Two Guns 🌵 Arizona
- 3rd Eye Blue
- 20 minutes ago
- 3 min read
The graffiti and weird abandonment vibes didn't stop with Twin Arrows, it extended fully into Two Guns.
Listen. Two Guns has a pretty extensive history. I realize this is a photography website, but I’m going to deviate a bit to talk about Two Guns history. I found it really interesting. I’ll give you a shortened version.
If you’re here for photos and not my rambling, here’s a TL;DR:
People murdered, businesses were built, they burned down, a ghost town now stands. Sorta stands.
Otherwise, bear with me.
In the late 1800s, a group of Apache took refuge in a cave located near Canyon Diablo. Navajo warriors reportedly trapped them inside this cave with fires at the entrance, killing around 42 Apache; earning the site the name of Apache Death Cave.
Tangentially, I planned to go to Canyon Diablo. And I’m pretty disappointed I didn’t. But what happened was that it was on my travel plan after Two Guns and the road my GPS took me down was… questionable. Combined with the fact that it was getting darker, I decided, “um, no”.
I have absolutely stuck a pin in this location.
Anyway, in 1915, a bridge, part of the National Old Trails Road, was built across Canyon Diablo, bringing traffic through the area. In the early 1920s, Canyon Lodge, with cabins, a store, gas station, and tourist services, was established by Earl and Louise Cundiff.
In the mid 1920s, a man named Harry “Indian” Miller (he claimed Native America ancestry, although it appears he was not, in fact, Native American) moved in and opened a trading post, museum, zoo, souvenir stand, and a tourist attraction near this cave. Since he claimed to be Native American, he was dubbed “Two Guns” Miller.
So, Mr. Cundiff and Mr. Miller apparently had a pretty nasty dispute and Miller shot Cundiff, was tried on murder charges, but was acquitted on self-defense.
Two Guns, as the area was now known as, was popular in the late 1920s-1940s as a tourist stop. By this time, along with the zoo, cabins, gas station, and curio shops, cave tours and restaurants were now a thing.
Yet, as the 1950s and 60s rolled in, route changes and eventually I-40 diverted traffic away from Two Guns, and like other Route 66 towns, the businesses relying on the old route, collapsed.
In 1971 a fire destroyed much of the what remained of the commercial area.
And here we arrive at today. I had read that I could see a ruined gas station, trading post remains, and the old zoo cages. To be honest, I’m not sure what the sights I saw were supposed to be.
The ruined gas station still stands.
At least I think this was the old gas station.
Pretty sure Kenny wasn't the only one killed here.
The old zoo cages and the trading post? Your guess is as good as mine.
There was a building.
With a pool(?).
The town (ghost, that is) is sprawled out, or at least what's left is. I drove around some, but in my head, I had the fear of running over something (nails, metal... bodies) and flattening a tire or otherwise breaking down. The further from the beaten path (all the paths here are beaten) I got, the fear of being stuck here for-EV-er escalated to visions of them coming to burn the bodies and me hiding out in the old gas station.
No, thanks.
There was more to see, but not for me on this day.
