Old Tucson…
It’s a rainy day at
the RV Park today so a perfect day to write the blog. A few days ago, Jim and Helene, friends from Castlegar
who are visiting the Tucson area for the winter went with us to Old Tucson. It was a perfect day to visit this famous tourist
attraction as the weather was warm but not hot and it wasn’t crowded.
We got there just in
time to hear part of the Traveling Medicine Show…a fellow trying to sell elixirs
and potions to cure all your illnesses. He
was pretty entertaining in a slap-stick kind of way.
We walked on through the town past the old schoolhouse which
was very interesting. I can’t imagine
going to school in an old adobe building like this one but I guess some
students did.
Further on down the
road we came to The Grand Palace Hotel and Saloon. Inside we watched a film tribute to Marion
Morrison, aka, John Wayne. If you are a
western movie buff, you might recognize this hotel from some of those movies. John Wayne was a very important part of the
Old Tucson history. At one point in his
career he was looking for a location to make movies and offered to build more
old time buildings in what was at that time only a small cluster of buildings. He ended up making many movies here…Rio
Bravo, McLintock, and many others.
On a personal note,
there has always been rumours in my family that John Wayne was related to us
since our family name is Morrison…it’s possible...who am I to dispel a rumour
so intriguing.
Another landmark you
might remember from cowboy movies is the Mission at Old Tucson. It really is a neat looking building. I remember this from the movie Three Amigos
when they rode into what was supposed to be a Mexican village and met with the villagers
in front of the Mission.
Many other tv shows
were shot at Old Tucson…The High Chaparral, Big Valley and parts of many other
shows like Bonanza and Little House on the Prairie were shot in Old Tucson. Not only were there all sorts of buildings to wander
through here, but also a museum of movie history. The clothing belonging to many movie stars is
displayed in this museum along with movie posters, newspaper clippings, stories
and photos. It was really interesting. The clothing in this picture belongs to Hoss
and Ben Cartwright.
We took a fun little
train ride all around old Tucson…we were able to see all sorts of interesting
sites from that vantage point. There was
an old still hidden out in the desert with great old jugs and bottles arranged
around it. A couple of covered wagons
that looked like they were on their last legs…and the road to Rattlesnake Mine!
The story that follows may or may not be true…the names have
been eliminated to protect the innocent…of which there were none!
In the spirit of
the old west, I now want to tell you a story about a crime of dangerous
proportions committed in the year 1876. A couple of murderous female outlaws robbed a
bank at gunpoint! To make their escape easy
they had hitched two horses to a post outside the bank. One of
the horses, scared by gunfire, had gotten loose and galloped off down the road,
so the shorter of the two robbers grabbed another horse from outside the
saloon. Unbeknownst to her, that horse
was the sheriff’s favourite pinto pony.
The sheriff formed a posse immediately, tracked down the culprits and
threw them both in jail. As you can see
from the picture, the shorter bank robber showed no remorse whatsoever! This drove the Sheriff to take justice into
his own hands and shoot the horse thief before they could bring her to
trial. The body was put on display as
was the custom at the time. One might
say that this particular horse thief died with a smile on her face. What became of the other bank robber, nobody
knows. It is known that she escaped the
hangman’s noose at the last minute and fled through the desert. Some say she ran all the way to Canada and
worked at a College until she retired and began to travel. In her travels it is said she would often
visit Old Tucson and the scene of the crime committed all those years ago!
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