Original subtitles

♪♪

Narrator: Tombstone, arizona.

[ gunshot ]

Site of the legendary Shootout at the o.K. Corral.

[ gunfire ]

[ bullets ricocheting ]

Today, this is a quiet Law-abiding town...

With few surface signs Of what makes tombstone

So notorious In wild west history.

♪♪

What really happens here 140 years ago, and why?

Everything you've seen About the city of tombstone

In the movies and on television Is completely wrong.

♪♪

Narrator: now new evidence From secret tunnels

Can reveal what triggers

The spectacular rise And catastrophic fall

Of the ultimate frontier town.

We're down 100 feet right now Below the surface.

Narrator: and modern-day weapons Analysis can expose the truth

Behind the wild west's Most famous gunfight.

[ click ]

[ gunfire ]

With all those 30 rounds Shot in 28 or so seconds,

Why only three people killed?

♪♪

Narrator: To solve tombstone's mysteries,

We'll deconstruct the streets Of this wild west town

To uncover hidden fortunes

And break down The o.K. Corral gunfight

Second by second, Shot by shot...

To unearth the true story

Of this frontier outpost's Most famous moment.

♪♪

♪♪

In the heart of Arizona's high desert

Sits the ultimate Wild west town --

Tombstone.

It's the site of the most famous Gunfight in cowboy history --

The shootout at the o.K. Corral.

[ gunfire ]

But what's the truth Behind the tale?

Today, investigators

Are examining new facts Behind the legend

And how it affects the fortunes Of this frontier town.

For 140 years, The legend of tombstone

Has overshadowed the true facts And the true story.

To be quite honest, That true story

Is so much more interesting

Than anything hollywood Has put out to date.

Narrator: the story of tombstone Begins in 1877,

As pioneering settlers push Forward the american frontier.

♪♪

In only three years,

They turn a barren plateau Into a boom town...

♪♪

...That boasts grand theaters, A bowling alley,

14 churches And gambling halls...

And over 100 saloons.

A horse stable Called the o.K. Corral

Becomes the site Of the most famous shootout

In the wild west.

[ gunfire ]

The deadly duel catapults Tombstone to instant fame

That lasts to this day.

But nearly a century and a half Since the bloodshed,

What's the truth Behind the legend?

♪♪

City historian don taylor Wants to find out.

♪♪

But finding tombstone's Original locations

Requires detective work...

Because two major fires

Destroyed most of the town's Earliest buildings.

The fire in 1881

Actually started Right across the street here.

It started when a bartender

Went to check A barrel of whiskey

To see if it had soured.

He stuck his head in there With a lit cigar in his mouth,

And...Boom.

Narrator: the o.K. Corral

Is just one of the businesses That burns,

So is there any hope of finding This legendary location today?

♪♪

Luckily, one crucial remnant Of pre-fire tombstone

Still remains -- The street plan.

Taylor: what you see today Is exactly the same layout

That was here when Wyatt earp and doc holliday

Were here in the 1880s.

You're walking the same streets

That all these famous men Walked on.

Narrator: Don uses an original map

To match up 1880s tombstone With today's buildings,

Searching for the site Of the o.K. Corral.

You've got The oriental saloon here,

The crystal palace saloon here,

Different saloons And restaurants and stores

Right along here.

The hardware store here.

And as we head down Allen street,

Here is the o.K. Corral On the map,

Which is right across the street From where I'm sitting now.

♪♪

When a visitor Would come to tombstone,

They would check their horse, If you will.

Stables and corrals were The parking lots of the day.

They would take their horses And put them in here.

Narrator: According to legend,

The infamous gunfight Unfolds on allen street,

Outside the o.K. Corral.

But no guns are fired here.

Inside the corral,

The open space is perfect For a shootout.

But no shots Are fired here, either.

The true location Of the gunfight

Is behind the corral In a narrow, vacant lot.

