An independent travel guide to Tombstone, Arizona and the Old West around it.https://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/https://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/bill-paxton-tombstone.htmlhttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/bill-paxton-tombstone.htmlBill Paxton played Morgan Earp, Wyatt’s younger brother, in the 1993 movie Tombstone. It’s one of the roles he’s best remembered for. Paxton died in February 2017, at 61. Here is his part in the film, a look at his life and career, and the story of the real Morgan Earp. Morgan Earp in Tombstone […]Mon, 12 Dec 2022 10:46:55 GMThttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/jason-priestley-tombstone.htmlhttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/jason-priestley-tombstone.htmlTombstone is one of those movies you can rewatch endlessly, partly because almost every face on screen is someone you recognize: Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer, Charlton Heston, Billy Zane, Billy Bob Thornton and, in a smaller role, Jason Priestley as deputy Billy Breakenridge. Here is a look at the film, the real Billy Breakenridge, and […]Tue, 04 Oct 2022 12:14:42 GMThttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/curly-bill-tombstone.htmlhttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/curly-bill-tombstone.htmlTombstone is one of the most action-packed Westerns ever made, and Powers Boothe’s Curly Bill Brocius is one of its great villains, with a few rip-roaring scenes that keep audiences glued to their seats. The real William “Curly Bill” Brocius was a gunslinger, cattle rustler and leading member of the outlaw gang known as the […]Tue, 04 Oct 2022 10:51:07 GMThttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/charlton-heston-tombstone.htmlhttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/charlton-heston-tombstone.htmlCharlton Heston plays the rancher Henry Hooker in the 1993 movie Tombstone. Like several of the other famous actors in the Tombstone cast, he appears in only a handful of scenes. Heston, born in 1923, was 70 when the film was released. Here is the real Henry Hooker, how the part came to be so […]Fri, 30 Sep 2022 09:32:03 GMThttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/stephen-lang-tombstone.htmlhttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/stephen-lang-tombstone.htmlStephen Lang played Ike Clanton, the loudmouthed Cowboy who helps start the trouble, in the 1993 movie Tombstone. He is a respected actor on stage, in film and on TV, best known worldwide as Colonel Miles Quaritch in James Cameron’s Avatar. Because Tombstone became a cult classic, his Ike Clanton is one of his most […]Thu, 29 Sep 2022 10:20:35 GMThttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/michael-biehn-tombstone.htmlhttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/michael-biehn-tombstone.htmlSince the earliest days of Hollywood, the figures and events of the Old West have been on the movie screen. No list would be complete without lawman Wyatt Earp, the gunfight at the O.K. Corral and the vendetta ride that followed. Those events are the subject of the 1993 movie Tombstone. Here we take a […]Tue, 27 Sep 2022 11:16:16 GMThttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/sam-elliott-tombstone.htmlhttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/sam-elliott-tombstone.htmlSam Elliott’s Virgil Earp in Tombstone is a perfect fit of actor and Western character. It’s a supporting part, but his stern presence and deep, gravelly voice make Virgil one of the film’s highlights. Here we look at his role in Tombstone, his early life and his long career in Westerns and beyond. Sam Elliott […]Mon, 26 Sep 2022 08:22:19 GMThttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/val-kilmer-doc-holliday.htmlhttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/val-kilmer-doc-holliday.htmlTombstone is one of the most loved Western movies ever made, and it was inspired by true events in Tombstone, Arizona in the 1880s. The film immortalized the partnership of Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday as they took on the Cowboys who were wreaking havoc in the town. Doc Holliday is only a supporting role, […]Fri, 23 Sep 2022 09:25:53 GMThttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/kurt-russell-tombstone.htmlhttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/kurt-russell-tombstone.htmlKurt Russell is one of the most successful actors of his generation, known for cult classics such as Escape from New York, The Thing and Stargate. For many of us, though, his best role is Wyatt Earp in the 1993 movie Tombstone. Here we look at his early career, his part in Tombstone, and the […]Fri, 16 Sep 2022 08:53:33 GMThttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/billy-bob-thornton-tombstone-actor.htmlhttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/billy-bob-thornton-tombstone-actor.htmlFew people in Hollywood are a musician, writer, director and actor all at once. Billy Bob Thornton is one of them, and in Tombstone he played a small but memorable