This is Familiar!

Enter the familiar mining town scene - wild and crazy overnight.

Long before the secret was out and covered wagons in droves began arriving, Arizona was unfriendly to any pioneers.  Many lost their lives to the murderous Apache, to the elements, and to whiskey and accidents.

But when the wagons began arriving at Tombstone, they kept coming.  By 1879, Tombstone was organized and emerged overnight as a metropolis in an otherwise wild country.  Stage coach service was established from Tuscon to Benson.  Main streets bore the names Tough Nut, Allen and Fremont.  Saloons like the Alhambra, the Crystal Palace, and the Oriental sprang up along with the prostitutes who serviced them.  Gamblers in well tailored frock coats arrived as soon as the final proof of "civilization" was apparent.

The five newspapers were born the Epitaph, the Evening Gossip, the Prospector, the Nugget, and the Expositor.  Tombstone became like the mining towns of the rest of the Wild West - wild and unruly.

Next time - Interesting characters and places of the new town