In previous posts I’ve related stories of untamed Arizona in the mid to late 1800’s.  By the turn of the century, progress and expansion helped cure many states and territories of their lawlessness. Arizona Territory, however, continued to be wild. Outlaws were still rustling cattle, robbing trains, and simply trying to get by in a free market economy.

An example comes to mind. In 1905, the railroad town of Canyon Diablo was the scene of a brief but deadly shootout. It all started with a holdup at a gambling table in Winslow by two bandits, John Shaw and William Evans. After stealing a hefty amount of silver coins, the pair scurried away to Canyon Diablo to blend in with other villains. A couple of lawmen tracked them there, and demanded to search them. Well, outlaws don’t like to be searched. They also don’t like to have demands made on them. Lawmen don’t like outlaws. All this dislike forced everybody to pull their firearms and throw lead. Three seconds later, over 20 shots were fired. John Shaw lay dead, and his cohort was wounded.

Shaw was placed in a pine box and promptly buried in Canyon Diablo’s cemetery. William Evans was escorted to Yuma Territorial Prison.

The following evening, 15 cowboys from the Hashknife outfit were drinking in the same Winslow saloon and decided to give departed John Shaw his final drink. They grabbed a bottle of whiskey and hopped a train to Canyon Diablo. The cowboys then proceeded to dig John up, and pour a shot of whiskey into his mouth. He was then reburied with the rest of the whiskey, and the cowboys took off their hats to him. Although it was meant as a joke, the act sobered up the Hashknife crew and left them thinking about their own renegade lives.

Aw, c’mon. That didn’t really happen!

Yes, my faithful readers, it did. There’s even photographic proof (see below). It appears as though recently deceased John Shaw had a smile on his face. Was it the whiskey? It might have been the fact that Canyon Diablo was a fitting town to be buried in. Fourteen saloons, ten gambling dens, four houses of prostitution, and no real law to speak of! Their first lawman pinned the badge on at 3 o’clock and was buried by 8 o’clock. It was known as being the most dangerous and wild town in the territory. A grand resting place for an owl hoot, I would say.

 I wanna go see this place! Do they have an information center?

Sadly, no. Canyon Diablo existed to support the building of a railroad bridge. Once the bridge was completed, the inhabitants moved on. All that remains of this ghost town are a few foundations, and the smiling spirit of John Shaw, searching for more whiskey.

John Shaw propped up for a drink. The bottle he was buried with is in the foreground.

The year was 1863, the height of the Civil War. Arizona was wild, dangerous, and full of opportunity. Anywhere a miner found some color, it was call for making a camp. Many camps grew up into towns, and some of those towns are still yielding today.

Henry Wickenburg was one of these miners. He found gold, opened the Vulture Mine, and a community began to grow as opportunists from all over moved in. Good old Henry got a town named after him.

Wickenburg is located near the banks of the Hassayampa River, a dry riverbed that is said to run upside down. Legend says that anyone who drinks from it will never tell the truth again. I’m not entirely certain how you drink from an upside down river, but politicians have obviously done it, so it must be possible.

Wickenburg was growing fast. By 1866, it was the third largest city in Arizona Territory, and missed being the capital by two votes. Miners were coming up with copper and silver as well as gold, and ranchers were moving in. Even though it was prospering, Wickenburg was not without its untamed frontier reminders.

In 1871, Indians attacked a stagecoach traveling from Wickenburg to California. All but two passengers were killed, and the military was brought in to investigate. The Wickenburg Massacre, as it is now known, had dangerous repercussions that led to Yavapai Indians being put on the same reservation as their life-long enemies, the Chiricahua Apache. So, not only did we take their land, we put the Sharks and the Jets in the same bunkhouse.

Near the center of town lies the Jail Tree, a 200-year-old Mesquite used to chain up offenders of the law. History states that early Wickenburg didn’t have a jail, so this was the solution. Wait a second…the town had saloons, stores, banks, but no jail? Maybe this is another tall tale brought on by a drinker of the Hassayampa River. We may never know.

If you’re up Wickenburg way, visit the Desert Caballeros Western Museum, dedicated to preserving the western lifestyle through historic exhibits and art. Maybe go up in February for Gold Rush Days, where you can experience a parade, rodeo, street entertainment, and a classic car show. Ghost town hunters will love a trip to the Vulture Mine, where plenty of old buildings still stand that throw you into mining history. It’s a charming town dotted with historic buildings, great shopping, and fun restaurants. If you don’t want to leave there a pathological liar, make sure you buy bottled water.

