We spent the morning walking around watching all the people
dressed up in their period gear. Some of them had gone all out.
We had a coffee and Steve tried a piece of cherry pie, then
we went to a re-enactment at the Saloon Theatre. They re-enacted 3 gun fights,
it was very well done. Most gun fights were in saloons when guns, alcohol and testosterone
got mixed together, rather than the duel at high noon in the street depicted by
Hollywood.
In the afternoon we did an underground silver mine tour of
the Good Enough Mine. It was a fascinating look into the past, with a very knowledgeable
tour guide. The mine was the first in Tombstone and easy to access and walk
around in. (They did have tours of the other mines that were for hard core cave
enthusiasts). When the mine was in full production there were 18000 people
living and working in Tombstone, with 2 x 10 hour shifts at the mine, so it was
in production 24 hours a day. The mine went down to water level at 500 feet and
then big pumps were installed to lower the water table another 200 feet. Sadly
a fire destroyed the pumps and the mine flooded back to 500ft, ending the
mining in the area. Within 2 weeks the population dropped to 200 people, and
Tombstone as a mining town was finished.
After the mine tour we visited the courthouse museum,
complete with the gallows in the yard.
Another walk around the town, we watched
a couple of the street performances and enjoyed the ambiance.
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