spirit of the Palace persevered and it was soon rebuilt on the same spot and took on the new name of Crystal Palace Saloon.

Prohibition dealt a blow to the saloon, forcing it to close its doors temporarily but the spirit refused to fade away.  After the ban on alcohol was lifted,, the Crystal Palace was meticulously restored to its former glory and reopened as a saloon, reinstating its position as a vibrant gathering place for locals and tourists.

The interior displays an authentic old-west atmosphere, with its wooden furnishings, period decor and a bar that has witnessed countless stories and conversations over the years.

From there we moved on to the Tombstone Epitaph.

The Epitaph is a monthly publication that covers the history and culture of the Old West.  Founded in January 1880, with the first issue published on May 1, 1880, it is the oldest continuously published newspaper in Arizona.

In 1880, John Clum decided to relocate from Tucson to Tombstone.  At one time Clum was the U.S. government appointee in charge of the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation and while there, was the only U.S. authority to capture Geronimo, the renegade Apache, although he was later released.

Criticized by associates who said he would write an epitaph and not a newspaper, Clum was inspired to call his new publication The Tombstone Epitaph.  Clum was among the group of townspeople who supported the Earp brothers as they attempted to enforce law and order in Tombstone.

The first issue was printed on this press.  This is a "Washington Hand Press" and was built  in New York City in 1856.  It was carried by ship around South America through Cape Horn to San Francisco.  The press was originally used to print various newspapers in California gold mining towns.

In 1880, John Club bought the press and had it shipped by train from San Diego to Tucson, then brought by freight wagon to Tombstone.  The press was advanced in its day and had a number of automatic devices that speeded printing, but it was still operated by hand and was used for many years to print the Epitaph.

As we drove out of town we stopped at the Boothill Graveyard, a small graveyard of at least 250 interments.  It is also known as the "Old City Cemetery" and was used only to bury outlaws and a few others.  It has a separate Jewish cemetery nearby.  "Boot Hill" refers to the number of men who died with their boots on.

More on the Jewish Memorial in a minute

This sure is an historic place!

Hanged by mistake??????

Fred White was the first town marshal (equivalent to chief of police) in Tombstone and was elected in January, 1880.  He was killed while in office, on October 30, 1880, and was succeeded by Virgil Earp.

It was then that, as we often do, we talked about where some of these people were buried.  And then it came to us - Wyatt Earp is buried in the Jewish cemetery in Colma where my Gunzendorfer peeps are interred.  And we were there years ago to visit them!  You can read about my visit to Hills of Eternity HERE.  

Why a Jewish cemetery you ask?  His third wife, Josie, was raised Jewish and Wyatt had agreed to be buried in her family plot despite not being Jewish himself.  Earp died peacefully at the age of 81 in Los Angeles with Josie at his side.  Josie was so grief stricken that it is said she could not even attend the funeral.  After the funeral, Earp was cremated and his ashes were taken to Colma, California and interred in the Jewish section of the Hills of Eternity Cemetery.  When Josie died, she too was cremated and buried in the plot, assuring that the husband she so adored would never be alone again.  Quite an end for the complicated Wyatt Earp.

A nice way to end the day of travel, history, and genealogy.