The Jail Tree, complete with outlaw

One arid day in the late 1870’s, a lone prospector named Ed “Hank” Williams (not the singer) was chasing down a wandering mule. When he caught up with the wayward equis asinus, he noticed its halter chains dragging against metal ore, and decided he hit pay dirt. Unfortunately, it was on a claim in Ed Schieffelin’s territory, and a dispute started. Eventually, the claim was split so that everyone could profit, and a town sprouted up.

Named after Schieffelin’s mine, Contention City started as a milling site in 1879. The town grew rather quickly, and was supposed to give Tombstone a run for its money. Sure, it had saloons, hotels, general stores, but it never quite gained the popularity that Tombstone did. It was lucky enough to be a railhead, which helped it prosper. After the OK Corral debacle, Ike Clanton attempted to get the Earp faction tried again in Contention City, but it never materialized.

The train-robbing Jack Taylor Gang met their end in Contention City in 1886. John Slaughter, Sheriff of Cochise County, after chasing them all over the territory, finally got a good tip and burst into a gang member’s cabin with guns drawn. However, the outlaws decided to buck the odds and put up a fight. That poor action resulted in two of them dying and Slaughter getting a nick in his ear.

Now, if Glenn Ford had been the head of the gang, they’d have gotten away easily.

That same year, the Tombstone and Contention mines flooded, which signaled the end for Contention City. Unlike Tombstone, it really had no popularized historic event to keep it on the map, and it drifted into decay. Today all that remains are some low adobe foundations, cellar holes, and a small graveyard.

Just like authors and artists, Contention City has become more popular since its death. Elmore Leonard immortalized it in the story Three-Ten to Yuma, which spurred two popular movies. Contention City is where bad guy Ben Wade catches the train to Yuma Penitentiary, following a fierce gun battle. Since no buildings stand in modern-day Contention City, neither film was shot there. Don’t despair; Old Tucson Studios has a train station with the Contention’s name on it, and a schedule for the next train…3:10 to Yuma.

Honey, maybe we should stay at a Holiday Inn Express…

In the late 1850’s, Arizona was kind of a confused territory. The US had just received a bunch of land from Mexico in the Gadsden Purchase, there was a Civil War brewing, and Apache tribes were all riled up because no one was including them in the big picture.

“Hey, waddya think yer doin’ giving our land away? “–Maybe not an exact quote from Cochise.

In other words, if you were traveling through Arizona, most likely everyone you met would give you a different story about who owned the territory. Remember, there was no Internet, no texting, no 6 o’clock news. All information was word of mouth or an occasional newspaper from a larger town.

Dragoon Springs, not far from Benson, had a stagecoach station run by the Butterfield Overland Express Company. This humble little building would be the site of much violence over the next decade. During the building of it, three laborers attacked and killed some of the company employees. Maybe nobody could agree on the Gadsden Purchase. Ironically, a couple of years later the stage company ceased its operations in the area, and the building was abandoned. Today, ruins of the station still stand and have been preserved for our education and enjoyment.

The Dragoon Mountains were home to the famous Apache Chieftain, Cochise. You may know the area better as Cochise Stronghold. In 1862, a contingent of Confederate soldiers was gathering cattle near the abandoned stagecoach stop. They were besieged by a band of 100 Apache warriors who slaughtered four soldiers and chased the rest out. Cochise and his force confiscated the cattle. A few days later, the cow-loving Confederates attacked the Indians and took back their livestock. The remains of the four dead soldiers were buried near the station and are visible today.

The Second Annual Garlic Festival is being held this weekend at the Triangle T Ranch, located in Dragoon. There will be crafts, entertainment, horseback rides, games, and a farmer’s market. More importantly, they will host a garlic cooking competition (the winner will not be running the kissing booth later on). Proceeds from the festival go to support the Wounded Warrior Project.

Incidentally, the Triangle T actually has Old West roots. The land it’s on was the winter camp for the earlier mentioned Cochise  and his Apache band. The owners of the ranch are dedicated to the history of the area, which I’m sure will be evident at the festival.

If you are looking for somewhere close to home to venture to this weekend, head down to the Garlic Festival and enjoy some local flavor (pun intended). Gander at the magnificent Dragoon Mountains and enjoy the fascinating rock formations. While you’re in the area, make a side trip to visit the ruins of the Dragoon Springs Station and pay tribute to the four soldiers buried there.

Graves of the fallen Confederate soldiers

In 1864, Prescott, Arizona was named after a famous historian of the 19^th century, William Hickling Prescott. That year it also became Arizona’s first capital. This was an honor it would lose, get back again in 1877, then lose again. I guess they were fickle in the Arizona Territory back then.

