After The Boom In Tombstone And Jerome, Arizona: Decline In Western Resource Towns

3. This Ill-Omened City

Tombstone’s problem at Wrst appeared to be its salvation. When miners struck water at 520 feet in the Sulphuret Mine at the end of March 1881, the Tombstone Epitaph rejoiced, “Here’s Richness.” Tombstone’s groundwater could be pumped to the surface and used in local stamp mills, which would end having to haul ore nine miles to the San Pedro River for milling, an operation that cost the mining companies around $3.50 a ton.1 Each in its turn, other mines in the district sank shafts below the 500-foot level and struck water. Early predictions about the beneWcial nature of this water seemed correct. The Girard company quickly erected a twenty-stamp mill in Tombstone that used mine water to treat its ores, and 1882 was Tombstone’s most productive year. But by the spring of 1883, it began to become apparent that Tombstone’s mines suVered from too much of a good thing. At the beginning of May 1883, the Grand Central’s management announced that the mine would suspend operations because of a renewed Xow of water.2 In order for development to proceed, mining companies would have to undertake large-scale pumping of the underground reservoir beneath Tombstone. This scenario did not seem particularly ominous chapter three This Ill-Omened City at Wrst because rumor had it that the ores below the water table were richer than those already developed above. If true, that would mean bonanza indeed, one that mining companies would spare no expense to unearth. In the spring of 1883 the Grand Central, the Wrst mine to attack the problem, installed steam pumps capable of lifting Wve hundred thousand gallons of water a day. These succeeded in lowering the water level somewhat, not only in the Grand Central but also in adjacent mines. After witnessing this success, directors of the Contention spent $150,000 installing twelve-inch Cornish pumps capable of lifting one million gallons of water a day. A Tombstone correspondent to This Ill-Omened City 71 Fig. 3.1. Workers load sacks of ore into mule-drawn wagons at a Tombstone mine in the early 1880s. Tombstone’s dry location and its lack of a railroad meant that ore had to be hauled by wagon nine miles to the San Pedro River. Throughout its early history, boosters of the district sought to lower its production costs by acquiring a railroad. (Arizona Historical Society, Tucson, #44692) the Arizona Weekly Citizen informed its readers in June 1883 that there could be no doubt that the pumps of the Grand Central and the Contention would remove all of the water from the mines in the vicinity.3 Much to the chagrin of boosters and investors, these newest pumps also failed to solve the problem. By mid-February 1884 the Tombstone Republican admitted that “the pumps in the Tombstone mines have not yet overcome the water, and it may be that the moving capacity will have to be increased before the water question is fully settled .” Neither the Republican’s editor nor the mines’ managers would yet concede that this was anything but a temporary setback. The Grand Central proceeded to spend another $200,000 installing a set of fourteen-inch Cornish pumps with a capacity of one and one-half 72 After the Boom in Tombstone and Jerome Fig. 3.2. This giant walking-beam pump engine was installed at the Grand Central Mine in 1885 to try to remove the water encountered in the district below the Wve hundred–foot level. (Arizona Historical Society, Tucson, #7151) million gallons a day. The Republican reported in March 1884 that $500,000 would be invested in pumps in the district in the next few months.4 Editors and mining men assured the public that each improvement in pumping capacity solved the water problem, but the deeper shafting undertaken after each improvement revealed that the problem remained. Although the Republican’s editor had claimed at the end of 1883 that “the crisis has passed, and Tombstone as a permanent mining center feels conWdent of a great future,” outsiders not as jealous of Tombstone’s reputation as the bonanza camp of the Southwest were less certain of the town’s prospects. A writer for the Arizona Mining Index of Tucson concluded at the same time that “if rich ore is found below the water level . . . the permanence of the district will be established...