BOOK REVIEW — Ed Schieffelin: one lucky cuss

.BREVIEWED BY JOHN CUMMING

Destination Tombstone: Adventures of a Prospector

by Edward Schieffelin; compiled by Marilyn Butler;

US$14.95, Available from Royal Spectrum Publishing,

2562 E. Evergreen, Mesa, Ariz. 85213

Destination Tombstone: Adventures of a Prospector tells of the hardships, dangers and pleasures experienced by Edward Schieffelin, a prospector living in the American frontier during the late 1800s.

Schieffelin’s most notable accomplishment was the discovery of silver mines in Arizona in 1877 and the subsequent foundation of”the town too tough to die” — Tombstone, a place entrenched in American mythology for its OK Corral shootout.

As he was making the discovery, which was near Tombstone, Schieffelin was broke and hungry, not having even enough money to buy paper for claim notices. He rounded up his brother Al, a miner, and Dick Gird, an assayer, and together they developed the Lucky Cuss, Toughnut and Contention silver deposits. The two brothers later sold their interests in the mines, pocketing US$600,000 each.

Schieffelin tells how he came to name his first mine:”During that time, I would take trips through the country, notwithstanding the warnings I received from the soldiers of the danger of going alone, and on my return would ask if I had found anything, which I had not. You will,’ they would say. You’ll find your tombstone if you don’t stop running through this country all alone as you are while the Indians are so bad.’ The remarks being made often impressed the name on my mind, so much so that the first mine of any importance that I found, I called it Tombstone.'”

Schieffelin’s writing is direct, unaffected and seasoned with a folksy sense of humor. To the credit of compiler Marilyn Butler (Schieffelin’s great-granddaughter), the conversational tone of his words — along with his grammatical errors — are left intact, giving the work an authentic flavor reminiscent of a Mark Twain novel.

In addition to prospecting stories, Schieffelin tells of his encounters with wildlife, various prospectors and cattlemen, apostate Mormons, as well as both friendly and hostile Indians. Particularly memorable is his account of a prospecting expedition up the Grand Canyon, a journey that would claim the life of one of his companions.

The memoirs are complemented by sample pages from the original text, relevant maps from the era, several evocative daguerreotypes of Schieffelin, as well as three interviews published in the San Francisco Chronicle during the 1880s.

Although Schieffelin struck it rich in Tombstone, he continued prospecting and, in 1883, orchestrated an elaborate voyage to virgin territory in newly purchased Alaska. He and his party sailed from San Francisco to the Alaskan coast by schooner and then navigated up the Yukon River by steamboat.

However, conditions were harsh and no discoveries of significance were made.

Schieffelin returned south, married a widowed actress he met in Pennsylvania, and settled in California.

He died alone on a prospecting trip to Oregon in 1897. In his will, Schieffelin requested he be buried on the outskirts of Tombstone, dressed in his prospector’s clothes — replete with pick and canteen — in a grave marked by a tombstone resembling a mining claim monument.

Schieffelin’s compelling memoirs are recommended to anyone looking for a glimpse into a prospector’s gritty life during the opening of the American West.