Tombstone, Arizona became the booming city in the west and was only 30 miles (48 km) from the U.S.–Mexico border.
It was an open market for cattle stolen from ranches in Sonora, Mexico by a loosely organized band of outlaws known as The Cowboys, who began increasing their influence on the town and causing problems.
As one would anticipate, with the wild west growing, combined with treasure hunting and town entertainment, tensions would rise.
Many of the ranchers (like the Clantons) were also rustlers or other types of criminals. Compounding efforts to keep local groups under control were political differences as well. There seemed to be no effective law enforcement to curtail the growing problems.
The Earp brothers—Wyatt, Virgil and Morgan—as well as Doc Holliday, arrived in December 1879 and mid-1880. Basically, the Earps wanted to get away from the wild life and become involved in business in Tombstone. However, they met much resistance with Cowboys Ike and Billy Clanton, Frank and Tom McLaury, and Billy Claiborne.
The Cowboys repeatedly threatened the Earps over many months until the conflict escalated into a shootout on October 26, 1881.
The historic gunfight is often portrayed as occurring at the O.K. Corral; however, it actually occurred a short distance away in an empty lot on Fremont Street.
I’m glad our society has become more civilized since these old wild-west-days, aren’t you?
Hopefully we are not seeing a resurgence of these historical days.
So, Tombstone is best known as the site of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral and presently draws most of its revenue from tourism.
Below is the Part 1 video I prepared from our visit to the live reenactment of the famous gunfight at O.K. Corral. This was a performance before a live audience and provides some good insight about some of the historical event.
The entire reenactment video is 16 minutes long so I divided it into three parts. Parts 2 and 3 will be posted this week.
Blessings,
Ron
Thanks Ron for your comment on The Alamo and I popped in to say that my father would have loved you blog.. he missed the Internet by a few years unfortunately.
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Thank you Sally. I appreciate your kind words. I began my blog after my parents passed and I think they would have enjoyed the travels as well. I wish I could have taken them on more trips while they were here but maybe I can include their memories along the way today. 🙂
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Really great… Love the post
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Thank you Rotimi. It was fun reviewing the history and understanding more of it. I wasn’t much of a history person in school but I’m becoming more interested as I add years to my life. 🙂
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Hmm…. Interesting. And I can say you are doing a great job with it. You can only get better with it I’m certain. Well-done
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Thank you so much. Each one is a learning opportunity. 🙂
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Oh, how wonderful! Thank you for sharing this experience with us! Love it!
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My pleasure Lynn. I really appreciate each of you taking part. 🙂
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What a fun post, Ron. I’m enjoying your blog. Hugs.
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Thank you so much Teagan. It is fun going through this historical review and re-enactment. I enjoyed your creativity in your blog as well.
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We saw this after we rafted the Grand Canyon & got a family photo in saloon garb that is still hanging on the wall!
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Thank you Cindy for the response. I’m sure you found it interesting as I did. It’s pretty neat going to these small towns, particularly representative of the old west. 🙂
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Thanks for sharing this!
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Thanks Dan. The suspense is building toward the eventual showdown. 🙂
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