Pages

▼

Monday, November 28, 2011

Which Way to the O.K. Corral?

Over Thanksgiving I found a street map of Tombstone, Arizona, I got on a visit several years ago.  I had the thought of scanning it, but its too large for my scanner.  I did find this decent stand-in online and a map of Old West Deadwood as well.  Next time a black hat in a Wild West game tells a PC "this town ain't big enough for the both of us" these ought to be helpful in determining the veracity of that statement.  They might have a use in other settings, as well.

Tombstone was a silver mining town, though it is, of course, most famous as the site of the O.K. Corral where the gunfight took place in 1881.  Much of historic Tombstone remains to this day, though wikipedia notes the National Park Service as taken the town to task for having a lax approach to historic preservation.

Deadwood, South Dakota, also trades on its historic past.  That and gambling seem to be the town's primary sources of revenue.  Thanks to several fires over the decades, less of Old West Deadwood remains than of Tombstone.  The graves of Wild Bill Hickok, "Calamity" Jane, and Seth Bullock can still be found in the cemetery on Mt. Moriah, however.

Tombstone:

Deadwood:
at

16 comments:

  1. Gothridge ManorNovember 28, 2011 at 7:42 AM

    Very cool maps Trey. Really like the Deadwood map style. Thanks for sharing these.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Chris C.November 28, 2011 at 7:51 AM

    These are excellent. The Deadwood map seems to really give a sense of the size and layout of the town at the time.

    ReplyDelete
  3. DesdichadoNovember 28, 2011 at 9:45 AM

    If you're ever in the neighborhood, which would be unlikely because it's in the middle of nowhere, I also highly recommend a visit to historical Bannack, MT, the former territorial capital and now preserved state historical park. It's a bit south of Helena, and we passed through it on our way from the Tetons to Glacier National Park last summer.

    ReplyDelete
  4. bliss_infinteNovember 28, 2011 at 10:23 AM

    If you're ever in Arizona it's worth checking out Tombstone. It's not far from Tucson and it's quite a blast. They have a number of events throughout the year including Wyat Earp Days which is full of decked out cowboys and ladies (it's like that all year 'round actually) and plenty of enactments. A ton of fun shops and history too. A must stop for any western fan.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sean RobsonNovember 28, 2011 at 11:46 AM

    Great maps, Trey! I'm a big fan of the Deadwood T.V. series, and I did my doctoral fieldwork in the Black Hills, so I spent a lot of time in and around Deadwood.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Chris KutalikNovember 28, 2011 at 1:40 PM

    A good map can inspire me as much as any picture or essay and these certainly work for me.

    I remember on some forum a discussion about a fantasy Deadwood as some kind of boom camp over a megadungeon. It's a compelling image that I wouldn't mind exploring sometime.

    ReplyDelete
  7. TreyNovember 28, 2011 at 2:45 PM

    @Joshua - Sounds interesting. I wish I'd known about it when I lived out in Colorado!

    @Bliss - Yeah, Tombstone's cool. That's where I got the map I have. I made the pilgrimage to Doc Holliday's final resting place in Grand Junction, CO, too.

    @Sean - It's pretty country up there. Before I moved back east, I took a road trip and saw the Badlands, Deadwood, Mt. Rushmore, Custer State Park, and Devil's Tower.

    @Chris - I've had the same thought. Tombstone's a good model for one of those boomtowns too. Maybe a future Hydra project...

    ReplyDelete
  8. The Happy WhiskNovember 28, 2011 at 4:41 PM

    Those are very nice. Good post, Trey. Hope your day went well. Mine is coming to a close, as I'm already in my jams and ready to snuggle under the covers. Maybe watch a movie or read a book.

    Cheers and Boogie Boogie.

    ReplyDelete
  9. TreyNovember 28, 2011 at 6:51 PM

    Thanks! Off to bed at 5? Now that's living! :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Brent DavisNovember 28, 2011 at 11:34 PM

    I remember rolling through Tombstone at 3am, with the wind blowing the dust around. I was going down to the border to load cattle, and I always took the road through there and Bisbee. Eerie. I always got that odd, "being watched" feeling when I came off the first hill north of town. By the time I passed Boot Hill I was looking for apparitions. I'd always look up Allen Street too.. and a couple of times I thought I saw some shadows moving up there. I dunno, but I sure hope I saw them. One night I stopped on the highway through town and just sat there for a while, til a local cop came by and told me I had to move the truck. I loved the place. I hope to bring that feeling to my Boot Hill campaign. Thanks for the maps.

    ReplyDelete
  11. PierceNovember 29, 2011 at 3:24 AM

    I just got Red Dead Redemption- Undead Nightmare for xbox. Zombies and Cowboys- totally rad combination.

    ReplyDelete
  12. NecropraxisNovember 29, 2011 at 9:46 PM

    Great maps. I just started watching the second season of Deadwood, and echoing Chris's comment, it would be awesome to model a D&D boomtown on Deadwood. Especially with the Deadwood theme of frontier and civilization, criminal and stakeholder.

    ReplyDelete
  13. TreyNovember 29, 2011 at 10:42 PM

    @Pierce - They go together like Martin and Lewis.

    @Brendan - HBO shows seem to be very inspirational gamewise. Boardwalk Empire has got me thinking about a "clash of Thieves Guilds" sort of game.

    ReplyDelete
  14. LHJanuary 20, 2013 at 5:31 PM

    Where did you get the Deadwood map? I would like to use it in a school project, but I need to cite my sources and my teacher doesn't want us to use blogs.

    ReplyDelete
  15. TreyJanuary 20, 2013 at 9:28 PM

    @LH - It was created for the _Deadwood_ television series that aired on HBO. I don't know who the artist was.

    ReplyDelete
  16. JimmyGMay 14, 2022 at 5:57 PM

    Check out: Melody Ranch Studio in Santa Clarita Valley, California on Google Earth and this is the set where Deadwood was filmed. Very close resemblance to the map.

    ReplyDelete