Original subtitles

♪ [ trumpet ]

Take your pick. Fortune weighted below ground

or in the side of a mountain to be plucked like a ripe grape.

Of course, it wasn't easy work, and there was no guarantee of wealth.

Instead of gold, you might find dust,

bitterness, defeat,

or, as one man found in the spring of 1877, a...

MAN: There ain't no use of you grunting and snorting

and throwing those dirty looks at me.

We'll sit down when the sun does.

I swear to high heaven, I ain't seen nothing

as lazy and cantankerous as you.

Goldang, dag-bottled jughead!

[ mutters ]

Maybe you want

that I should carry you!

Well, if you're that tuckered out...

we'll sit a spell.

Now, Cactus,

there ain't no call for you to go brooding.

It's just that...

I'm starting to chomp at the bit.

Seven years is a big hunk out of a man's life

with nothing to show for it but blisters and mosquito bites.

But...

we'll find that gold one day.

It's out there somewheres...

just a-sleepin',

just a-waitin' for us to come

and shake it up.

[ hoofbeats approaching ]

[ muttering ] Horses.

How come you didn't waggle your ears when the Injuns around?

You wanna get us both killed?

Come on. Come on.

[ whinnies ]

Hold your fire!

Why don't you look before you go shooting up the place?

When there's Apaches,

I shoot, then I look.

Al?

Al Seiber. Might have known.

Ed Schieffelin.

Why, I didn't recognize you

with that silly soup-strainer.

What are you doing way out here?

This Chiricahua country.

I'm prospecting, that's what.

Prospecting?

Whatever for? An early grave?

Well, there's gold out here.

A lot of it. Here.

Take a squint at that.

Found that float seven years ago.

Seven years?

Why, ya silly old fool, Ed, there ain't nothing out here

but Apaches and sidewinders.

Well, I'm alive, ain't I?

Well, barely.

Your brother Al's got a lot more sense.

He's got a house and a wife to come on home to.

You met Al's wife?No.

I'll stick with the sidewinders and Apaches.

Then you sure came to the right place to find them.

This place just crawling with Chiricahuas, Ed.

We've been trailing a party of them for three days.

Now, you should just get on outta here.

Uh-uh.

Not till I find my own bonanza.

I reckon about all you're gonna find out here, Ed, is your own tombstone.

Find my own tombstone.

Blather-brain know-all. Come on, girl.

[ braying ]

Well, now, don't you go pussyfooting

and skylarking and...

Lord Almighty.

What a way to go out.

Buzzard bait.

Prospectors like us, Cactus.

No telling how long they been here.

Must've been, uh,

ambushed by Apaches maybe a year ago.

Maybe 50.

Ooh.

[ mutters ]

Lookie.

Hey, silver.

They-- They must've found it.

It's here, Cactus.

This proves it.

I told ya, old girl, didn't I?

Yeah, it's here!

But where?

Up the hill?

That gully down there?

Where'd they find it?

[ braying ]Ohh.

[ muttering ]

Uh-oh.

One, okay. Two, maybe.

But three?

Let's make tracks, Cactus.

First time in seven years we get close,

and we gotta be run off by them dang Indians.

We oughta go back.

That's what.

Still, there's no way of knowing

where them fellas found that ore.

Could've been around here

or a hundred miles from here.

Come on. Let's get footin'.

Seven years

breaking my back--

come on--

and wearing out my feet and dragging you, and...

I ask ya...

Cactus,

is it worth it?

And for what?

I ask ya, Cactus, for what?

Maybe Al's got the right idea.

Settle down and get married.

No, no, no, no.

Things ain't that bad yet.

Silver ain't nothing but a shiny little rock.

Just a hunk of, uh...

bright metal.

[ chuckles ]

You see it, Cactus?

Up there like a beacon?

Like a silver light that beckons us.

It's silver, Cactus.

A mountain of silver!

[ gasping ]

Oh, Lord Almighty!

We found it, Cactus!

We found our silver.

We're rich.

You hear me,

you old mountain canary?

[ laughing ]

You're the richest shavetail in the world!

[ gunshot ]

[ mutters ]

Hyah! Hyah!

Bad...

Bad stinkin' luck! [ gunshot ]

If you red coyotes think I'm-- [ gunfire ]

[ gunfire continues ]

[ spurs horse ]

Hold still, ya mangy...

Seven years!

Seven years it took me!

