Arizona weekly citizen., 1894-09-01
TOMBSTONE. Its Hills Ribbed with a Royal Metal.
 ITS DECADENCE.
ITS DECADENCE.
Houses and Mines Abandon ed. Its hope in the res
 tOratiOn of Silver.

UUIdGlUu LII NllVGIs Out on the hills of CochIse county,
 far back from civilization, in a desolate
 and unlikely site for such, they built 6
 town. They called it Tombstone. Ii sprang up marvelously quick, of cabins and saloons, with miners and saloon keepers f0r inhabitants. Better build ings cana, and greater variety of citizens. A city it was, of quick wealth | life and death.
 | Silver was then royal metal, good for ills weight in the coin of the realm The town found its supper: in the prodnct of the veins of silver about. | Those silver ribs of the hills were daily attacked. Hoists went up, and mills to work the output. Dumps of earth fresh from underground were piled on the surface. Corresponding caverns were | dug out, in the search for the wkite metal. Men prospered and were glad. | Tom bstone was what they turned good | camp. Cabins were followed by houses | of greater pretensions, and detached l saloons gave way to blocks of stores. Families followed the route and hearty | men. Daily the town broadened. The rough hill was dotted with buildings | then almost covered. Trees were plant | ed, and lawns made. Tombstone be- came handsome town, in Its rough way. And what it lacked in beauty it
 made up in solid prosperity.
 Under and about the town is where much of the silver that today jingles in | our pockets had its birth. In Tomb stone some of 1t first saw the day. Ther | came sad day. The ribs of silver had | been too extensive, and greedy men had | picked too much therefrom. In connect ion with other such deposits it produc- ed too much silver-so men said.
 Then came an evil day for the town. Silver was no longer a royal metal, no | longer good for its weight in the coin of | the realm.
 TOMBSTONE TODAY.
 of greater pretensions tenantless. Blocks, whole blocks of soloous and stores of considerable magnitude for c. Crystal Palace, "''Fashion" and dozens of other high flown terms that are now only name. Worn deep on the door, steps they are, and the floors, and at the l resorts on the posts and on the door castings, where myrials of feet have been perched ID comfortable posture. Trees hold their gaunt arms to the mountain | winds. Lawns have gone back to the har deep on the beams and machinery of l the hoists and mills. The roofs leak, unheeded. The great dumps of waste, only part Of what the earth has been made to give up, have been unchanged for years. The mines, great caverns, give back hollow dismal echoes. The sole wanderers in the depths are grew some, erie bats.
 Tombstone has had a great decline. When silver dropped, cent by cent, profits became less and less, and finally ceased. Men became dlsgusted. The mlners went first and made for gold and copper camps. They wanted none of the once useful silver. Then the saloon men and the merchants followed. It was great exodus, and steady one. Of course Tombstone yet has life. Fifty miners, plucky lucky ones, still hold on, of the thousand once there. They bear out the old fetish O the town, which was to be first class, and that the best was none too good. In fact they are bearing it out emphatically. The restaurants and saloons and stores have the best locations in town, and the rent, l dare say, is very nominal indeed. The best residences are yet occupied.
 The people of Tombstone are the best. They are big and broad. They live well, and still earn and demand good pay. One saloon reduced the price of drinks from a bit to ten cents, but 1 cannot see that it sells any more than the bit-a- drink places.
 The restaurants are good, and no cheap Chinese ''lestalant" infests the town. The merchants get good prices. The people pay thelr bills in a sturdy, pleasing fashion and they have the money to pay them with.
 In Tombstone they are naturally very anxious for the restoration of silver. But they are philosophic about it's re- turn, and make the best of the present. The mines have as much good ore, prac- tically, as they ever had. There is enough to keep the town lively for years to come. Five hundred miners would be employed with with silver at 90 cents or S1 an ounce.
 It needs no prophet to foretell for Tombstone, should the white metal re- main dethroned. The ore at the Tough nut that pays to work at 65 cents cannot last. Then the end must come. The remaining miners must go. The nails ln the frame buildings will come loose and the structures will fall about them selves The adobes will crack and crumble. Or perhaps great fire will lick the old town clean. Or 1t may be torn down for old lumber, and hauled off piecemeal. The trees will all die. Old earth will clam her own again, and the mines made with such infinite skill and toll will crunch and settle and be no more.
 Tombstone has practically only one hope-the restoration of silver. Other wise it will itself be true to its name, and become at last tombstone to the dead metal. P. H.
 Union Park Notes.
 The directors of the Union track are having their programme upset consider ably by the unforeseen casualties to