Colton, California

COLTON, A HISTORIC CITY Virgil Earp, who led his brothers and Doc Holliday during the famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona, spent his entire career as a pioneering lawman. In addition to serving as Tombstone’s city marshal, he also went on to become the first constable for the newly created town of Colton, California. At a time when Colton (1883-1889) was the nexus C for two key transcontinental rail lines and one of the busiest little towns in the West. “Colton was developed around the railroad,” says Mayor Frank Navarro. “The BNSF Railway, formerly the Atchison, Topeka and Sante Fe Railway (ATSF) back in the day, travels generally north and south. And Southern Pacific, which was acquired by Union Pacific, generally travels east and west. In Colton, the two lines met at grade. As I recall, H U B O F T H E I N L A N D E M P I R E