And just when I get close to it,

you sun bitters gotta come and mis-bobble it up!

[ gunshots ]

Go after 'em, Seiber!

[ gunfire continues ]

[ braying ]

Come on.

You ain't gonna snuff me out now.

Not when I can hear the jingle of silver a-poundin' in my ear.

[ screaming ]

SEIBER: Ed!

Ed, are you all right?

Can't let him see this vein.

He'll try to claim it.

Be right down!

Come on, Cactus.

Uh, you sure were Johnny-on-the-spot. Yes, sir.

I warned ya, Ed. Didn't I warn ya?

You were just plumb lucky.

Yeah, uh, I sure was.

Now maybe you'll listen to me.

Yes, sir. You were right.

I'll be getting back to Tucson now.

Ed, why don't you get your brother Al

to find you a job in the mines, and go and live proper?

Well, that's what I intend to do--

learn how to live proper.

It's about time.

[ laughing ]

Go off chasing rainbows?

I'm telling ya, I found the richest silver vein in Arizona.

A foot wide

and 60 feet long.

[ hits table ]We'll be rich.

He is rich enough who wants nothing. [ dishes clatter ]

Listen to me, Al.

Look, I have a good job here.

It pays $4 a day, and it's steady.

But we can make millions.

A good wife and health are a man's best wealth.

I can't go gallivanting off with you on some wild-goose chase.

But, Al-- Al, listen--

It's a fool who wanders.

Oh, why don't you go...

make us some coffee?

Now, look, if you had any sense, you'd get yourself a job and settle down.

The folks always worried about you, Ed.

You were so wee-wah about everything.

"Wee-wah"?

Well, never contented with anything.

You were always looking beyond the next hill for-- for something else.

Well, that's right, and I found it.

Anybody home?

Why, Mr. Hewlett.

What a pleasant surprise.

Well, what a lovely dress, Mrs. Schieffelin.

Oh, really? It's just an old thing.

They say the best mirror is a true friend.

Al, I hate to barge in on you like this.

It's quite all right, Mr. Hewlett.

I want you to check the north shaft for leakage tomorrow morning.

Mr. Gird, the new geologist, will be up to see about it.

Oh, why, certainly, sir.

Oh, uh, this is my brother Edward.

Mr. Hewlett is the foreman for the McCracken mine.

How do you do, sir?

I-I'm pleased to meet ya.

I was just telling Edward that there might be an opening at the mine.

Well, I'm sure if I were to talk to Mr. McCracken about it, he might con--

ED: Uh, Mr. Hewlett, uh, uh...

Mr. Hewlett-- Excuse me, Ed.

You should know good silver ore when you see it.

Well, I'm not a geologist like that college-bred Mr. Gird.

Take a look at this.

Mm, traces of silver.

Traces?

Mostly lead.

Lead? Why, that's silver. It's pure silver.

Silver is my business.

Mr. Schieffelin, that's lead.

But, uh, Mr. Hewlett, you just glanced at it.

I've seen enough silver in my time to know it when I see it.

See you tomorrow morning, Al. Good-bye, Mr. Schieffelin.

Lead? Lead!

Why...

Lead!

Ed, Mr. Hewlett's been with the mine for ten years.

He knows what he's talking about.

Now, why don't you forget all this nonsense and settle down?

Settle down, huh?

Ed, I know how you must feel, but--

Do ya? Do ya, Al?

Do you know what it's like to claw

and scratch at the earth like a gopher for nothing?

Lead! Lead!

Seven years of sidewinders

and Apaches!

God looks not to see if the hands are full,

only that they are clean.

Al, where did you get this walking book with a tongue?

Well, I never!

[ sighs ]Ed, that's no way to talk.

Now, please!

Who threw this rock just now?

Mr. Gird?He did.

Mister, this is pure silver.

Pu--

[ laughs ] Pure s--

[ laughing ]

Al! Pure silver!

All right. It's settled, then.

I've got enough money to get the equipment to start the operation.

I suggest we leave right away.

You mean you're going to quit the mine?

But you're the geologist there. That must pay big money.

Your brother offered me a partnership in what looks like a bonanza.

I'd be a fool to turn him down.

Lucky I hit you with that rock. [ laughing ]

Yeah, I'd--

I'd say that was about a million-to-one shot.

What about it, Al?

Hmm?

I'm offering you a partner deal. Three-way split.

I don't know. Can you be sure of this bonanza, Mr. Gird?

