Tombstone Silver Newsletter
March 2026
Issue 1 — March 15, 2026
Welcome to the first issue of the Tombstone Silver newsletter. This month, we look at the labor war that nearly shut down Tombstone's silver mines in 1884, highlight the newest article on the site, and share a Did You Know story about the fire that changed the town's fortunes forever.
History
When the Miners Walked Out: Tombstone's Strike of 1884
By 1884, Tombstone had been pulling silver from the earth for just six years, yet the district had already produced $25 million worth of bullion. More than 3,000 mining claims had been filed, the stamps were running around the clock, and the town had grown into a genuine city. It was, by every measure, a bonanza.
Then, on May 1, 1884, everything stopped.
The mine owners announced they were cutting the standard miner's wage from four dollars a day to three. The miners refused. Four dollars was what bricklayers, carpenters, and masons earned above ground, but mining was far more dangerous. Underground, a miner could drown from a sudden rush of water, be buried in a cave-in, or be overcome by fumes after a charge went off. These men had earned the nickname "Toughnut" for their work in hard rock, and they were not inclined to accept a 25-percent pay cut without a fight.
A union formed almost immediately, and word traveled fast across the mining West. Unions in Bodie, California and Virginia City, Nevada sent funds to the Tombstone men so they could hold out. The mine owners argued they couldn't afford the higher wage until the floodwater was pumped from the lower levels. That argument was difficult to accept: a large body of ore still lay above the water line, and the mines were far from exhausted.
George Parsons, whose journal is one of the most detailed records of life in Tombstone, was among the guards posted at the mines during the strike. Day and night, volunteers watched to ensure no one damaged the equipment or the shafts. The standoff stretched on for nearly four months. In the end, the union dissolved and the men went back to work at the reduced wage. It was a defeat for the workers, but the strike revealed something important: Tombstone was not just a lawless frontier camp. It was a place where working men organized, where labor solidarity crossed state lines, and where the same conflicts reshaping industrial America were playing out beneath the desert floor.
Source: Monahan, Sherry A. Tombstone's Treasure: Silver Mines and Golden Saloons. University of New Mexico Press, 2007, p. 47.
New on the Site
Recently Published
- The Fourth of July in Tombstone — From a 3 a.m. Giant powder salute in 1880 to a 42-gun sunrise salute and Grand Ball by 1890, Tombstone celebrated Independence Day with growing civic pride.
- Nellie Cashman: The Miner's Angel — One of Tombstone's most remarkable figures, Nellie was a philanthropist, businesswoman, and dedicated miner who followed gold and silver rushes across North America for more than fifty years.
Did You Know?
The Night the Grand Central Burned
At 11:00 p.m. on May 26, 1886, fire broke out in the engine room of the Grand Central mine. Twenty-five men were underground when the alarm sounded, and all reached safety. But the hoisting works were destroyed within hours, along with pumping machinery that had cost $175,000 to install just two years earlier.
Without those pumps, the lower levels of the district's richest mines would flood. Days after the fire, foreman Charley Leach went back down to assess the damage and was overcome by noxious fumes. Townspeople raced to the mine when he didn't return; Doctors Goodfellow and Willis rushed to the scene. Leach and his men survived, but the Grand Central never fully recovered. The fire had not destroyed a building so much as it had knocked the floor out from under Tombstone's silver industry at the worst possible moment.
Source: Monahan, Sherry A. Tombstone's Treasure: Silver Mines and Golden Saloons. University of New Mexico Press, 2007, p. 60.
Until next month, keep digging up Tombstone's past.
George Self