[ gunfire ]

Here, lawmen and outlaws Are poised barely 10 feet apart

For the most famous 30 seconds In wild west history.

♪♪

But if the gunfight didn't Even take place in the corral,

What else might be myth?

♪♪

To find out, researchers Need to start at the beginning,

To unearth what triggers The town's notorious shootout.

♪♪

Nancy sosa examines The town's newspapers

In search of answers.

Her research overturns One big hollywood myth --

That gunfights Are a constant feature

Of tombstone's early days.

People think of tombstone,

And they think that we were A violent community

And there was a death every day.

One of the most famous sayings

Is tombstone had a man For breakfast every morning.

Well, if that was the case,

Then we wouldn't Have had a population.

Innocent people were not Being killed every day.

Narrator: but nancy's analysis Of newspaper obituaries

Shows that there is A marked spike in violent deaths

In tombstone In a two-year period,

Coinciding with when The o.K. Corral gunfight

Claims its three victims.

♪♪

Sosa: There's approximately 27 people

Who died from gunshot wounds

Or knife wounds or murder --

27 to 30 people

That die by interesting means In that short period of time.

♪♪

Narrator: This spike in violence

Causes panic Among the law-abiding

Businesspeople of tombstone.

And they couldn't have chaos.

They couldn't have What was going on.

Narrator: the city records Reveal that around this time,

Virgil earp, a member Of one of the most famous

Families in wild west history,

Is appointed Tombstone's marshal.

♪♪

[ rocks scraping ]

The five earp brothers are born

Into a farming family In the midwest.

♪♪

Like many americans at the time,

They leave home And follow their fortunes,

Chasing money And the expanding frontier.

♪♪

By 1880, the earp brothers Reach tombstone.

♪♪

They make money running saloons And dealing cards.

♪♪

But three of the brothers Have higher aspirations --

To become men of the law.

♪♪

The men who hire the earps

Are desperate to restore calm To tombstone's streets.

The scene is set For the most famous gunfight

In wild west history.

♪♪

The earps' backers are the Town's biggest business owners.

They were the ones That were responsible

For tombstone's lifeblood -- Silver.

Narrator: What role does silver play

In tombstone's Legendary gunfight?

And what could a hidden tunnel Beneath the town's grand hotel

Reveal about tombstone's Rapid rise from the desert?

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: tombstone is The ultimate wild west town.

[ gunfire ]

The legendary location Of a 30-second shootout --

The gunfight At the o.K. Corral...

♪♪

...The most notorious incident In an outbreak of violent deaths

In and around the town.

But what triggers this carnage?

A big clue lies buried Beneath the town's main street.

♪♪

Beneath big nose kate's saloon

Is the basement Of the old grand hotel,

Sitting on the entrance To a mysterious tunnel

That burrows Deep into the bedrock.

♪♪

It's only one of The many passageways

Crisscrossing 300 miles Under tombstone.

♪♪

Their purpose?

To access tons of precious Silver buried beneath the town.

♪♪

How does tombstone turn Hard rock into hard cash?

♪♪

Historical mining expert Robert davenport

Investigates the silver rush

That transforms The barren plateau

Into a boom town.

It all starts with Prospector ed schieffelin

In 1877.

He decides to survey for silver In dangerous apache territory,

Sparking a warning from locals.

♪♪

Davenport: They told him, "The only stone

You're ever gonna find out there Is your own tombstone."

Well, that's what he named his First claim when he found it.

Some of the rocks He probably found

On the surface Were the chrysocolla.

Chrysocolla Is usually an indicator

Of copper, lead, zinc, Silver, and gold.

So this is probably What ed was looking for.

Narrator: once ed confirms The rocks contain silver,

He digs tombstone's first mine.

Okay. This is the silver That they were looking for.

What they would do is they Would follow the ore bodies.

Narrator: Using basic tools,

Miners chase the seams of ore Wherever they lead.

