Tombstone AZ and Surrounding Area

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The ride into Arizona from El Paso was clear, sunny, but very windy. So much so that it was a lot like sailing a boat, keep the steering wheel pulled sharp left to lean the rig into the wind then quickly adjust when wind stops. It was a little tiring with 30-40 MPH cross winds steady throughout the 290 mile trip...my wrist and shoulder knew I had been in a fight that evening. Other than the wind, the drive was much like the rest of the high desert we've travelled over the past couple weeks. That is until we entered the Texas Canyon in Arizona...wow all of a sudden there is a whole valley of large granite-like boulders precariously stacked upon each other. The Texas Canyon Rest Stop has become a tourist attraction in its own right, with folks driving to it just to take pictures among the boulders. The canyon and adjacent Dragoon Mountains provided a natural fortress and base of operations for the great Apache Chief Cochise. He was a master strategist and leader who was never conquered in battle and died peacefully on the newly formed Chiricahua reservation in 1874.

That bit of history led us to the Army Museums on Fort Huachuca, opened in 1960 they contain the history of US Army in the southwest. The post was established to support the Indian Wars of 1870s-1880s by offering protection to settlers while at the same time blocking the Apache escape routes through the valleys for sanctuary in Mexico. In 1886, General Miles used the fort as his advanced HQ and forward supply depot to gain the surrender of Geronimo in 1886. In 1913, the 10th Calvary "Buffalo Soldiers" arrived to guard the borders and join General Pershing's expedition into Mexico to chase Poncho Villa, but Villa avoided capture during the 11-month manhunt. The museum does a great job detailing the Buffalo Soldier's important impacts during WWI and WWII. The Air and Space Annex has interesting displays of the Fort's role in unmanned air systems and their role in strategic communications. The final museum, provided a history of Army intelligence from General Washington through modern times, we both thoroughly enjoyed the film clips and displays.

Of course no trip to Cochise County would be complete without a trip to Tombstone, the town became the setting for at least 30 movies. Most items around the town, center on the gunfight at OK Corral and while interesting, we enjoyed the Rose Tree Museum the most. The museum is housed in the former Rose Tree Inn, that has been continuously owned by the same family for 4 generations. It gets its name from a rose bush planted from a cutting brought from Scotland to Tombstone in 1880. It has grown into the largest rose bush (tree) in the world, 14.5 feet in circumference at its base. The Inn having been a business in town throughout Tombstone's history, contains the most unique stories from Tombstone's mining past. However, their display on the Chinese influence was most interesting to us. As many as 500 Chinese lived in Tombstone from First to Third Street and hopped in and out of private tunnels to avoid trouble with residents in the other parts of town. The Chinatown (Hoptown) was basically run by China Mary, a very astute Chinese merchant. White folks that preferred Chinese labor would have to negotiate with her. She'd guarantee the quality of their work and if it was not done right, it would be redone for free. She received the pay as the prime contractor and would then pay the workers, much like companies do today. She owned several laundries, the general store (with gambling out back), and I'm sure the opium dens. The dens had special tunnel entrances so whites could enter without being seen by their peers in the town. China even petitioned for legal operation of the dens, but were denied...however they existed anyway. It seems, there is only one Chinese guy living in Tombstone today, he married a local. The locals have been asking him to open a Chinese restaurant, but so far he hasn't. (We had a great conversation with a local guy to get history not represented elsewhere)

Lastly, we visited the former mining town of Bisbee. It almost became a ghost town following the closure of the local copper mines, but in the 1970's hippies and artists discovered a town with beautiful, but crumbling, architecture and bought up property to convert the town into an artist's haven. Today the hippies have been largely replaced by retirees and upscale artist galleries, but the town has the same atmosphere. Driving into the town, it feels like driving into a small German village (with a lot of old hippies running around). That sums up our past three days in Cochise County, AZ; tomorrow we're headed to Quartzsite to boondock in the desert with about 100,000 of our RV friends.

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Photos

Worlds Largest Rose Bush
Mi Hyon standing under the canopy of the world's largest rose bush. It is about 138 years old, if you don't count the age of the bush the cutting came from. I bet that bush is long gone.

Statue Paying Honor to Scouts
Recognizes the role of Indian scouts as a part of Army intelligence.

Texas Canyon
Boulders precariously perched along the road and for as far as you can see north and south.

Road runner along I-10
Really big road runner art display.

Border Patrol Stop
Driving in the west is a unique experience if your from the east. Not only the views, but being stopped, questioned and sometime searched within our country by border control. First time it happened to me, I thought I made a wrong turn. I asked the guy if I was about to enter Mexico by mistake, he just laughed and told me to move on.

Old Faithful
An early 1950s Army drone.

West side of the Berlin Wall
I have a large piece in my collection. The East Side was stark white, the West was covered with graffiti.

Germany's Enigma Crypto Machine
The Polish spy's first broke the code, then the Germans made it more complex. The British then set out to break the code.

The Spook
Symbol still used today in the intel world.