A black and white postcard of Tombstone. The front caption at the bottom reads: “Tombstone, Arizona A Town Too Tough to Die-At One Time a Bustling Mining City of the West – C-63.” The postcard is unused and was published by the L.L. Cook Company, Milwaukee on Kodak paper. Foster, Thomas N Collection.

In 1879, Tombstone was founded by Ed Schieffelin who came from a prosperous family in Wellsboro, Pennsylvania. He moved out west to work as a scout for the US Army and later was on the lookout for potential mining prospect. The area he was searching was considered barren and he was told that the only rock he would find would be his tombstone, hence the name given to the boom town when Schieffelin found silver. People flooded into town to try to make their fortunes. The silver mines were productive until they struck a tremendous amount of ground water and high-volume pumps were installed that could remove four to seven million gallons of water in twenty-four hours. It wasn’t enough and Tombstone’s silver mines were shut down on January 11, 1911 and the Tombstone Mining Company when bankrupt on August 9th. The claims were purchased by Phelps Dodge for $500,000 and the mines later reopened not for silver but manganese for World War One. Manganese mining shut down on April 1st, 1918. Over its lifespan, the Tombstone mines produced one thousand tons of silver along with smaller amounts of gold and copper. After the collapse of mining in Tombstone, the town easily could have become a ghost town. Local cattle ranching and later tourism was enough to keep it alive. Every year, almost half a million visitors come to learn and relive the old west.

2020.18.11