Prescott’s one of those gems that really makes Arizona stand out. Glorious hills and plush forests punctuate the valley. The Yavapai County Courthouse sits in the middle of the historic district in a square reminiscent of little towns in the Midwest. Surrounded by stalwart trees and green grass, the area is a popular event location year-round. Not to mention there are so many locals walking dogs in Courthouse Plaza I’ve nicknamed it the Dog Walking Capital of Arizona.

Just across the street is a series of buildings that they call Whiskey Row. This was the popular gambling/drinking/entertainment area during the late 1800’s.  In its heyday, the town attracted many Old West notables. The Earps, Doc Holliday, outlaw John Kinney, “Big Nose Kate” Elder (Doc’s girlfriend), all spent time in Prescott.  Kate Elder actually lived out the remainder of her life in the Pioneer Home, a retirement facility that provided care for some colorful frontier folk who were lucky enough to live through the gunfights, Indian attacks, and the numerous incurable diseases that plagued the 19^th century. One resident named John Miller claimed he was Billy the Kid. Apparently, there was enough compelling evidence for some investigators to dig him up and match his DNA against a “probable” sample. To my knowledge the results have not been released to the public. It’s funny to me to think of one of America’s iconic outlaws sitting in a rocking chair on the front porch of an old folk’s home.

Due to its climate and breathtaking scenery, Prescott hosts continuous outdoor events. Next week, the town will celebrate the 7^th annual Shootout on Whiskey Row. Located near the Yavapai County Courthouse, the event will have an Old West costume and skit competition. All proceeds from the event go to the Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Yavapai County. There will be food, vendors, and entertainment. Of course, if you get bored, there’s Whiskey Row to explore, and about a dozen antique stores. Prescott also has over 800 buildings on the National Register of Historic Places to keep you busy. If you’re a museum buff, check out Sharlot Hall, Ft. Whipple, the Phippen, and the Smoki museums. I’d say there’s plenty to do for the whole family. You can’t walk away from Prescott without getting some snippet of history.

Probably Prescott’s most popular event is the World’s Oldest Rodeo. Since 1888, this has been an annual pastime. I saw the rodeo in 2001, and witnessed “Whiplash” the rodeo monkey curtail wild Barbados Sheep while riding a Border Collie. Yes, I was sober.

So, if you are of a mind to get to cooler temps and a change of scenery, head to Prescott. Have a drink in historic Whiskey Row, visit one of their museums or just relax under the shade of a towering Ponderosa Pine and watch the dogs sniff around the Courthouse Plaza.

Courthouse Plaza

Nestled near the Agua Fria river, not far from Black Canyon City, lies the ghost town of Gillette. This is a town with quite an Old West past. Founded in 1876, this milling town serviced the Tip Top mine, and was smack-dab in an area I call Stagecoach Holdup Central. This region was silly with big mines, regular payroll shipments, and folks with mucho dinero jingling in their pockets.

Named after Dan B. Gillette, the Tip Top’s superintendent, the town had six streets and five blocks. A nice hotel, named the Burfind, occupied a rather nice section and was a popular stopover for folks traveling from Phoenix to Prescott. Oddly enough, the town didn’t have a jail. Therefore lawbreakers were locked in rooms…or lynched.

Suffice to say, Gillette was a particularly lawless berg. Within its first year, there were three shootings and a couple of lynchings. It was the typical town you want to send Audie Murphy in to clean up. He’d get ‘em straightened out.

Even the blacksmith was surfing the crime wave. When he wasn’t making horseshoes, he was robbing stagecoaches. There were so many outlaws holding up stages, the shotgun guards left town with their hands up. All right, that statement isn’t entirely true. You got me.

In one particularly violent day, a drunken man arrested for saloon brawling was released into a respected town citizen’s custody. Shortly after, the citizen was found dead, and the saloon brawler was captured for the murder. He was supposed to be taken to Prescott for trial, but a lynch mob got to him first. One of the men who tried to stop the mob was gunned down. Just a rough day all around for Gillette.

Once again, if Audie Murphy was there, none of it would have happened.

Because it was on the stage line, Gillette had many Old West celebrities grace its streets. It also happens to be known as a home to the famous Jack Swilling, settler of Phoenix.

In 1886, the Tip Top mine moved its mill to the town of Tip Top and rendered Gillette obsolete in the mining arena. It could still fall back on the stagecoach business, which it did for some years after. Eventually, the post office closed, and the town slowly drifted into decay. Today only some foundations and a few walls stand to mark its spot in history. One of Arizona’s great mining towns, which endured an era of great lawlessness, finally succumbed to Mother Nature.

