Tombstone's Treasure

Book excerpt: Sherry Monahan is an authority on "the city that wouldn't die" and its history. In Tombstone's Treasure, she focuses on the silver mines, one reason for the city's founding, and the saloons, the other reason the city grew so quickly. When the discovery of silver at Tombstone first became known in mid-1880, there were about twenty-six saloons and breweries. By July of the following year, the number of saloons in Tombstone had doubled. The most popular saloon games of the time were faro, monte, and poker, with some offering keno, roulette, and twenty-one. Monahan shares true tales about Tombstone's mining and gambling history and describes a different time and locale where wealthy businesspeople and rugged miners rubbed elbows at the bar and gambled side by side. It is both shocking and enlightening to learn just how sophisticated Tombstone really was when the Earps, Doc Holliday, Johnny Ringo, and Curly Bill strode the boardwalks. Tombstone actually had telephones, ice cream parlors, coffee shops, a bowling alley, and a swimming pool. Wow! It is so contrary to the Hollywood version of the town . . . but it's absolutely true."--from the Foreword by Bob Boze Bell Read Sherry Monahan's interview on AMC on the Wild West and the film Wild Bill