part: the bullying gambler Johnny Tyler. Thornton was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas, in 1955, and he worked his way up the hard way. While […]Mon, 08 Aug 2022 07:42:09 GMThttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/tombstone-latin-translation.htmlhttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/tombstone-latin-translation.htmlThe 1993 movie Tombstone is loosely based on real events in Tombstone, Arizona in the early 1880s. One scene intrigues viewers more than most: the Latin duel, also known as the cup spinning scene, where Doc Holliday and Johnny Ringo first meet. They trade snide remarks until the insults turn personal. Val Kilmer’s Doc is […]Mon, 25 Apr 2022 11:13:08 GMThttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/forrie-j-smith-tombstone.htmlhttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/forrie-j-smith-tombstone.htmlForrie J. Smith played the outlaw Pony Deal in the 1993 movie Tombstone, and a whole new audience knows him as the ranch hand Lloyd Pierce in the TV series Yellowstone. He’s a real cowboy, too: a rodeo rider and stuntman long before he was an actor. Here’s a look at his background, his part […]Sat, 23 Apr 2022 18:04:46 GMThttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/doc-holliday-gun.htmlhttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/doc-holliday-gun.htmlThe Wild West turned lawmen, outlaws and cowboys into legends, in books and on the screen. It did the same for the guns they carried. Like the men themselves, those guns have picked up an aura of mystery that has only grown over the years. Doc Holliday is a good example. Plenty of guns have […]Fri, 22 Apr 2022 15:36:01 GMThttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/wyatt-earp-wichita-kansas.htmlhttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/wyatt-earp-wichita-kansas.htmlLong before Tombstone, Wyatt Earp spent his first years as a lawman in the Kansas cow towns. Wichita was where he first wore a policeman’s badge, and where he made some very public mistakes. When Wyatt came to Kansas he was likely still getting over the death of his first wife, Urilla, who died in […]Sat, 16 Apr 2022 05:37:21 GMThttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/wyatt-earp-fort-griffin.htmlhttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/wyatt-earp-fort-griffin.htmlWyatt Earp and Doc Holliday’s famous friendship began far from Tombstone, in a rough Texas frontier town called Fort Griffin. Wyatt went there in 1877 chasing an outlaw, and he left with a tip that helped catch him and a friend who would stand beside him at the O.K. Corral. Here’s what happened, as far […]Sat, 16 Apr 2022 05:24:01 GMThttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/wells-spicer.htmlhttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/wells-spicer.htmlEvery October, when Tombstone remembers the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, one name comes up again and again in the story of its aftermath: Wells Spicer. He was the justice who decided whether the Earps and Doc Holliday would stand trial for murder. His career spanned the law, mining, politics and journalism, and his life […]Sat, 16 Apr 2022 05:11:27 GMThttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/tombstone-women.htmlhttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/tombstone-women.htmlIt wasn’t easy for women to make their way in the Old West, and it isn’t always easy to find them in the records either. In newspapers of the time, even women of note often go without a first name. Married women were usually described by their husband’s name, so Allie Earp appears as “Mrs. […]Sat, 16 Apr 2022 04:48:14 GMThttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/tombstone-historic-district.htmlhttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/tombstone-historic-district.htmlThe Tombstone Historic District covers about 42 acres of downtown Tombstone, roughly the blocks between Toughnut and Fremont Streets from 3rd to 6th Street, anchored by the old Cochise County Courthouse. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1961. Many of the 1880s buildings you see on a visit survived because Tombstone’s own citizens […]Sat, 16 Apr 2022 04:06:04 GMThttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/tom-jeffords.htmlhttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/tom-jeffords.htmlTom Jeffords was the frontiersman who became a friend of the Apache leader Cochise, helped bring about the 1872 peace with the Chiricahua Apache and served as their agent. Later he mined and traded around Tombstone and the Huachuca Mountains. If you’re from the older generations, or you like watching old Western reruns, you may […]Sat, 16 Apr 2022 03:49:06 GMThttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/pick-em-up.htmlhttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/pick-em-up.htmlPick-Em-Up was a tiny settlement on the road from Tombstone to Charleston, little more than a saloon and a few buildings. Not much documentation survives, and what there is can be a bit confusing. Here is what