Davenport: back in the day when Ed schieffelin was down here,

This was before They had hardhats,

Before they had lamps, So what they would do

Is they would use A candlestick holder,

Put it into the wall, Put the candle in,

And these are the tools Of the trade back in the day.

This is a drill steel -- 130 years old --

And a 4-pound sledgehammer.

[ tapping ]

So it was a major process Getting this done.

[ rock scraping ]

♪♪

Narrator: tombstone's miners Work 10-hour shifts.

They chisel holes In the tunnel walls

Then fill them with dynamite.

[ crackling ]

After the blasting...

[ explosion ]

...It takes a couple of hours For the dust to settle

Before the next crew Clear away the ore.

♪♪

They load the ore into carts

And run it back up to The surface for processing.

♪♪

Massive silver mills Then refine the ore

Into giant 180-pound ingots,

Impossible for thieves To easily snatch.

[ metal clanging ]

♪♪

Everything in this mine That you walk through,

You go through, that's void, Was silver.

Narrator: tombstone's Rich ore-bearing rocks

Produce over 1,000 tons Of pure silver.

Davenport: Some of it was so dense,

It actually assayed out at over $8,000 to the ton of silver.

So it made it some of the Richest in the united states.

♪♪

Narrator: why does the silver Spark the trouble

That culminates In the o.K. Corral gunfight?

Metal worker spencer edgerton Is an expert in silver...

And why there is so much demand For the metal

At this particular time.

It is relatively rare, And it was valued worldwide,

And, of course, It can be polished To a really high luster.

So those made it valuable In jewelry.

Narrator: Spencer demonstrates

What makes silver So sought after.

What we're doing today Is casting silver

Using the sand-casting Method of casting.

Inside of this container Is silver.

We're gonna be heating it up to Probably close to 2,000 degrees

And pouring it into this mold.

Narrator: like gold, silver Is a relatively inert metal.

You can see it's already Starting to melt.

Narrator: It doesn't corrode quickly,

Making it perfect To turn into coins.

♪♪

At this time, silver forms The basis of the u.S. Currency,

So demand for these Silver dollars is huge.

♪♪

In just four years, Tombstone's mines produce silver

Worth the equivalent of nearly A billion dollars today.

♪♪

A dusty desert town

Becomes a rich, Sophisticated metropolis.

But the wealth and prosperity

Also attracts troublemaking Outlaws to the frontier town...

[ hissing ]

...Sparking conflict With mine owners

Determined to protect Their untapped fortunes.

♪♪

Buried underground

Is the ultimate result Of this conflict --

The victims of the carnage At the o.K. Corral.

♪♪

Narrator: Tombstone, arizona,

Booms on the back Of its silver mines.

♪♪

But the town's fame today

Comes from the legendary Gunfight at the o.K. Corral.

Can evidence Hidden in this graveyard

Reveal who was actually fighting And why?

This was tombstone's First city cemetery,

And it started in 1880.

By 1884, it was full.

Narrator: This is boothill cemetery,

So-called because many buried Here die with their boots on.

Historian don taylor Investigates what this place

Can reveal about the true Story of the o.K. Corral.

♪♪

This cemetery fell Into complete disrepair.

In fact, at one point in time, This was the garbage dump.

We have no records Of who's buried really where.

Narrator: on the surface, The cemetery holds few clues,

But the story belowground Is very different.

♪♪

Tombstone's legendary boothill Is the resting place

For more than 250 Of the town's dead.

♪♪

Many are killed in cold blood,

Murdered in acts of revenge,

Or victims of affairs That turn sour.

Among the dead, three cowboys --

28-year-old tom mclaury...

32-year-old frank mclaury...

And 19-year-old billy clanton --

The three victims of the Gunfight at the o.K. Corral.

♪♪

But who are they, And how do they end up

Dying on the streets Of tombstone?

♪♪

Don taylor searches for answers In cochise county,

The vast scrubland That surrounds the city.

