The American Old West - Tombstone, Arizona and the surrounding areas

Tombstone Arizona is a living town with a rich and colorful history.  Many of the Wild West's most famous characters called Tombstone their home at one time or another.

We enjoyed our neighbor's bird feeders.

Downtown Tombstone

Gunfight at the OK Corral

Bisbee Arizona

The historic city of Bisbee is known as "Old Bisbee" and is home to a thriving downtown cultural scene. This area is noted for its architecture, including Victorian-style houses and an elegant Art Deco county courthouse. Because its plan was laid out to a pedestrian scale before the automobile, Old Bisbee is compact and walkable. The town's hilly terrain is exemplified by the old four-story high school; each floor has a ground-level entrance. 

Bisbee was a runner-up as one of the "quirkiest" towns in America.  In the 1960s Bisbee became a haven for artists and hippies fleeing the larger cities of Arizona and California.

When you see this sign you know we're driving it.

View down onto the town 

Wait, is that a photo bomber?

Stock Exchange Saloon
Built in 1905, the beautiful Muheim building housed the Brewery Saloon, the most popular libation hall in Bisbee.  But in 1914 the Federal Government enacted and enforced the Noble Experiment which banned all alcohol sales and terminated all liquor licenses in Arizona.  John Muheim was forced to shut the doors to his saloon and look for new business opportunities for the bar.  The brokerage form of Duey and Overlock, located on the second floor, was convinced to relocate their offices to the main floor.  A stock board was installed in place of the disassembled bar.  A ticker tape was sent from the E.F. Hutton offices in Manhattan and the New York Stock Exchange in Arizona was born.  When the doors reopened in the early 1980's, John Muheims original intent for his building was once again a reality.  The Stock Exchange Saloon proudly displays the board while providing a gathering place for friends and visitors to partake of their favorite spirits in an atmosphere of the days gone by.

You are looking at the Lavender Pit Copper Mine.  Open-pit mining at Bisbee began in 1917 and ended in 1974. The Pit is 4,000 feet wide, 5,000 feet long and 850 feet deep at its maximum.

More than 300 different types of minerals are found in the hills around Bisbee.

Dave always finds these European Motorhomes very interesting.  Most of the occupants are not as friendly as he would like though.

Fairbank Historic Townsite 
First settled in 1881, Fairbank was the closest rail stop to nearby Tombstone, which made it an important location in the development of southeastern Arizona.

Due to its proximity to Tombstone, and the fact that it boasted the nearest railroad station to what was one of the largest cities in western United States, acted as a way point between Tombstone and the rest of the country, bringing supplies into the bustling town, and also acting as the departure point for the ore pulled from Tombstone's silver mines on its way to the mills.  Fairbank was also home to a stage coach station on the Butterfield Overland Mail line which opened in 1885. Stagecoach rides from Fairbank to Tombstone cost $1.50, about $36.00 today.  At its height in the mid-1880's, the town housed approximately 100 residents, and boasted a steam quartz mill, a general store, a butcher shop, a restaurant, a saloon, a Wells Fargo office, the railroad depot, and a stage coach station.  Shortly after its founding, the 1884 population estimate for Fairbank was roughly 100 people.  A group of Chinese settlers raised crops in irrigated fields along the river in their "Chinese Gardens".  US Census figures, taken every ten years, show the town's population peaking in 1890 at 478 residents, then shrinking to 171 by 1900 and then increasing again to a high of 269 in 1920 before entering a steady decline.  The last train depot closed in 1966 taking with it most of the jobs in town.  The Fairbank Mercantile continued as a store, post office and gas station until 1972.

A nice 4 mile loop trail to the north of the townsite takes you through a riparian mesquite grove.  The east side of the loop takes you past a cool old graveyard with tombstones dating back over a century, and eventually past the ruins of an old stamp mill that was used to process ore form the nearby mining towns using water power from the San Pedro River.

Grand Central Mill

The west side of the loop takes you to the banks of the San Pedro River and alongside a long abandoned railroad corridor.  Most of the tracks are now gone, but a neat old rail bridge remains.

Sierra Vista

If you look up at the Huachua Mountains from the town of Sierra Vista, a band of sheer cliffs bends and curves across the face of the mountain range.  The relatively flat area above is called the Carr Reef.  In this case, however the word "reef" doesn't refer to coral and oceans.  It harks back to an earlier time when it also meant a thick layer of exposed rock.  While you're looking at the Reed, you may also notice a tree-covered break in that impressive barrier, just south of a deep canyon.  Look even closer and you should see a barely visible set of switchbacks climbing that slope. That is the Carr Canyon Road, the only road into the upper reaches of the Huachuca Range.  This narrow, winding road was built at the turn of the century to open up the Carr Reef to gold and silver mining.  It was reconstructed in the lat 1930's by the Civilian Conservation Corps.  The mines have come and gone, but the road persists with little change.  The people who travel it, however have changed considerably.  Where hardy prospectors one searched for their pot of gold and the end of the rainbow, outdoor recreationists and history buffs now travel the Carr Canyon Road to enjoy splendid scenery and seek the flavor of the past.  For them the Carr Canyon Road provides the reward of extraordinary views of the Sierra Vista, the San Pedro Valley and a number of surrounding mountain ranges as it winds its way up the mountain.  A forest recreation area stands in an area one occupied by the mining outpost of Reef.

The view from lunch.  Half way up.