A couple of chums on motorcycles explore the ruins of the Route 66 ghost town of Two Guns, Ariz., which once was the home to a gas station and a wild-animal zoo.
More about Two Guns may be read here.
A couple of chums on motorcycles explore the ruins of the Route 66 ghost town of Two Guns, Ariz., which once was the home to a gas station and a wild-animal zoo.
More about Two Guns may be read here.
That was fun, and sad, to see. If I’m ever able to go, those are the sort of remote remains that I won’t be able to access. It’s interesting to see them.
The best source of information on Two Guns, and especially on the Cundiff-Miller shooting and trial is the Thomas Repp book, Route 66: Romance of the West (2002).
As to Two Guns, there are in fact, the remains of two zoos on the site. The first one built by Miller around 1923 or so which was very elaborate in its design. It remained in operation after the Cundiff shooting and trial in 1926 until the mid-’30s when Route 66 was realigned through Two Guns. Cundiff’s widow built the second zoo (to the north) around 1937, and it remained in operation likely into the 40’s. It’s end likely came after Route 66 was moved north (to the current I-40 alignment) in ’47.
Harry “Indian” Miller after being acquitted in the shooting,moved from Two Guns to Lupton, AZ, and opened a zoo at the “Cave of the 7 devils” (thought to be a site inspiration for the movie “Ace in the hole” (filmed on location).
Western novelist Gladwell Richardson wrote a fanciful and largely fictional history of Two Guns in 1968- about the time some effort was being made to re-promote the site.
At Two Guns today, one can see: 3 different vintage gas stations, a general store, two zoos, the “Apache Death Cave” a car repair garage, the ruins of a KOA (built partially over the historic Two Guns site), what may have been two homes, two bridges (both pre-dating Route 66), and to the west immediately prior to hitting I-40, two unidentified structures that seem to be similar to those at Two Guns. As many of the buildings are dry-stack, or rock and mud construction, they are eroding quickly. The buildings constructed with rock and mortar are in slight more stable condition.