Uh, there's nothing certain in the world, Al.

Not even your next breath.

But I'll tell ya, I've never seen ore this rich.

Gosh, if I quit, Mr. Hewlett would sure get sore at me.

He might not hire me back.

Come with us, Al.

They say a man who's content can't be herded.

I have a good job.

Well, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

Amen.

Hey. Hey.

There! There she is!

Wide-backed and beautiful!

It's magnificent, Ed.Yeah!

We'll take some samples. I'll make a thorough assay.

Come on.Okay, Ed.

Give me that.Take that.

Hold on now.Yeah.

Ohhh.

Just hold on, Ed.Ahhhh.

What do you think it's worth?

What do you think?

$100 a ton, 200?

The vein extends only a few feet,

and it's not too deep.

You see, a long time ago,

maybe the Dark Ages, most of the vein

must've been thrown off down the hillside, and it scattered.

Scattered? [ mutters ]

There's not enough silver left to make an operation worthwhile, Ed.

What?Even so, I know-- I know there's silver here.

Now-- Now, this vein is probably only an offshoot.

Ohh...Ed-- Ed-- Ed, there's probably more silver here

than any man has seen before, somewhere.

Somewhere!

But where?

AL: Ed! Mr. Gird!

It's your brother.

That's all I need.

Up here, Al.

There's a path behind that boulder.

Dick, how much is there if we get it all out?

$400, maybe $500.

[ panting ]

Boy, did I tell Gita off. [ laughs ]

When I told her I was coming, she hit me with,

"Precaution is better than cure."

I came back with, "Opportunity knocks only once."

I quit my job. And when I was leaving, she hollered at me,

"Fortune and misfortune are neighbors!"

[ laughs ] I yelled back at her,

"Better late than never!" [ laughs ]

She say anything about, "Don't count your chickens fore they're hatched"?

What?

Tell him, Dick.

The vein-- it wasn't quite what we thought it was, Al.

But I quit my job.

There's silver around here someplace.

I told Gita to go jump in the river.

Well, did she?

Now, look, Ed!

I should've known better.

Broke up my marriage, lost my job.

Well, uh, you can always get another job.

And as for your marriage, ya ain't lost nothing.

I'm warning you, Ed. [ grunts ] Oh, get back.

That's my own flesh and blood.

Oww!

You're no good!

Wait-- Hey!

You're starting to get my hackles up. You're no good!

Don't you call me that!

No good! No good!

Why, you're a mama's boy!

Ed! All right. Now come to your senses. Ed, stop it.

Al! Al, do you hear me? Now stop it, both of ya!

ED: You're a no-good drifter!

Ed, I'm warning ya! Now come on!

Don't you call me that, I said!

Kindliness is kindliness! No good!

Ed! Ed!

[ grunts ]

Now look what you did.

I-I-I didn't-- Are you all right, Dick?

I-I-I didn't mean to hit ya.

Uh, Ed...

I-- I didn't mean it, I said.

Ed, you did it again.

Well, I said that I was sorry.

A million-in-one shot.

This rock is pure silver!

Well, let's get over here.

I picked it up here someplace.

Ohhh!

Oh, Lord Almighty!

Look!

Just look.

The mine's all the way down the hill.

Yeah.No telling where it stops.

This is it, Ed.

This is our bonanza.

[ laughing ]

[ all laughing ]

It's a bonanza, Ed! It's a bonanza, Al!

What did Gita say?Who's Gita?

All right. All right. Take it easy.

Let's get back and file a claim.

We'll need a name, won't we? We'll need a name.Yeah. Yeah.

Uh, how about Silver Lakes?

Ed, you lucky cuss, you found it first. What do you wanna call it?

Okay. Lucky Cuss. I like that. Huh, Ed?

Lucky Cuss. Lucky Cuss.

Lucky Cuss!

You know, I don't care what you call the mine.

But this mountain...

You know, Al Seiber said that I'd die here,

and I did.

So, this mountain

I wanna call Tombstone.

The whole mountain!

Tombstone!

[ laughing ]

85 million dollars was taken out of those hills,

and the town that grew up because of the strike

became one of the most wild and colorful legends in Western history.

And today there stands a monument to Ed Schieffelin,

marking the resting place of the man

who followed his dream and found it

in the town that he had unwittingly named

Tombstone, Arizona.

Next week, another true story from America's Western heritage.

See you then.