Wyatt Earp's mine: The Lucky Day

We spent 13 days in the Whipple wash area of the Whipple Mountains Wilderness. We hiked 11 of those days. Then we moved to the other side of the Whipple mountains so we could see if we could find the location of the Lucky Day mine. Here is our campsite for this exploration:

The Lucky Day mine was the last of Wyatt and Josephine's many business ventures over the course of their 40 or so years together. It appears they made and lost many fortunes. This mine never produced much, but it was enough to support both of their (apparently rather substantial) gambling habits. Reportedly they lived in tents close to the mine most of the time. 

For a short while they had a small home in Vidal, CA, which we showed in an earlier blog post, and then spent some summers in Los Angeles, where Earp became sort of a consultant to the burgeoning westerns film industry. In fact, he became so well known there that Tom Mix (the Brad Pitt of his era) was one of his pallbearers. For someone who only had about a two-year, tangential relationship to law enforcement, and who was probably more of a cold blooded murderer than a western hero, he sure made the most of his reputation. I kind of like that.

Here is a photo of him and his wife at the Lucky Day mine:

 

And here we are locating it. It is marked, but I think fewer and fewer people probably visit. After us baby boomers die off, who is going to know or care about Wyatt Earp?

This is the mine:

Earp had over 100 mining claims in the area, and we discovered several other mines close by.

 

As we left on our hike today, I sang the Wyatt Earp theme song (see below) to Vicky, the whole thing by memory even though it has to be almost 60 years since I last heard it on our old Admiral 19-inch black and white TV. It is interesting how many of the 1950s westerns theme songs I have committed to heart.

 

Now, years later, knowing that these western heros of my youth were myths does nothing to diminish their importance to me. Wyatt Earp, as a real man, is actually much more complicated and fascinating than was the Hugh O'Brien Wyatt Earp on television. Yet, in a funny way, both the fantasy and the real man exist for me now. Seeing this mine, and realizing that Wyatt Earp eked out a living digging in this ground for the last 20 years of his life to be able to support his and his wife's gambling habit, doesn't affect at all my vision of Wyatt Earp in the snazzy and perfectly fitting Marshall's outfit he wore while.....

 

He cleaned the country

The old Wild West Country

He made and order prevail....

And none can deny it

The legend of Wyatt

Forever will be on the trail.

Wyatt Earp. Wyatt Earp.

Brave, courageous and bold.

Long live his fame,

And long live his glory

And long may his story be told.

 

 

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