♪♪

In the 1880s, it's the lair

Of a particular breed of men -- The cowboys.

Taylor: although mining was The primary economic factor

In cochise county Back in the day,

As you can see, with the wide Open land that we have here,

Ranching also played A key factor.

Today I'm outside of tombstone

And looking at the different Types of country

Where the cowboy ranches Would have been back then.

Narrator: The word "Cowboy" today

Means almost anyone associated With cattle in the wild west,

But in this part of arizona,

It refers to members Of a very specific gang

Indelibly associated with The o.K. Corral gunfight.

The word "Cowboy" in Cochise county in the 1880s

Meant an outlaw.

[ cattle lowing ]

Narrator: the cowboys specialize In one particular crime --

International cattle theft.

♪♪

They form raiding parties

And sneak across The mexican border

25 miles south of tombstone.

♪♪

[ cattle lowing ]

Under cover of darkness, They drive cattle

Back across the border, Avoiding stiff import taxes.

♪♪

The cowboys fatten up Their illicit herds

On the grasslands Around tombstone

And sell them For a hefty profit.

[ cattle lowing ]

♪♪

Much of the meat Ends up in tombstone.

The butchers and restaurants Don't ask questions

About the source Of their steaks.

♪♪

And as the town Of tombstone grows,

There's an insatiable demand For the cowboys' stolen beef.

The demand for beef In tombstone was growing

As exponentially As the population.

The butchers Would buy their beef

For less than market value

Because, obviously, the cowboys Had nothing invested in it

Other than a few days Of rustling.

Narrator: but mexican ranchers Start to shoot cowboys on sight.

♪♪

So the outlaws are forced

To steal cattle Closer to tombstone,

Setting them on a path That will eventually

Trigger the gunfight At the o.K. Corral.

♪♪

But the cowboys face a problem.

A brand marks each cow

That shows which specific ranch They belong to.

So to steal cattle successfully,

The cowboys have to create A top-secret tool,

A way to change one brand Into another.

Metal worker pete brown Is going to forge

This illicit instrument Known as a running iron.

Brown: they were very dangerous Tools to carry around

If you were a rustler Because it's obvious

What you were up to -- Stealing cattle --

And being caught in possession Of a running iron

Might lead to you Hanging from a tree.

Narrator: It's a delicate operation.

♪♪

The tool has to be small enough To conceal from lawmen...

♪♪

...Yet versatile enough

To change almost any brand Into another existing brand.

♪♪

I'm making the business end Of the running iron.

This has to be slightly thinner

So that it matches the existing Brand on the cattle.

♪♪

[ steam hisses ]

And that's a completed Running iron.

Narrator: now pete puts his Finished tool to the test.

♪♪

First he brands a piece of wood With an original "U" brand.

♪♪

Next, he uses the running iron

To create a modified "7-up" brand.

Brown: first thing I'm gonna do Is put the wings on the "U"

To make it into A flying "U" brand.

♪♪

Now I'm gonna adapt The flying "U" into a "7-up."

♪♪

If I was doing that On the cattle,

Nobody would ever know Where those cattle came from.

♪♪

Narrator: cowboys use Running irons just like this

To disguise stolen cattle As non-local brands.

♪♪

But when they come to tombstone To sell their illicit meat,

They bring trouble...

♪♪

...Spending ill-gotten gains

In brothels, bars, And gambling dens...

♪♪

...Sparking much of The violent behavior

That threatens the prosperity Of the silver mines.

♪♪

Don taylor believes tensions

Between rich mine owners And the out-of-town cowboys

Boil over on october 26, 1881.

♪♪

A group of cowboys Gather in a vacant lot

Behind the o.K. Corral.

♪♪

They're openly carrying weapons, In violation of local law.

♪♪

In accordance to City ordinance number 9,

It was illegal to carry guns In tombstone back then.

Narrator: marshal virgil earp Confronts the cowboys.

Alongside him Are three deputies --

His brothers Morgan and wyatt earp...

