In 1926, Wyatt Earp wrote his autobiography with a friend, John Flood. In it Earp recalled using a telephone in Tombstone (taking a call from Benson), on March 15, 1881. Although a phone system was being discussed for Tombstone in April of 1881, by the end of the year the lines only connected the major mines around Tombstone and a few locations in town like the Tombstone Stock Exchange. In spite of this, it’s interesting that Wyatt would remember using a telephone in Tombstone. It totally jars

April 2004
In This Issue:
Western Books & Movies
More In This Issue
- Hat Tricks
- The Bull and the Backpacker
- Trading Post Profiles
- Before Manifest Destiny
- Appaloosa Trading Company
- Bug-Eyed at the Buckhorn
- Sarah Winnemucca
- Keepin’ Them Dogies Rollin’ . . .
- I Shot the Sheriff (and I Killed a Deputy, Too)
- Gettin’ Along on the Texas/Chisholm Trail
- The Unfinished Line
- Branded by the Land
- Appaloosa Trading Company
- Buffalo Bill’s Irma Hotel
- Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition
- Do you know the story about a Texas cattle rancher who killed a rustler and tied him to a steer?
- Who was John B. Allen, for whom Allen Street in Tombstone is named?
- In the film Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, Bob Dylan played the character Alias. Was he a real person or fictitious? In An Authentic Life of Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett claims the Kid rode to Fort Bowie with a pal called Alias.
- Which was the best mountain man weapon, the flintlock rifle or the percussion cap?
- Fill Your Hand