Remains of the Burfind Hotel

I was sitting in this restaurant with my lovely wife attacking a particularly massive calzone, when in walked a pod of policemen. Maybe it was a pace of policemen. Let’s just say it was a lot. My first thought was, Oh no, they are after me for calzone carnage. After I realized that they were there to eat, I relaxed and took a break from the battle.

It got me thinking about an 1880’s sheriff coming in after his rounds to grab a bite before heading back to the jail, where some nefarious outlaw was undoubtedly locked behind bars.
This territory was pretty lawless back in those days. Many baddies got away with their heinous crimes; only to commit more until the legislature just couldn’t deal with it anymore and had to have them stopped. Enter the lawmen.

By 1864, Tucson was really starting to grow. However, to grow, you need law. On January 1, 1865, (Berry) Hill deArmitt was appointed Sheriff of Pima County. Tucson finally had its first real peace officer (even though his name was Berry). Early Tucson had no jails, so they locked prisoners up in a guardhouse located where the 1928 courthouse stands. Records indicate that mild offenders were whipped as punishment for their crimes. Since there wasn’t a legal hanging until 1881, I imagine most hardened criminals were sent to Yuma or fell prey to a lynch mob. We know the lynch mobs existed in Tucson and various other towns in Arizona. One vigilance committee actually named themselves the “Law and Order Society.” Vigilance committees were difficult because they didn’t respect the decisions or timing of the law. It was easy for these “societies” to gain support based on the wicked crimes of the criminals.

By the 1880’s, the world of criminal activity opened up. There we trains to rob, cattle to steal, and banks were starting to pop up everywhere. Lawmen such as Bob Paul definitely had their work cut out for them in southern Arizona. Sheriff Paul, known for his tough-as-nails demeanor and steadfast courage, was often seen carrying a shotgun. In the Old West, a shotgun was a feared weapon. If you were on it’s business end, you were going to come out of the introduction looking like a screen door. During his term, Paul had more than a few instances to use it. He was a friend to the Earps, and a well-respected lawdog. In 1883, he single-handedly held back a lynch mob breaking into the jail. After his stint as sheriff, he was appointed US Marshall of the whole Arizona territory.

The next time you see an officer of the law, think about their job. Ponder on the job of their predecessors. These are brave men, fighting to keep us all safe. After all, in southern Arizona, they’ve been doing just that since the 1860′s.

I lost the battle with the calzone. There was a point at which I was going to enlist the help of the pack of policemen, but my wife stopped me. I locked it away in a carryout box and won the war at dinnertime.

Cerro Colorado, a ghost town near Arivaca, has a violent past. Started in 1855, it was a silver mine that employed not only Mexican laborers, but native Americans as well. In 1861, a cave-in trapped and killed 15 workers. Many of the remaining employees believed the mine to be haunted, and left for parts unknown. German immigrants were hired as replacements, and eventually the Mexican population returned. Maybe they thought the ghosts were gone, or they dealt with it to earn wages.

Some time later the mine operator, John Poston, was having so much trouble with employees stealing silver that he decided to make an example out of one. His foreman was caught taking silver across the border to Sonora, so John had him executed in front of the other workers. Problem #1 was, John didn’t get the information about where the foreman had buried the rest of his loot. Problem #2 was the action angered so many Mexican laborers, they up and vamoosed for Sonora. This led to problem #3…Mexican banditos, upon hearing of buried treasure, destroyed the mine and killed John Poston and two others.

That’s when the remaining citizens should have tracked down Yul Brynner so he could gather up seven magnificent gunfighters. However, this did not happen. Instead, the frustrated bandits left empty-handed and the mine was rebuilt. Obviously, Eli Wallach wasn’t leading them.

When most able-bodied men left to protect Arizona from the Union during the Civil War, it left Cerro Colorado open to Apache raids. In defense, a fort and guard tower was built to protect the small mining community. Little is recorded about the goings on after that point. By 1911, the post office was closed and Cerro Colorado became one of Arizona’s ghost towns. Today the area sports some ruins and is a popular spot for hopefuls searching to find the missing foreman’s treasure.

This small mining community, like many in the Arizona Territory, had devastating perils to deal with. The fact that it survived with all that misfortune is a true testament to the draw of the almighty dollar and the men who sought it.

Cerro Colorado Ruins

There I was, sitting at my desk inside of a tall office building somewhere in New York City, deciding to take a vacation in Arizona. It was gearing up to be another humid summer, and I really wasn’t looking forward to standing on a subway platform pouring sweat. Instead, I would spend a couple of days in Tucson exploring, and then drive to Tombstone. Thankfully, that vacation changed my life.

