Contention City was an Arizona boom town that soon went bust.
Founded in 1879, about 10 miles outside Tombstone, the place had possibilities. It had water and a railroad depot (which Tombstone didn’t). It also had trouble. In March 1881, the Benson state was robbed just outside town. In 1887, a shootout between lawmen John Slaughter and Jeff Milton and members of the Jack Taylor Gang left two dead outlaws.
But Contention was gone by 1890, a victim of closed mines and services available in other towns.
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