Show famous old tombstone SPECIAL correspondence tombstone arizona oct 7 the bird cage opera house the cancan can can restaurant the red light saloon and the tucson stage office remain as relies relics of tombstones onetime glory as a mining camp these old buildings were once the scenes of the pioneer arizona mining camp but are now occupied by bats and are slowly falling into decay the bird cage opera house was the most famous in the territory it is a rambling two story structure with the glass in the rough board front broken by the elements A long bar occupies one end of the building while the piano players raised platform faces it at the opposite end it was on this platform that the famous sign hung which read do not shoot the piano player he is doing the best he can A gallery extends around three sides of the opera house and the stage occupies the fourth side on this stage the most fam famous ous variety performers from san francisco appeared in the old days lithographs announcing their coming 1 still hang on the walls of the op opera era house the ink still bright upon them A dumb waiter connects the bar with the gallery above where drinks were served at tables placed in each of the little rooms which open onto the big dancing floor many killings have occurred in the bird cage and it has been the scene of a number of western stories of frontier life five dollar steaks at the cancan can can restaurant steaks once sold for 5 a piece and men waited in line to be served ed at the height of the tombstone silver boom the red light saloon was a gambling house and the discarded roulette and faro layouts may be seen stacked in the rear of the big building with its broken bar and mahogany fixtures the stage office is an adobe building with a corral flanking it and it was there that the stage from tucson pulled in each day and the early settlers received their mail from the outside world another relic of old tombstone is the monument erected to ed iii the founder of tombstone and the man who gave it its name the monument is built of boulders from fleina first mine how tombstone was named A cowboy in the panhandle told that he would not find gold but a tombstone in his quest of a mine in the huachuca liua Hua chuca mountains found gold and named the town tombstone remembering his friends prediction when he died his body was returned here and the tombstone erected at the spot where he made the gold strike that caused a great rush to the camp the mines of the tombstone dl have been operated by the phelps phela Ph n corporation for several years that orga tion taking them over after a long penZ efie success and then failure by the ly M ers while it cannot be said that phelps dodge efforts have been w with success tombstone has bee been able in ing the war to furnish one of the greatest needs of the country manganese and ain a out a doubt it will become a consistent ducer when certain metallurgical proba of manganese and silver are solved the life of a mine I 1 we are told by prominent eltea that mines have a life this is but pu ly true however in the strictest mealii of the word the mines of tombstone w exhausted were worked out cleaned off the ore that could be mined profit abr the time when the phelps dodge took ate c over in 1914 nevertheless by the aps ap cation of funds for research and danli ment it is probable that rock n once valueless as a resource will be iff z to produce metal this district shows the the socialistic argument often heard fc the products of the mines belong be longtO to 6 people as a whole that they are bat bato wealth and the property of the caul war it is it i until metal is worth nothing to tc a ILI net converted from the ground and lie state and the operations of of da i where hundreds of thousands the have been spent in determining whereby ground previously w show i that may become profitable sources are but partially Natures fa 1 rt 01 and partially man made thousands results resul tsi with no lars may be spent are great but bu it is on such pro cepl this that the future of arizona large wital P where combinations of of be make possible the development sources |