Cochise County Corral of the Westerners

Welcome Pardner,

The Cochise County Corral of the Westerners is dedicated to having fun while preserving both the history and legendary history of the American Frontier and the Wild West. The Corral meets at historic Scheiffelin Hall, built in 1881 as a theater, in Tombstone, the Town Too Tough to Die. We try to be welcoming and accept members of the Earp posse and the Cowboy posse as long as they promise not to shoot inside the Hall. 

Westerners International is committed to fun and scholarship in and about the American West. Add great company, exciting programs and publications, fellowship opportunities for young people, and the still wide-open Western landscape, and you’ll know what we’re about. As historian Ray Allen Billington put it: “Westerners share a dislike for stuffed-shirtism, over-seriousness, shiftless thinking, and above all ignorance.” We happily follow Billington’s trail!
 

Westerners was founded in 1944 and has over 60 corrals (or chapters) in the US, and 20 corrals abroad, with over 4,000 members around the globe. Corrals generally meet monthly for camaraderie and interesting programs on all aspects of Western history.

  We don't have a president or chairman. The person in charge is our Sheriff. He's assisted by a Recorder of Marks and Brands and a Keeper of the Chips, who handles our finances. The Ink Slinger handles our web page and publications. 

Campfires (monthly meetings) all held in Schieffelin Hall at 7 p.m. on the first Thursday of each month. The public is welcome to come and enjoy a bit of Cowboy poetry, reviews of books and articles, announcement of coming events and most important an hour immersed in a presentation of Western history. 

Trail Rides (visits to historic sites) are usually conducted four times per year without horses. We do everything from intimate, not-open-to-the-public guided tours of museums to sharing fun with Living Historians at events like the Empire Ranch Annual Festival. We also visit backcountry sites, often unknown to the public, where history was made.

We are incorporated as a non-profit. 

Publications: On this site you will find the Fremont Street Mail and the Border Vidette.

Fremont Street Mail is our monthly newsletter of announcements of coming events including Trail Rides and Presentations, plus information from our officers and odds and ends of history, attractions, and stuff of interest to the Ranch Hands (membership).

The Border Vidette is our semi-annual journal of articles of historic interest. You’ll find it only published here on the website and we invite folks to submit articles.

Running Iron  A running iron is a branding iron with which a brand is drawn freehand on the hide of an animal. That’s a pretty apt description of the slice of the Old West within. There’s a bit of Cowboy Poetry as well as a thick slice of short stories about what once was. It’s been done freehand by members of the Cochise County Corral of the Westerners and some of their friends. Although the running iron was often a tool of the rustler used to redraw existing brands, we can promise you that nothing within came from anyone else’s herd. These are our stories and poems arising from the Southwest borderlands where Tombstone is our home, Boothill just around the corner, and Mexico an easy ride to the south. Cochise County was once home to Cochise and Geronimo. We can look up to Cochise’s Stronghold in the Dragoon Mountains, visit the spot where Geronimo surrendered, and walk where Wyatt Earp and Doc fought in the street with Curly Bill and Ringo. This was home to Apaches, rustlers, the cavalry, gamblers, outlaws, and train robbers. We export gold, silver, copper, beef, and now poetry and tales too tall to keep at home. This is your chance to join the adventure!  Available on Amazon.com come and from members of the Corral

Come and visit the Corral that has twice won the Heads Up Award for best Corral.