And legendary gunslinger Doc holliday.

People saw They had guns in their hands,

And they knew something Was about to happen.

Narrator: What triggers the first shot?

And once the carnage begins...

[ gunfire ]

...How does anyone escape alive?

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: tombstone's legendary Gunfight at the o.K. Corral

Is the most famous 30 seconds In wild west history.

♪♪

But what really happens During this iconic shootout?

♪♪

Local historian don taylor

Wants to separate fact From fiction.

Taylor: in hollywood, it's Always a beautiful sunny day.

That day, it was cloudy, cold, Blowing rain and snow.

♪♪

Narrator: the lawmen --

Three earp brothers, Plus doc holliday --

Spot six outlaws --

Billy clanton and his brother...

Two mclaury brothers...

And two other members Of the cowboy gang --

In an 18-foot-wide vacant lot.

The lawmen confront The armed outlaws.

Initially there were 10 men And 2 horses in this space.

Virgil said, "Throw up your Hands, boys. I want your guns."

And then all hell broke loose.

Narrator: As they square off,

Cowboys outnumber lawmen Six to four...

And virgil earp is armed Only with a walking stick.

Before a shot is fired, Two cowboys flee.

♪♪

Virgil swaps his walking stick For a hidden pistol,

Evening the odds.[ gun cocks ]

As shots start to fly, A third cowboy escapes.

[ gunfire ]

Cowboy tom mclaury Can't reach his rifle,

Making it four against two.

28 seconds later, Three men are dead.

[ gunfire ]

But how do four people manage To survive the carnage?

♪♪

At this shooting range Near phoenix,

Historic weapons expert Win ames

Investigates how Most of the gunfighters

Escape with their lives.

What does come to mind is,

With all those 30 rounds Shot in 28 or so seconds,

Why only three people killed?

[ gunfire ]

♪♪

Narrator: win believes The gunfighters' shooting style

May hold a clue.

With all the lead flying around And all the activity going on

And the fear of death At any second,

I don't believe anyone really Took the time to aim and fire.

They were grabbing their Pistols, and they were shooting.

[ gunshot ]

Pull pistol, shoot.[ gunshot ]

You're pointing it At the target.

You're not aiming it At the target.

That's the big difference.

Narrator: the shooters Are going to investigate

The difference in accuracy

Between point firing And aimed firing.

First, the shooter Fires five shots

Pointing at the target From waist height.

[ gunshots ]

Ames: he hit once Out of five shots.

Now, if someone Was shooting back at him,

Like they had At the o.K. Corral,

He wouldn't have hit even once.

Narrator: next, the shooter Uses the gun's sight

To line up his target.

[ gunshots ]

♪♪

He hit the target Five out of five shots.

Narrator: In the rush to return fire,

It's likely no one takes The time to aim properly.

♪♪

And win believes basic chemistry

Can shed more light On why so many shots miss.

Ames: in 1881, the only powder Available was gunpowder,

Or what we call today Black powder.

Narrator: until the beginning Of the 20th century,

Most pistols use This chemical mixture.

Ames: this is black powder. This is an explosive.

What we want to show you Is what happens

By pouring a little gunpowder On this steel plate

And lighting it.

♪♪

-okay, guys. Ready? -ready.

One, two, three, go.

[ gunfire, metal pinging ]

♪♪

♪♪

That was 30 shots

In I'm gonna guess Less than 28 seconds.

Got a little smoke On that one, didn't it?

[ gunfire, metal pinging ]

Narrator: the shootout takes Place in a cloud of smoke.

Accurate aiming Is extremely difficult.

It's no longer a surprise

That four out of seven shooters Survived the short-range battle.

[ gun cocks ]

But it's the three cowboys Who die...

And the lawmen who emerge As gunfighting heroes.

They all survive.

Do the earps deserve Their legendary reputation?

Or do they just get lucky?

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: tombstone's Gunfight at the o.K. Corral.

