When a friend of Sunni’s asked if Earp, California, where the Riverview RV Park is located, had anything to do with the infamous lawman, Wyatt Earp, neither of us had a clue. But after we set up our motorhome and got on our computers, we were surprised to learn Wyatt Earp spent a considerable amount of time in this area. After his death in 1928, the Santa Fe Railroad and the U.S. Post Office changed the name of the railroad siding and post office to Wyatt Earp. That was shortened to Earp, by which it is still known today.
At some point in his life Wyatt Earp lived just about everywhere in the west, his most famous years being the two he spent in Tombstone, Arizona. It only took 30-seconds of those two years, on October 26,1881, to become one of the most infamous lawmen in the American west. Those seconds were spent in a gun battle at the OK Coral, for which he will forever be remembered.
What people don’t know is that Wyatt Earp was a prospector, and in 1906 he discovered a gold and copper mine in the Whipple mountains a few miles to the north and west of here, and spent nearly a quarter of a century working his claim and developing over 100 other mines in the area. With his second wife, Josephine Sarah Marcus, he first lived in Drennon, or Calzona, as it was know back then, a ferry crossing and railroad siding on the California side of the Colorado River.
Later, he and Josie purchased a small cottage in the town of Vidal where they spent their Fall, Winter and Spring seasons whenever they weren’t camping out at the mine. Summers were spent in Los Angeles where they partied and hung out with Hollywood movie stars of the day. The cottage was the only home Wyatt ever owned in his life although they sometimes lived in the many saloons, gambling halls, and dance halls Wyatt built, owned and operated throughout the west.
But it was in Vidal he and Jose seemed to be most happy, so, it seemed appropriate, since we were staying in Earp, that we pay our respects to him and visit his home in Vidal and his Happy Days mine, the place he loved and lived longer than anywhere else in the West.
Was he as the song declared,"Strong, Courageous and True...?" He was obviously less in stature than Hollywood depicted. He looks almost a bit 'mousey'(although I guess I could've been shot for saying so).
ReplyDeleteGuido, First of all I think the song was "Brave courageous and bold". Earp stood six foot tall in the day that the average man was 5'6" if you were referring to stature as height. As far as character, he had a reputation for being cool and calm almost to the point he might have been a borderline sociopath. And I suppose I could have gotten shot for saying that.
ReplyDeleteHis friends, however, thought different of him than I. Here is some quotes from his contemporaries.
Among his peers, Wyatt was respected. His deputy Jimmy Cairns described Wyatt's work as a police officer in Wichita, Kansas. "Wyatt Earp was a wonderful officer. He was game to the last ditch and apparently afraid of nothing. The cowmen all respected him and seemed to recognize his superiority and authority at such times as he had to use it." He described Wyatt as "the most dependable man I ever knew; a quiet, unassuming chap who never drank and in all respects a clean young fellow".
When citizens of Dodge City learned the Earps had been charged with murder after the gunfight, they sent letters endorsing and supporting the Earps to Judge Wells Spicer.
John Clum, owner of The Tombstone Epitaph and mayor of Tombstone while Wyatt was a gambler and lawman there, described him in his book It All Happened in Tombstone.
Wyatt's manner, though friendly, suggested a quiet reserve ... Frequently it has happened that men who have served as peace officers on the frontier have craved notoriety in connection with their dealings with the outlaw element of their time. Wyatt Earp deprecated such notoriety, and during his last illness he told me that for many years he had hoped the public would weary of the narratives—distorted with fantastic and fictitious embellishments—that were published from time to time concerning him, and that his last years might be passed in undisturbed obscurity.[183]
Famous lawman Bat Masterson described Wyatt in 1907.
Wyatt Earp was one of the few men I personally knew in the West in the early days whom I regarded as absolutely destitute of physical fear. I have often remarked, and I am not alone in my conclusions, that what goes for courage in a man is generally fear of what others will think of him – in other words, personal bravery is largely made up of self-respect, egotism, and apprehension of the opinions of others. Wyatt Earp's daring and apparent recklessness in time of danger is wholly characteristic; personal fear doesn't enter into the equation, and when everything is said and done, I believe he values his own opinion of himself more than that of others, and it is his own good report he seeks to preserve ... He never at any time in his career resorted to the pistol excepting cases where such a course was absolutely necessary. Wyatt could scrap with his fists, and had often taken all the fight out of bad men, as they were called, with no other weapons than those provided by nature.