It was hot. It was cold. The wind was almost always blowing sand and dust. If you lived in a wooden house you were hot in the summer and cold in the winter. If you were lucky enough to have an adobe, you were much more comfortable all year. But there were rattlers under the houses. Tarantulas crawling through open windows and doors. Scorpions hid in shoes. Fire was always a danger. The Apache threat was constant. You were terrified to walk down the streets at certain times due to the violence between the Earps and the Cowboys. Until the Contention rail spur opened in March of 1882, travel was long, drawn-out, dangerous, and boring. Imagine begins squashed in a stage for the six-hour trip from Benson to Tombstone, always terrified it would be robbed. Life in Tombstone during those wild and wooly days was hard. It was exciting, and rarely boring.
I’ve made one recent discover that may change the way we look at the men of the “Wild West”. In his diary, Endicott Peabody is preparing to go out on an expedition through the desert with George Parsons and two other friends. Before leaving town he stopped off an picked up his – now get this – green-tinted goggles! Yep – you read it right – goggles. Wyatt, Doc and all the other dudes there in Tombstone were either wearing sunglasses of tinted goggles. Makes sense. Also changes the whole look of things, literally!
Article comments
1 - Donnie Marler
SJ, I'm greatly enjoying your series! I'm a lover of the history of the old West. You're doing a great job.
2 - T. Michael Testi
SJ, Nice job. I have always been fascinated by history, especially the different view points that we are given by today's manipulation of history vs. the reality that was their world. This was their world and they live in it. Reality is how they experienced it, not how some reporter viewing through a single set of eyes reports it. To be true it must contain enough viewpoints to be representative of the time.
I look forward to reading more.
3 - SJ Reidhead
Thank you so much for your kind comments. They are much appreciated.
SJ Reidhead
4 - Scott South
Hello SJ. How did Old West towns like Tombstone manage an ice house and an ice cream parlor? I don't understand where they would get ice in the far southern edges of the Arizona desert in 1881. There wasn't electricity in Tombstone yet; only in very few places back east. How would they transport ice to Tombstone without it melting--let alone maintain an ice cream parlor?