Four lawmen, including Wyatt earp and doc holliday,

Shoot it out with six outlaws From the cowboy gang.

Three die -- all cowboys.

Do the lawmen Deserve their reputation

As legendary gunslingers?

♪♪

Of the 30 shots fired In the vacant lot,

Up to 7 hit the cowboys.

Three bullets strike Billy clanton.

They hit his wrist...

His stomach...

And, fatally, his heart.

Frank mclaury reportedly Gets hit in the stomach...

The chest...

And with a lethal shot To the brain.

Tom mclaury ends up On the wrong end

Of doc holliday's shotgun.

The buckshot blows A hand-sized hole in his chest,

Killing him instantly.

All the lawmen survive.

Is this due to luck Or great gunfighting?

♪♪

At this shooting range Near phoenix,

Win ames investigates Whether the lawmen deserve

Their great reputation.

A key factor in their favor Is their choice of weapon.

♪♪

Initially concealed In his long coat,

Doc holliday Is carrying a shotgun.

[ gunshots ]

Let's look at the difference In patterns.

This is a shotgun blast.

This is also a shotgun blast.

♪♪

Now, if we move over here To these other target,

These are revolver blasts.

That's why a lot of lawmen Carried shotguns --

Primarily because You can barely point it

In the right direction,

And the chances of hitting Your target are excellent.

Narrator: his choice of weapon Means doc holliday

Instantly kills Cowboy tom mclaury.

At the o.K. Corral, It was very tight quarters,

So a shotgun Was an excellent choice.

Narrator: three of the lawmen Are also shot,

But could the position Of their wounds be evidence

Of superior gunfighting skill?

Ames: morgan earp, For example, took a shot

That went between his Shoulder blade and the skin,

Past across his back, And out the other side.

Narrator: Morgan's unusual injury --

A single bullet through Both shoulder blades --

May be the result of A deliberate shooting posture.

He would have had His pistol forward...

And he would have had his Right foot forward, as well,

Which turns his body.

Now, at this point, his body Is gonna be at an angle

In such the bullet Would be at a straight angle

To come straight Across his back.

Narrator: a sideways stance Presents a smaller target,

Protecting vital organs.

♪♪

[ gunshots ]

♪♪

Thanks to a potentially Superior stance

And their better weapon choice, The lawmen emerge victorious.

♪♪

A month-long hearing Before a judge

Clears the earps Of any wrongdoing.

[ gavel bangs ]

But the cowboy gang Want revenge.

In december 1881,

They set up an ambush To kill virgil earp...

[ gunshots ]

...Who, miraculously, Survives his injuries.

[ indistinct shouting ]

In march 1882,

They shoot morgan earp In a tombstone saloon.

[ gunshot ]

Despite efforts to save him, He dies that evening.

Enraged by the shootings,

Wyatt earp kills Four cowboys in vengeance.

He then flees tombstone, Never to return.

♪♪

But does this end The violence in tombstone

And swap chaos for the stability The silver mine owners crave?

Researcher nancy sosa

Investigates what happens Immediately afterwards.

♪♪

Sosa: after wyatt's vendetta Ride for the assassination

Of his brother morgan,

The town needed To get back to normal.

They needed to represent

That they were a metropolis In the desert.

They needed the silver investors For the silver mines.

Narrator: this is The cochise county courthouse.

Its construction starts 10 months after the gunfight.

The grand brick structure Is a deliberate copy

Of imposing East coast buildings.

Sosa: the courthouse is Synonymous with law and order.

It showed how far Tombstone came as a community.

We went from being a village Of shacks and tents

To being adobe structures and Subsequently brick buildings.

♪♪

Narrator: the courthouse Symbolizes the end of an era.

Justice no longer comes From the barrel of a gun.

The cowboy gang breaks up.

Tombstone regains Stability and prosperity.

But can the town survive

A greater threat To its survival...

