1n 1877, silver prospector Ed Schieffelin set out from Camp Huachuca, an Army post in southeast Arizona, heading for the Dragoon Mountains. The soldiers warned him that he would find nothing there but his own tombstone. So, when Schieffelin struck silver, he named his mine Tombstone. By 1880, the town with the same name near the mine was booming, with two dance halls, a dozen gambling spots, and more than 20 saloons. “Still, there is hope, for I know of two Bibles in town,” said a new arrival. Today’s Tombstone, population 1,560, still has the boardwalks, wooden awnings, and false fronts of the original town. The streets have never been paved and are still dusty with gusts of desert wind. The old buildings have been given face-lifts, and a visitor wandering the historic district can buy anything from period clothing to jewelry to chaps, spurs and a saddle. Stagecoaches transport passengers around town, horses are tied to hitching posts, and re-enactors carry shotguns as they stroll the main street. Tombstone has become something of a magnet for a new generation of residents — baby boomers who cut their teeth on television westerns like The Rifleman, Have Gun - Will Travel, Wyatt Earp, and Gunsmoke. At a saloon named Big Nose Kate’s, a group that calls itself The Vigilantes sit around a wooden table talking 1880s politics. While many people moved to Tombstone for adventure, some sought it as a refuge. They enjoy the lifestyle of the Old West, the slower pace of life, and the ability to live in a town where change is not welcome.
