Route 66 in the News
From Whence Two Guns?
2008-02-18 17:31:53
Today's question:
About 20 or 30 miles east of Flagstaff on Interstate 40, there are signs for the town of Two Guns. Is that an authentic Old West name or something made up to attract tourists?
Wouldn't you rather know about Canyon Diablo? It is, or was, close to Two Guns and has a much better story.
In 1853, while he was surveying the 35th parallel, Army Lt. Amiel Whipple had to go a long way out of his way to get across a canyon. He named it Devil's Canyon.
Near the present site of Two Guns, a railroad town called Canyon Diablo was founded in 1880 when work on the tracks had to be stopped while a bridge was put up across the canyon. The money ran out, and it took 10 years to build the bridge.
In the meantime, Canyon Diablo was earning a reputation as just about the meanest, rip-snortingest place around. One piece I read said it was wilder than Dodge City and Tombstone combined. According to an article by one Ann Strickland, the town's first marshal was killed five hours after he was sworn in. His successor lasted two weeks.
Another marshal, according to Strickland, lasted 30 days and was said to have killed a man a day and wounded so many others that the hospital in Winslow wouldn't take any more gunshot victims from Canyon Diablo.
The railroad's depot and other facilities sat at the west edge of town. Stretching from there was the mile-long Hell Street, lined with brothels, saloons, gambling dens and dance halls, most of them open 24 hours a day.
At one point, territorial Gov. Frederick Tritle asked the Army to step in and restore order, but by the time the Army got around to it, the bridge was completed, the card sharps and prostitutes and gunmen had moved on, and the town was in decline.
A trading post was at the site for many years, but there isn't much left of the place, aside from a few ramshackle buildings and crumbling foundations.
As for Two Guns, it came along after Canyon Diablo faded. It originally was called Canyon Lodge, and was established along the National Old Trails Road, forerunner of Route 66. When Route 66 came through, it was renamed Two Guns. Supposedly, the latter was named for a local, Henry "Two Gun" Miller, who owned some of the town's tourist stops.
When Interstate 40 bypassed the town that was pretty much the end of the line for Two Guns.
~Clay Thompson, ArizonaRepublic.com
See also:
- Postcard showing an old station at Two Guns
- Earlier article referencing Two Guns
- Full List of Route 66 In The News Articles
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