History of Tombstone

In 1877, Schieffelin used Brunckow's Cabin as a base of operations to survey the country. After many months, while working the hills east of the San Pedro River, he found pieces of silver ore in a dry wash on a high plateau called Goose Flats. It took him several more months to find the source. When he located the vein, he estimated it to be fifty feet long and twelve inches wide. Schieffelin's legal mining claim was sited near Lenox's grave site, and on September 21, 1877, Schieffelin filed his first claim and fittingly named his stake Tombstone.

When the first claims were filed, the initial settlement of tents and cabins was located at Watervale, near the Lucky Cuss mine. Former Territorial Governor Anson P.K. Safford offered financial backing for a share of the mining claim, and Schieffelin, his brother Al, and their partner Richard Gird formed the Tombstone Mining and Milling Company and built a stamping mill. When the mill was being built, U.S. Deputy Mineral Surveyor Solon M. Allis finished surveying the new town's site, which was revealed on March 5, 1879, to an eager public. The tents and shacks near the Lucky Cuss were moved to the new town site on Goose Flats, a mesa above the Toughnut 4,539 feet (1,383 m) above sea level and large enough to hold a growing town. Lots were immediately sold on Allen Street for $5.00 each. The town soon had some 40 cabins and about 100 residents. By fall 1879, a few thousand hardy souls were living in a canvas and matchstick camp perched amidst the richest silver strike in the Arizona Territory.

At the town's founding in March 1879, it took its name from Schieffelin's initial mining claim. Consisting mostly of wooden shacks and tents, it had a population of 100. When Cochise County was formed from the eastern portion of Pima County on February 1,