Tourism in Tombstone Gets That Sinking Feeling

It was a mine that gave birth to this “town too tough to die.” When the mines played out, tourism kept Tombstone alive.

Now an abandoned mine under one of the old town’s most popular thoroughfares is threatening that mother lode, though it isn’t clear whether the greater danger is from the chance of a cave-in or overblown publicity.

“Someone in Mesa called, wanting to know if there’s a back road into town because she heard the town had been closed,” Phyllis Jeffries said as she sat in the Rose Tree Museum. “The whole town is being hurt by it, and there’s no reason for it, really. There’s no danger.”

Business has been down in Tombstone since news broke last month that an enlarged mine room--known as a stope--was collapsing beneath a section of Toughnut Street. State mine officials say the stope could cave in at any time. City officials say the threat is exaggerated.

One block of the street is barred by “road closed” signs, and the sagging area is surrounded by orange fencing. If it weren’t for that, visitors would have to look hard to find the affected area, a patch about 60 feet in diameter.

Toughnut Street is one block south of Allen Street, the principal tourist attraction in Tombstone, which calls itself “The Town too Tough to Die” and is best known for Wyatt Earp’s 30-second gunfight at the OK Corral in 1881.

On Allen Street one recent Friday, it was tough to find a visitor who knew about the sinking street nearby.

“Oh, really? Didn’t hear a word,” said Denise McAllister, who was visiting with her family from Chandler.

But Jeffries knows all too well. At this time of year, she usually greets about 60 people a day who pay $2 to see what the Guinness Book of Records calls the world’s largest rosebush. The museum happens to be located nearly above the stope.

On the previous day, she had had just six customers.

“Business this week has been horrible,” she said.

It’s true all around town, said Robert Devere, president of the Tombstone Chamber of Commerce. He said business was down at least 50%, and Cochise County has hired a public relations firm to try to reverse the trend.

“We’re getting calls from people who think they can’t get in,” said Devere, who runs the Territorial Book Trader.

At the Nellie Cashman Restaurant, which borders on Toughnut Street, fewer than half of the 50 seats were filled at lunchtime. Co-owner Anita Skinner estimated she lost a couple thousand dollars over three days the previous weekend. She says reporters are blowing the situation out of proportion.

“It’s a dirty shame,” she said. “It has kept people from coming to Tombstone.”

The owner of the mine, Tombstone Development Co., has been ordered by the state to make the area safe, which could include filling in the collapsing room or putting a permanent fence around the site.

Alex Gradillas, Tombstone’s public works director, said the only thing that could fall into the stope is a wall.

Tourist Russell Bilodeau of Torrance, Calif., said he knew about the sinking patch but wasn’t concerned as he picnicked with his family in a park near the OK Corral.

“I heard about it,” he said, “but the whole town’s not going to sink.”