March 2005 In an impromptu gathering, a group of friend that regularly meet during FOT in November, got together for some Tombstone traipsing. The intinerary included a hike to Contention, a trip to Sulphur Springs Valley to search for the McLaury Ranch, and of course, whooping it up in town. |
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| The first night in town was spent listening to Cowboy Karaoke at Big Nose Kate's (they did karaoke in the old day's, right?) |
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| New friends and old friends got together and enjoyed some good (and some otherwise) singing. BJ, of course was in prime form doing the Arizona Two-Step with all women responding to his yahhooos! |
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| A late-night walk became a lively talk at the site of the Streetfight. Tombstone resident and author of "Wyatt Earp: The Biography", Tim Fattig fielded questions of varied aspects of Tombstone history. |
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| Our planned hike, an eight mile round trip hike to the site of the mining town of Contention, at first sounded like a repeat of BJ's Fairbank to Charleston Death-March of last FOT. Parking at Fairbank, Bill pulled his topo map and BJ pulled the infamous 1881 Curly Bill treasure map for comparison. The path started in heavy mesquite but soon opened up into rocky hills. |
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| The first ruins we encountered was a shoring section of the old railway. Bill's 16 years old son, David, couldn't resist scrambling up the wall in mere minutes and finished off with 12 foot leap. |
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| About half way to Contention, we came to a large wash that wound it's way to the San Pedro River. While rain was threatened from the night before, we were graced with almost perfect hiking weather the entire day. |
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| A point of interest along the San Pedro was a tram with the cart stuck in the middle. Bill was hard-put convincing his son that he couldn't shimmy across the wire in order to reach the cart. Another was the gnarled old growth cottonwoods bordering the river. As we continued, the San Pedro wound through a quickly narrowing canyon. |
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| Gaining altitude provided a sweeping view of the San Pedro Riparian, The Babocomari Valley and Whetstone Mountains beyond. |
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| Coming up to the old rail line again provided opportunity to do a little rock climbing with a grandiose view and a great spot for a lunch break. |
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| Only a few crumbling adobe wall make up what's left of Contention. A mill town that served Tombstone, Contention was established in 1880 and lasted about ten years. After flooding ruined the mining in the area, Contention quickly dried upand faded into history. |
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| After a break at Contention, we started back. Any chance he could get, David was climbing something. All us old codgers tried not to look too envious. |
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| The wash was a welcome sight, signalling the halfway point of the hike back. At a rest stop by some foundry ruins, we found hundreds of old bricks. Some were marked "Cal Clay M. Co. Los Angeles." At the last major turn-off of the trail back, makers were laid for the last of the group that only the most expert of desert trackers could read. |
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