One that imperils the Money-making mines themselves?

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: Tombstone, arizona.

The gunfight Behind the o.K. Corral

Triggers the downfall Of the outlaw cowboy gang.

[ gunfire ]

The town's silver industry Thrives in the aftermath.

♪♪

But tombstone's population today

Is a fraction Of its early years.

Why?

Mining historian Robert davenport

Searches for clues In the old silver-mining area

South of the town.

What we're doing now Is we're opening up

Several of the other mines.

It's pretty neat being Down here and seeing things

That people haven't seen For decades

And in places where people Haven't been in decades.

Narrator: in the same year As the o.K. Corral gunfight,

Miners make A surprising discovery

In one of the deeper Mine shafts.

Davenport: matter of fact, They were clear down

To the 520-foot level.

They actually started Hitting water.

♪♪

Narrator: It starts as a trickle of water.

It's fantastic news, at first.

Water softens the rock, Making it easier to mine.

But a trickle Turns into a flood.

Davenport: Water starts slowly coming up.

Well, then they realize that They had hit a water table

And they were gonna Have to do something with it.

Narrator: To keep the money flowing,

Mine owners order Two giant pumps.

Each extracts half a million Gallons of water every day.

The pumps work 24/7, Keeping tombstone's mines dry...

♪♪

...And allowing miners To dig deeper and deeper.

♪♪

The mine owners even find a way

To turn the water Into greater profit.

North of tombstone Lies superstition mountain,

Home to an historic Mega machine.

♪♪

Grieger: This is a 20-stamp mill.

The purpose of a stamp mill Is to crush ore

So that we can get at The precious minerals

Trapped inside that ore, To refine it further.

Everything on here Is heavy and dangerous.

Narrator: ken grieger's team Has rebuilt this mill

To a working state.

♪♪

He knows how vital water is To this monster machine.

[ machinery clanking ]

♪♪

As soon as the mill Is up and running,

Water flushes over silver ore As it's being crushed.

♪♪

[ shouting] The stamp will Crush it until it's ready,

And then the water will push it Out of the mortar box

Into our collection trough.

Narrator: after the stamps, Chemicals and heat

Separate out The precious silver.

Grieger: [ normal voice ] Water was very important,

Not only in operating The machine,

But in operating The power source,

Which was a wood-fired Steam engine.

They needed water to, Of course, feed the boiler

To keep this machine running.

♪♪

Narrator: Processing a ton of ore

Requires over 1,000 gallons Of water.

♪♪

So, when water Is discovered in tombstone,

Plans are made to build stamp Mills right beside the mines.

♪♪

But disaster strikes.

In may 1886, A fire starts above a mineshaft.

It quickly spreads,

Setting alight A steam engine and hoist

And destroying The huge water pump.

♪♪

With the city Illuminated by flame,

The residents of tombstone Can only watch

As fire consumes the most Productive mine in the area.

♪♪

But then another disaster.

In 1900, the u.S. Government

Stops using silver As a form of currency.

♪♪

The metal's value plummets.

♪♪

Thousands leave the boom town.

They had to shut down the mines,

And that pretty much Shut down tombstone.

Narrator: to this day, The mines lie dormant,

But current estimates suggest

Two-thirds of tombstone's silver

Still lies untapped Beneath the ground.

♪♪

Davenport: tombstone Is still sitting on silver.

Silver was used for a lot Of things back in the day,

But today it's used for Electronics, used for medicine,

Used for many different things.

And what can it be used for In the future?

We don't know, but tombstone's Sitting on the silver.

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Narrator: this sleepy town Lies waiting for a chance

To recapture the wealth and buzz Of its wild west days.

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Until then, tombstone, The town too tough to die,

Holds a powerful place In america's history --

A boom town built on silver

And home of the shootout At the o.K. Corral,

The most famous 30 seconds In the wild west.

--captions by vitac-- Www.Vitac.Com

Captions paid for by Discovery communications

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