BOOM! You're dead.

 by Greg Ralbovsky
 published on Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Greg Ralbovsky / STATE PRESS MAGAZINE

Greg Ralbovsky / STATE PRESS MAGAZINE

Though a little brash, this was how life ended for many folks who strolled into the boomtown three hours from ASU known as Tombstone.

Nicknamed "The Town Too Tough To Die!," Tombstone attracts tourists from all over the country who want to relive the Wild West.

Originally, Tombstone was built after large amounts of silver were found in the area. According to "Shotgun" Roberts, one of the city's reenactment narrators and historians, the city's founder, Ed Schieffelin, named the city Tombstone after a passing soldier told him the only thing he'd find in the barren area would be his tombstone because of the Apache Indians nearby.

The town grew to be a thriving community and the city even held the Cochise County Courthouse. However, the city suffered two major fires in the late 1800s and several of the silver mines flooded with water, leaving the city almost unlivable.

But Tombstone is the city that refuses to die. Today, Tombstone is known for its preserved historical district where visitors can meet actors who portray Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, Billy Claiborne and other cowboys and gun slingers.

Many of the stories surrounding Tombstone concern gunfights, which happened often in Tombstone, and many times for no good reason. At the Six Gun City Restaurant and Saloon, guests can watch as actors recreate some of the most famous gun battles that happened on the same street guests easily stroll on.

"Shotgun" Roberts says all of the gun fights, down to every bit of dialogue, are based on historical documents.

"The bulk of them took place on Fifth and Allen streets," Roberts says. "It was the bloodiest corner of Tombstone."

The most famous gunfight was at the O.K. Corral, located at Third and Freemont. On Oct. 26, 1881, a fight between the Earp brothers and Doc Holliday, and Frank McLaury, Tom McLaury and Billy Clanton left three dead and several injured in 30 seconds. Several events had taken place days before between the Earp lawmen and the cowboy McLaury's and Clanton, which then ultimately led to the gunfight that now symbolizes the Wild West. A sign in the O.K. Corral information store says to date 25 movies have been made about the shootout.

Visitors can revisit this famous gunfight every day at 2 p.m. in a theatre located next to where the actual gunfight took place.

After the gun fight, visitors can get a free copy of the Tombstone Epitaph newspaper that supposedly would be published the following day.

If gunfights aren't your thing, there are still other things to do in Tombstone. Visitors can take stagecoach rides around the town and there's plenty of cowboy gear and souvenirs to take home. There is also an ice cream parlor and a few Saloons to knock down a few drinks in. The recreated feel of the town has Oregon resident Elizabeth Schrader really getting into the act.

"We're thinking of dressing up like those saloon girls and putting the other girls to shame," says Schrader, who is in her early 40s.

It's important to honor and respect the dead, so when heading back to campus one can visit one of the most famous graveyards in the Wild West: Boothill Cemetery. Here was where the victims of the vicious streets of Tombstone were laid to rest, including the McLaurys and Billy Clanton from the O.K. Corral shootout. There are also people buried whose headstones reveal hangings, lynching, and many of the graves simply have the name "unknown."

The west may not be so wild anymore, but there is a place where its spirit continues to live in the city too tough to die: Tombstone, Arizona.

Reach the reporter: gralbovs@asu.edu.