we’ve pieced together from old newspapers and maps: where it was, how it may have got its name, […]Sat, 16 Apr 2022 03:13:10 GMThttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/oriental-saloon.htmlhttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/oriental-saloon.htmlMilton E. “Milt” Joyce opened the Oriental Saloon at the corner of Fifth and Allen in 1880, and it made him one of the best-known men in early Tombstone. He was a fireman, a county supervisor and a militia captain, and he tangled with Doc Holliday and the Earps along the way. Here is his […]Sat, 16 Apr 2022 02:45:55 GMThttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/oriental-saloon-tombstone.htmlhttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/oriental-saloon-tombstone.htmlThe Oriental Saloon has stood on the northeast corner of Allen and 5th streets since 1880. It was the most elegant saloon in early Tombstone, Wyatt Earp ran a faro game there, and some of the town’s most famous shootings happened inside or just outside its doors. Here’s the Oriental’s story, from its opening and […]Sat, 16 Apr 2022 02:21:16 GMThttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/lady-banks-rose-arizona.htmlhttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/lady-banks-rose-arizona.htmlTombstone’s Lady Banks rose is famous around the world. Guinness World Records lists it as the world’s largest rose bush, and it grows so big that it’s called the Rose Tree. It still grows in the courtyard of the Rose Tree Museum at Toughnut and Fourth Streets. Here’s the story of how a cutting from […]Sat, 16 Apr 2022 01:57:12 GMThttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/john-clum.htmlhttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/john-clum.htmlJohn Philip Clum, born in upstate New York on September 1, 1851, became one of Tombstone’s best-known residents. He was the town’s first elected mayor after it was incorporated, and he founded the Tombstone Epitaph. Before Tombstone he was an Apache agent, and after it he carried the mail to the Alaska gold fields. Here’s […]Sat, 16 Apr 2022 01:38:38 GMThttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/john-b-allen.htmlhttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/john-b-allen.htmlDoes the name John B. Allen sound familiar? It should if you’ve walked through Tombstone. Allen Street, the town’s famous main drag, is named after him. So who was he, and why did Tombstone name its business street for him? Here are the essentials of his story, from a Maine farm to Tucson’s pie trade, […]Fri, 15 Apr 2022 16:20:46 GMThttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/helldorado-days-tombstone-arizona.htmlhttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/helldorado-days-tombstone-arizona.htmlHelldorado Days is Tombstone’s annual October celebration, first held in 1929. The town fills with gunfight re-enactments, music, Old West groups and a parade down Allen Street. Here is how it began, how it survived the Depression and some lean years, and what to expect today. The history: how Helldorado began In the late 1800s […]Fri, 15 Apr 2022 15:03:17 GMThttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/grand-central-mine.htmlhttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/grand-central-mine.htmlTombstone, Arizona became a town because of mining in Tombstone. The silver strikes drew everyone who hoped to make money in the industry, from owners and investors down to miners and the businesses that served them. One of the richest of those mines was the Grand Central. Its story runs from a lucky find and […]Fri, 15 Apr 2022 14:38:41 GMThttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/dos-cabezas.htmlhttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/dos-cabezas.htmlDos Cabezas is a mining ghost town southeast of Willcox, Arizona. Its name is Spanish for “two heads,” after the two distinctive peaks of the Dos Cabezas Mountains, which you can see from Interstate 10 and from one stretch of Highway 186 as you start to climb toward town. Once mine exploration began, the area […]Fri, 15 Apr 2022 13:35:47 GMThttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/crawley-dake.htmlhttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/crawley-dake.htmlCrawley P. Dake was the U.S. marshal for Arizona Territory from 1878 to 1882, the years when the Cowboy troubles around Tombstone came to a head. He was the man who made Virgil Earp, and later Wyatt Earp, deputy U.S. marshals. His support of the Earps hasn’t always served his reputation well. Here’s his story, […]Fri, 15 Apr 2022 10:08:42 GMThttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/celia-ann-mattie-blaylock.htmlhttps://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/celia-ann-mattie-blaylock.htmlCelia Ann “Mattie” Blaylock was Wyatt Earp’s common-law wife for about six years, including the Tombstone years. She grew up on an Iowa farm, ran away as a young woman, and ended her life alone in a fading Arizona mining town. Here is what is known of her story. A farm girl from Iowa Celia […]Fri, 15 Apr 2022 09:30:14 GMT