A tour that took us deep into western history and deeper into a copper mine

The USS Cogswell POW-MIA table

Today we lived vicariously. First we lived vicariously as copper miners and next we were witnesses to a re-creation of perhaps the most famous western gunfight in history.

As part of my Navy reunion Joan and I signed up for all the tours with today’s offerings taking us south (within five miles of the Mexican border at one point) to Bisbee, Arizona and the legendary Tombstone, Arizona, the site of the famous and often inaccurately portrayed “Gunfight at the OK Corral.”

To catch the bus Joan and I had to get up real early, like 5:30 a.m. We headed to Hotel Arizona early to avoid any commute traffic and boarded the beautiful tour bus about 7:45 a.m. for the 90-minute trip to Bisbee.

The Cogswell Miner's

As I sat on the bus looking around at my former shipmates it hit me how so many of them have aged. How can it be that they look so old and yet I know I haven’t gotten any older?  Seriously, it is a little sobering to realize that the people you knew in your youth have suddenly become elderly, as have I.

On the other hand, it is comforting to know that the associations and connections you made in your youth can survive the rapid passage of time and distance. There are 85 people at the reunion and they come from all corners of the country. The only thing we have in common is that we all once served on the same floating bathtub.

Joan and her miner's outfit

We all shared common experiences in three wars, World War II, Korea and The Vietnam War. We all knew hardship, separation from family and loved ones, but we also shared a common purpose and the satisfaction of being a member of a team.

One of the recent traditions of our reunions is the POW-MIA table that remains a centerpiece of our hospitality room. The table is set for one, but is never used. It symbolizes those who are missing, either by hostile action or the advance of years. It is also a remembrance for those whose fate is not known.

But let’s get back on the bus. We cruised to Brisbee first, passing through Tombstone which created some momentary fun when the tour director asked us as we entered, passed through and left Tombstone in about 3 minutes, if we had enjoyed our tour of the famous city.

We had a 10:30 a.m. copper mine tour scheduled in Bisbee which is the reason we passed through Tombstone without stopping.

Miner Jim

Just outside Bisbee the bus went through a quarter-mile mountain tunnel and the tour director quipped “Did you like the mine tour?”

Eventually we arrived at the Queen Mine, one of a number of copper and silver mines in the southern Arizona area, but one that has not been mined for about 40 years. Instead of copper and silver, the mine has become an attraction for tourists who can ride the same rails as the former miners and visit the bowels of a real mine.

Only 16 of the 53 folks on the tour bus had signed up for the mine tour and we were dropped off first, while the rest of the group was driven to downtown Bisbee to explore that place.

Once inside the mine building we were outfitted with yellow raincoats, hard hats and a utility belt with a battery pack that powered a small flashlight.

Heading 1,600-feet inside a mountain

Then we mounted the narrow gauge cars and tram that would take us 1,600-feet into the center of a mountain. Our tour guide was once a miner in a nearby copper mine and was very informative.

Looking at the 80-year-old wooden timbers and rusted hardware that held things together you had to marvel at the work that went into boring into the mountain at a time when there were few of the powerful tools and safety devices that were available later in history.

At one point deep in the mine, our guide told all of us to switch off our flashlights so we could appreciate the absolute darkness that we were in.  Before the battery packs, miners used candles which produced even less light than the flashlights.

The one-hour tour ended and we rejoined our shipmates on the bus for the real trip to Tombstone.

Timbers that are 80-years-old

The half hour drive back to Tombstone brought us into the famous western town about high noon. (Couldn’t resist).

Our tour guide turned us loose for a four-hour visit to the five block area that has a reputation as “The Town Too Tough to Die.”

Tombstone has survived major fires, the loss of its position as county seat and its reputation as a lawless village to the tourist trap that it is today.

And trap it was, and it caught us several times. We signed on for the 2 p.m. re-creation of the famous “Gunfight at OK Corral,” the “Historama” and a tour of “The Bird Cage Theater,” the one remaining original structure from the time of the gunfight in the early 1880s.

OK Corral set

The gunfight has been romanticized in movies and literature, but much of the information is fantasy and what isn’t fantasy remains in dispute.

I’m not going into a long dissertation about the gunfight, because most people have heard or seen movies about it, but the small troupe of actors did a credible job of laying out the circumstances of the day that led to the fatal shooting of three men.

Doc Holliday and the Earps

My favorite actors were the man who played Doc Holliday, Wyatt Earp and Ike Clanton. After the gunfight we stopped at the local Harley-Davidson shop for some photos and then after the Bird Cage tour, which included a visit to the rooms where the ladies of “ill fame” operated we climbed back aboard the tour bus for our return back to Hotel Arizona.

Once back at the hotel I talked to a few more shipmates about the biography project and then Joan and I returned to the trailer for dinner and an early bedtime as we have to get up early again tomorrow for Tour II.

Unfortunately all the photos I took inside "The Bird Cage Museum cannot be used publicly, even on a blog.

The museum was OK with shooting interior photos for personal use, but warned that they did not approve of any other public use of the photos. So I will honor that by not running the photos here. I will say that they had some very vintage furniture, supposedly original to the Bird Cage Theater with representations that Doc Holliday had played cards on the gaming table on display, etc.

We did enjoy the museum tour and were impressed that much of the original wall coverings had been preserved under plexiglass.

I am using the photo we took outside the museum as that is in the public domain.