The legendary story of Tombstone and Wyatt Earp has an untold missing link...the nearby town of Charleston. A town known for its "diversified viciousness," where the sounds of saloons filled with gambling tables and dance hall girls were sometimes mixed with celebratory gunfire in the streets. Learn of Wyatt Earp's siege of Charleston, as he searched for his brother, Virgil's, assailants. But the story of Charleston has far more depth and intrigue than just intermittent visits from Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, Ike Clanton, and Curly Bill Brocius. It was home to the hard working men of Millville just across the San Pedro River, honest ranchers and cattle rustlers, storekeepers, gamblers, and outlaws. It was home base for smuggling American goods into Mexico. As one lawman wrote... "Charleston was a hangout for the riff-raff from Fort Huachuca, Bisbee, Tombstone, and other places where there were officers to see that they behaved themselves. In Charleston they were not molested harassed]...Jim Burnett, the justice of the peace, and Jerry Barton, the constable... paid little attention to keeping law and order." The industrial side of Charleston was Millville, where rich Tombstone Silver Ore was turned into bars of Bullion, briefly fueling Tombstone's economic rise to one of the great mining camps of the west. Fully sourced and footnoted with a great deal of previously unpublished primary sources, this is the first book published devoted to bringing this remarkable town to life. Much has been written of Tombstone's colorful days, but of the two locations, Charleston best fits the description of a truly wild west town, when the Arizona Territory was still far from being tamed and civilized. The complexities and contradictions of life in Charleston are summed up differently by its residents. But the town made an indelible impression upon many. "The only time in my life when I remember feeling cold sweat break out on my face from terror was when I was in Charleston... At that time, all we] could hear was about this or that killing or shooting scrape and I lived in constant fear. In fact, I was afraid to cross the street after dark." Historian John Rose now offers "Charleston and Millville, A.T. Hell on the San Pedro."

Samantha Fallon was a Tombstone Pioneer with secrets in her past that she wanted to hide. Within her boarding house she had entertained many men of Tombstone, some of them very prominent. She spent most of the rest of her life trying to create a new reputation and life for herself. But a court case would bring her face to face with her Tombstone days again as she unwittingly divulged confidential information to a Pinkerton spy living under her own roof. Those reports, those secrets, are now published in substantial detail for the first time ever in this book. Other Tombstone Pioneers round out this remarkable story of affairs and a child's heartbreaking abandonment. Wyatt Earp, George Parsons, Dr. Giberson, and many others take us back to Samantha Fallon's Tombstone, with groundbreaking insights and new information.

Legend and myth have long been a part of the story of the San Pedro River. But what is the truth of this key waterway in the history of the Great American Southwest? The groundbreaking discovery of an unknown 19th Century court case has unearthed the history of not only the San Pedro River, but the many ranchers and farmers who once called its environs home. John D. Rose, author of Charleston and Millville A.T. Hell on the San Pedro, and On the Road to Tombstone: Drew's Station, Contention City and Fairbank, further illuminates the story of the San Pedro River, dispelling the myths of riverboats and uninterrupted stands of Cottonwood Trees, as well as definitive proof of the origins of a site that was incorrectly identified as Drew's Station.

Wyatt Earp, the Gunfight near the O.K. Corral, and related events happened in the larger context of an area in turmoil. The Tombstone Mining District was a fluid area, filled with hard working settlers, some of the nations best mining engineers, and some of the nations worst criminals. The Tombstone saga and its greatest conflicts were linked to incidents outside of Tombstone. A shooting near Drew's Station, drew Wyatt Earp more closely into conflict with the local outlaw element. This in turn would set in motion a chain of events that would in part lead to the West's most famous gunfight, the Gunfight near the O.K. Corral. The Earps were brought into court at Contention City over the shootings in Tombstone. The all important history of Drew's Station, Contention City, and Fairbank, Arizona Territory are now revealed for the first time ever. Heavily documented and thoroughly researched, many misconceptions about this portion of the wild west are brought to light, and a great deal of previously unpublished research is now available for the first time, bringing to light the key stories of these key locations along the road to Tombstone.