Boot Hill

For other uses, see Boot Hill (disambiguation).

Entrance to Tombstones Boot Hill

Boot Hill (or Boothill) is the name for any number of cemeteries, chiefly in the American West. During the 19th century it was a common name for the burial grounds of gunfighters, or those who "died with their boots on" (i.e., violently).

Origin of Term

Although many towns use the name "Boot Hill", the first graveyard named "Boot Hill" was at Dodge City, Kansas. The term alludes to the fact that many of its occupants were cowboys who "died with their boots on," the implication here being they died violently, as in gunfights or by hanging, and not of natural causes. The term became commonplace throughout the American frontier, with some Boot Hills becoming famous as Dodge City (Kansas), Tombstone (Arizona), and Deadwood (South Dakota).

Boothill Museum

The Boothill Museum is located on the original location of the Boothill Cemetery in Dodge City, Kansas.

Boothill Graveyard

Graves of Billy Clanton, Frank McLaury, and Tom McLaury in Boothill Graveyard, Tombstone, Arizona.

The most notable use of the name Boot Hill is at the Boothill Graveyard (or Cemetery) in Tombstone, Arizona. 31°43′11.6″N 110°04′13.6″W Formerly called The Tombstone Cemetery, the plot features the graves of Billy Clanton, Frank McLaury and Tom McLaury; the three men were killed during the famed Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.

Located on the northwest corner of the town, the graveyard is believed to hold over 300 persons, 205 of which are recorded. This was due to some people (especially Chinese and Jewish immigrants) being buried without record. There is a separate Jewish cemetery nearby with some markers restored, and there are also marked graves of Chinese. However, most of the loss was due to neglect of grave markers and theft of these wooden relics as souvenirs. For example, when former Tombstone Mayor John Clum visited Tombstone for the first Helldorado celebration in 1929, he was unable to locate the grave of his wife Mary, who had been buried in Boothill.

The Tombstone "boothill" cemetery was closed in late 1884, as the new "City Cemetery" on Allen Street opened. Thereafter, Boothill was referred to as the "old city cemetery" and neglected. It was used after that only to bury a few later outlaws (some legally hanged and one shot in a robbery), as well as a few colorful Western characters and one man (Emmett Crook Nunnally) who had spent many volunteer hours restoring it.

Currently the Tombstone "Boothill Graveyard" is open to the public without fee, and is a popular stop for tourists visiting Tombstone.

Grave in Boothill Cemetery, Tombstone, Arizona.

In popular culture

Boot Hill is the name of the cemetery in Dodge City in the Gunsmoke radio series. In many episodes, the marshal (Matt Dillon) would allude to "putting you in Boot Hill", or "another man headed to Boot Hill". In the first season of the Gunsmoke television series, the introduction to each episode showed Matt Dillon walking around Boot Hill reflecting on the deaths of men buried there.

Boothill Graveyard is referenced in many films such as Tombstone (1993), Wyatt Earp (1994), and Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957), during which it was repeatedly sung over the recurring title theme song by Frankie Laine. In the later half of the movie Laine changes the theme to:

“

Boothill... Boothill... So cold... so still... There they lay side by side, the killers that died, in the Gunfight at O.K. Corral.

”

Other Boot Hill cemeteries

• Boot Hill cemeteries can be found in a number of towns, including:
  • Anamosa, Iowa
  • Billings, Montana
  • Bonanza, Custer County, Idaho
  • Bodie, California
  • Calico, California
  • Canyon City, Oregon
  • Columbia, California
  • Cripple Creek, Colorado
  • Deadwood, South Dakota
  • Dodge City, Kansas
  • El Paso, Texas
  • Guthrie, Oklahoma
  • Hays, Kansas
  • Idaho City, Idaho
  • Leadville, Colorado
  • Livermore, California
  • New Westminster, British Columbia
  • Ogallala, Nebraska
  • Pioche, Nevada
  • Riley Camp, Quay County, New Mexico
  • Seney Township, Michigan
  • Tascosa, Oldham County, Texas
  • Tilden, Texas
  • Virginia City, Montana
  • Virginia City, Nevada

• Boot Hill was also the name given by the prisoners to the cemetery at the Japanese-run Batu Lintang POW and civilian internment camp in Kuching, Sarawak, Borneo during World War II.
• Boot Hill is the name given to the cemetery at the end of Phantom Manor at Disneyland Resort Paris where you can see comic gravestones and graves of the Ravenwoods, the former inhabitants of the Manor. At the far end, there are some geysers which erupt quite frequently.

See also

• Cowboy action shooting
• Frontier
• Western movie
• Potter's field
• Boothill Museum - Dodge City, Kansas

External links

• Boot Hill Museum Dodge City, Kansas
• A tombstone in Boot Hill Cemetery in Tombstone, Arizona, from a Library of Congress website