Tombstone's Early Years

by John Myers Myers

Book Overview

Tombstone's Early Years is packed with dramatic events like the gunfight at the O.K. Corral and colorful characters such as Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson. John Myers Myers brought all his skill as a writer and historian to this authoritative account of "the town that would not die."

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 080328215X
• ISBN13: 9780803282155
• Release Date: January 1995
• Publisher: Unp - Bison Books
• Length: 266 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Popular history handled well

This is a straightforward, popular history of Tombstone, Arizona, from its founding as a silver mining center in 1880 up to its demise when the mines began to close a decade or so later. Using primarily information gleamed from local newspapers published throughout the 1880s, Myers traces the development of the town and its better known (and often unsavory) characters, including Doc Holliday, Johnny Ringgold (Ringo), Luke Short, and, of course, Wyatt Earp and the Clanton gang. He puts to rest some myths, such as the story that Jenny Lind and Lotta Crabtree sang at the Bird Cage Theatre. And of course he spends quite a few pages dealing with the famous "fight at the OK Corral"; although he is thorough here he does make some minor errors (Holliday died in 1887, not 1895 as Myers says, and Earp was a sheriff in Tombstone, not a U.S. Marshal). The book is meant for the general reader (there are no footnotes, but an excellent index is included), and at this it succeeds admirably: it's as entertaining as it is informative.

The Last of the Lawless Towns and its Legend

John Myers Myers had a comfortable way of relating Western history. He would take his time leading up to his tale, giving pertinent background for his main story, setting the tone and the context for what was to come. He then would launch into his tale like a grizzled, wise old-timer, complete with rambling, colorful asides that might seem to diverge from his story, but often proved to be surprisingly pertinent in the end. He never forgot that "Story" is the most important element in his-story, and his folksy style was uniquely suited to the Western histories that he wrote. Tombstone's Early Years is a fine little history of that town "too tough to die". Myers began the story with Ed Schieffelin, the prospector who was told by soldiers that all he would find in that dangerous part of the Arizona territory was his tombstone. Instead, he found a claim of silver that made him a rich man, and he christened that claim Tombstone. Soon, others flocked to the region in search of their dreams of silver wealth, and the town of Tombstone grew up around the rough mining camp that was established there. Myers worked his way slowly from there up to the chaos and lawlessness that engendered the Earp/Clanton feud for which Tombstone is best known. While this feud and its climax at the OK Corral shoot-out are the heart of his story, he never lost sight of the town itself and the regular citizens who watched it unfold, whose lives were affected by it, and who rooted for one side or the other. The feud between the Earps and the Clanton Cowboy gang has always been associated with controversy, and even now, at nearly a century and a quarter removed from the events, there are still strong partisans for both sides, who bring great passion to their positions. Myers was firmly in the Earp camp with his interpretation of the history. He did not make Wyatt and his brothers out to be pure, white-hat heroes out of old dime westerns, but he definitely made it clear on which side of that largely lawless divide he believed that the right laid, and it was not with the Cowboys. If you are a passionate Clanton Gang advocate, this might negatively color your opinion of Myers' book. Everyone else should find Myers' handling of the subject to be first rate, both in his storytelling and his research. In the final sentence of the book, Myers wrote, "the great thing about Tombstone was not that there was silver in the veins of the adjacent hills, but that life flowed hotly and strongly in the veins of its people." Myers did a great job of capturing the feel of that hot blooded passion that fueled the town and the legend, and everyone who loves true tales of the old west should give his book a read. Theo Logos