Editing Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (section)

== Background ==
{{main|Tombstone, Arizona}}
[[File:Tombstone area map 1887.jpg|thumb|upright=1.8|Southeastern Arizona near Tombstone in 1887.]]
[[Tombstone, Arizona|Tombstone]], located in [[Arizona Territory]] about {{convert|30|mi|km|sigfig=1}} from the Mexican border, was founded in March 1879 after [[silver]] was discovered in the area. Like many [[silver mining|mining]] [[boomtown]]s on the [[American frontier]], Tombstone grew rapidly. At its founding, it had a population of just 100, and only two years later, in late 1881, the population was more than 7,000 (excluding Chinese, Mexicans, women, and children), making it the largest boomtown in the [[American Southwest]].<ref name="wgbh"/><ref>{{cite journal | title=IF YOU GO, YOU MUST DRESS UP: Social Life in a Frontier Mining Town Tombstone, Arizona, 1879-1882 }|journal= The Journal of Arizona History |volume=57 |number= 3 |date=Autumn 2016 |pages= 281–312  |jstor= 44985594 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44985594|last1= Underhill |first1= Lonnie E. }}</ref>

Silver mining and its attendant wealth attracted many professionals and merchants, who brought their wives and families. With them came churches and ministers. By 1881 the town boasted fancy restaurants, a [[bowling]] alley, four churches, an [[Ice house (building)|ice house]], a school, an [[opera house]], two banks, three newspapers, and an ice cream parlor, along with 110 [[Western saloon|saloons]], fourteen [[gambling hall]]s, and numerous [[brothel]]s, all situated among a number of dirty, hardscrabble mines.<ref name="wgbh"/><ref>{{cite journal | title=IF YOU GO, YOU MUST DRESS UP: Social Life in a Frontier Mining Town Tombstone, Arizona, 1879-1882 }|journal= The Journal of Arizona History |volume=57 |number= 3 |date=Autumn 2016 |pages= 281–312  |jstor= 44985594 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44985594|last1= Underhill |first1= Lonnie E. }}</ref>

Horse rustlers and bandits from the countryside often came to town, and shootings were frequent. In the 1880s, the [[cattle raiding|theft of cattle]] and the [[smuggling]] of alcohol and tobacco across the border were common. The Mexican government assessed heavy [[Tariff|export taxes]] on these items, and smugglers earned a handsome profit by stealing them in Mexico and selling them in Tombstone.<ref name="stone">{{cite web|url=http://www.discoverseaz.com/History/TStone.html|title=History of Old Tombstone|access-date=February 7, 2011|publisher=Discover Arizona|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101217015309/http://discoverseaz.com/History/TStone.html|archive-date=December 17, 2010 }}</ref>

[[James Earp|James]], [[Virgil Earp|Virgil]], and [[Wyatt Earp]] arrived in Tombstone on December 1, 1879, when the town was mostly composed of tents as living quarters, a few saloons and other buildings, and the mines. Virgil had been hired as [[United States Marshals Service|Deputy U.S. Marshal]] for eastern [[Pima County, Arizona|Pima County]], with his offices in Tombstone, only days before his arrival. In June 1881 he was also appointed as Tombstone's town [[marshal]] (or police chief).<ref name="BrothersShadow" />

Though not universally liked by the townspeople, the Earp brothers tended to protect the interests of the town's business owners and residents; even so, Wyatt helped protect outlaw [[William Brocius|"Curly Bill" Brocius]] from being [[lynched]] after he accidentally killed Tombstone town marshal [[Fred White (marshal)|Fred White]]. In contrast, [[Cochise County, Arizona|Cochise County]] Sheriff [[Johnny Behan]] was generally sympathetic to the interests of the rural ranchers and members of the loosely organized outlaw group called the [[Cochise County Cowboys]], or simply the Cowboys, to which Brocius belonged. (In that time and region, the term ''cowboy'' generally meant an outlaw; legitimate cowmen were instead referred to as ''cattle herders'' or ''ranchers''.<ref name=lubet/>{{rp|194|date=November 2012}})
[[File:Tombstone fire insurance map 1886.jpg|thumb|upright=3.5|center|Fire insurance map of Tombstone in 1886. The OK Corral is bounded by 3rd and 4th Streets and Fremont and Allen Streets. A driveway exited on Fremont Street, where the gunfight took place.]]