The MeatEater Podcast Ep. 799: Doc Holliday, Wyatt Earp, and the Booze-Fueled Bender that Ended at OK Corral
Dec 1, 2025
Historian Mark Lee Gardner shares his insights on the legendary figures of the Wild West, Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday. He unveils fascinating stories from his new book, exploring their deep friendship and how their lives intertwined in Tombstone. Mark chats about old West clichés, including the famous phrase 'I'll be your huckleberry', dispelling myths along the way. He vividly details the infamous OK Corral gunfight, giving a blow-by-blow account of the dramatic showdown. Plus, enjoy a surprise banjo performance!
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Wyatt As Ambition, Not Myth
- Mark Lee Gardner frames Wyatt Earp as an aspirational figure who repeatedly tried to better himself rather than a one-note gunslinger.
- Gardner uses Earp's moves, jobs, and house-building in Tombstone to show ambition and reinvention.
Wagons: Hard History Passion
- Mark Lee Gardner describes his material‑culture book on Santa Fe Trail wagons as a deep catalog of dimensions, mule counts, and construction from primary sources.
- He framed the work as the first definitive study of freight wagons for that trail.
The 'Prairie Cure' Was Ambiguous
- Gardner suggests some 19th‑century illnesses sent people west for a 'prairie cure' that sometimes coincided with recovery, though modern diagnoses vary.
- He notes historians think many who were sent west may not have had TB and could have improved for other reasons.
