We soon found ourselves settling down along the wall across from the old jail to watch yet another episode of street justice old western style. Most of these gunslingers are pretty old hombres. As I watched each of them slam to the ground in a flurry of gunshots I thought that this was pretty hard work, no pun intended. After the show, we sat with the gunfighters for a while. Bob Cloword, [Bismark], who is the undisputed head gunfighter and foreman of this acting bunch, talked about life in the streets of Calico. "There are some thirty different skits", he remarked. "Most of the material was created right here on the set. We try to keep it light even though there is a lot of shooting going on. There are a lot of funny lines. The hours are long and the pay's not so great, so there is a lot of turnover in the crew. We only write a general idea for the skit. About 60 percent of the what is said is made up by the actors at the time they are on the street. It can really create some funny situations." When not blazing away in the middle of the street, the gunfighters are busy running many of the attractions throughout the park. We found a recently resurrected "Ricochet" manning the gold panning sluice on the north side of the street. Laura had a delightful time as she stood with splash pan in hand being guarded by this tall gun wielding desperado. The pan and the sluice are real, the gold is pyrite (fools gold). On the other side of the street, another gunfighter, waiting for the next show down in the middle of the street, busied himself by demonstrating his prowess at throwing an ax. This may look easy to the average spectator but try it sometime. The trick is to be precisely at the right distance from the target for the ax to revolve one, two or three times depending on the need. Music was a constant companion as we walked the streets of Calico. From the main bandstand where a variety of bands played except when the street was taken over by the gunfighters. In addition there was an old time piano player who sat on the sidewalk with his derby hat and sleeve-garters playing the songs of the old saloons in honky-tonky fashion. There was a trio of players that sang the old campfire songs. There is a full service campground within the park area. Nestled in a valley surrounded by glowing hills, this is a delightful place to hike and go rock hounding, and then go wandering through the park to see what is happening. And thus it went in a town that came back from the dead to live in the eyes and minds of those with the imagination to see into the past.

***THE END***