Ed Schieffelin discovered silver near the town he founded and named Tombstone, setting off a series of events which became history.
Schieffelin drifted from California into Arizona Territory in 1877 with an idea of prospecting in the Grand Canyon. One glance, however, at the sedimentary strata and barren schists was enough to convince him to look elsewhere. He went to Fort Huachuca to arrange for a grubstake, and the soldiers there warned him that the only thing he would find was his tombstone in a region so heavily infested with warring Apaches. Schieffelin, however, was determined and a month later hit his first strike; inside was ore containing horn silver. He sought the partnership of his brother, Al, and a mining man by the name of Dick Gird and located the Lucky Cuss Mine. News leaked out and the silver rush was on. When someone asked the name of the locality, it was referred to as Ed Schieffelin’s tombstone, and Tombstone it became. The Schieffelin brothers located other mines on the Tombstone Lode, The Tough Nut and the Contention, eventually selling their holdings for $600,000 to a Philadelphia syndicate. By 1880 Tombstone was one of the finest cities in the West. While it’s true that gunslingers, the Earp Brothers, and bad men flocked to its saloons and gambling houses, it is frequently overlooked that Tombstone was the most cultivated city west of the Mississippi River. It was, at that time, larger than San Francisco and sported cultural activities including an exceptionally fine opera house.
It was water that drowned Tombstone’s dreams. As the mine shafts plunged ever deeper, it became necessary to begin pumping operations. By the end of 1890 the mines flooded out, and Tombstone began to die. In 1901 new efforts were made to reclaim the mines from the underground rivers, but eight years later these attempts were abandoned. Tombstone, however, did not perish and is today a flourishing tourist attraction known as the “Town Too Tough To Die.”
Despite his fortune, Ed Schieffelin never overcame his love of prospecting. He died while working some claims near Canyonville, Oregon.