Like many tourists who visit here, I had to see Tombstone, the “Town To Tough To Die”. At that point in my life, I was done looking at skyscrapers and wanted to experience the Old West by being in a real town that survived it. I definitively wasn’t disappointed. Twelve years later and I still go down to visit museums, catch a gunfight, and grab a bite to eat. To native Arizonans, it doesn’t seem to have the same effect. So, Tombstone’s challenge is to bring them back.

The town has been through quite a few changes over the past decade. Closing off some of Allen Street and covering the concrete with dirt to add more realism. Taking that same dirt away to appease shopkeepers. Re-painting so they wouldn’t lose their historical status. All this and more that we read about in the papers. It seems that there are still warring factions down there, but now they don’t use guns to settle their differences…I think.

It’s nice to see some new businesses popping up that have the history at heart. The Good Enough Mine, one of Ed Schieffelin’s babies, was opened to the public in 2007 for tours. The Western Heritage Museum has amazing displays that will thrill your inner history buff. Andrea’s Museum of Victorian Fashion sports a large collection of clothes worn in the frontier heyday.

For gunfight re-enactors, Tombstone is the mecca. Events are held annually that invite groups from all over the country to come and perform shootouts in the streets. At Helldorado Days, there are so many folks moseying the streets in 1880’s garb that you feel like you stepped off of a time machine. Incidentally, I have died in the streets of Tombstone many times. Odd as it may sound, it was a great experience. OK, the pavement was really hot, but those are pitfalls of dying early in a skit.

In the end, Tombstone is a true historic Arizona town, kept alive by a famous shootout that occurred on October 26, 1881. Thanks to this event, many of the buildings have been kept up and preserved to keep the feel of that time period for all who make the pilgrimage. Simply walking around one can read signs that tell of other notable events in this town’s history. With daily gunfights, and people wandering around in period dress, it pulls at the historic heartstrings. If you haven’t been in awhile, head on down. Saddle up to the bar, have a cold one, and relive the rough and tumble days of America’s frontier. Just down start a saloon brawl.

Historic Helldorado celebration

We’ve all seen the movies that depict gunshot wounded Civil War soldiers getting limbs cut off to save their lives. It makes us cringe to think of that. However, we know that’s where medicine was back in the 1860′s. Battlefield surgeons had little choice when it came to the threat of infection and the amount of damage a .58 caliber mini-ball would do to an arm or leg. Sanitary practices were so poor that a sliver in your finger could mean the loss of that digit.

After doing some research, I immediately became thankful for how far medicine has come in the last 140 pus years.

Following the war, many doctors went on to ply their trades out west. Up until that point, settlers were subject to practices of a homegrown nature or relied on voodooism or shamanism. Major issues such as malaria, cholera, smallpox, and yellow fever were the great killers of the west. If a community had one of these, there would likely be a 50% fatality rate. Doctors did what they could, but the medicines were not available or simply not invented yet. Whiskey was ok for cleaning wounds and making you…numb. But it did little to cure a fever.

Arizona Territory had some shining stars in the field of medicine. Dr. George Goodfellow, resident physician in Tombstone, led quite a career. Also known as the “Gunshot Surgeon”, he was the doctor who saw a lot of action during the Earp/Clanton feud. He also performed the first appendectomy in Arizona. When he was not pulling bullets out of drunken miners or delivering babies, Dr. Goodfellow was doing research (e.g. the effects of reptile bites) for medical books. I guess golf hadn’t really caught on at that point.

The first hospital in Arizona was St. Mary’s in Tucson. Built in 1880, it had a whopping 12 beds. Some of the nurses were the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet. Ring a bell? One of the physicians, Dr. John C. Handy, was instrumental in getting organized health care going in Arizona, and trained many of the nurses. Later on, Dr. Handy fell prey to a speeding bullet. When word got to Tombstone, Dr. Goodfellow hopped a train to lend a hand. Sadly, he was too late to help his colleague, but his dedication is legendary.

If you want to investigate further, head to the History of Pharmacy Museum in Tucson, where you’ll find collections of bottles and artifacts pertaining to all things medical. Up Prescott way is the Fort Whipple Museum, housing some good items from their military hospital. The Arizona Historical Society has a section with just about every medical implement known to 19th and 20th century physicians. By the way, some of those surgical instruments are not for the squeemish.

The next time you are waiting interminably in that doctor’s office reading Highlights magazine, consider how far medicine has advanced since the 1880′s. It might make you feel better!

St. Mary's Hospital