"You're a Lucky Cuss!"

"You're a Lucky Cuss!". In 1877 Ed Schieffelin searched the San Pedro hills for silver. Soldiers at Fort Huachuca warned the prospector that he would only find his tombstone since this land was patrolled by the Apache warrior Geronimo. But Ed found silver, and jokingly named his first claim the "Tombstone.", Unfortunately, the vein soon petered out. After weeks of searching, Ed discovered a second richer vein. You're a “lucky cuss” remarked his brother Al Schieffelin, and so the Lucky Cuss mine was born. The good news quickly spread, and an army of prospectors soon arrived. The town of Tombstone grew to become one of the greatest silver camps in the West (see map). Nearly 1,000 tons of silver worth well over one billion in today's dollars were mined - more silver than in any other mining camp in Arizona. And the Lucky Cuss mine became one of Tombstone's richest, with workings a mile long and 650 feet deep (see photo)., Everyone wanted to strike it rich, including Wyatt Earp. Pictured is a diagram Wyatt helped draw locating his mine called the Congress on the edge of Tombstone. The map even shows the water line on Fremont Street over which Morgan Earp reportedly stumbled during the famous Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.