Tom Mix: The King of Cowboys


I always love it when an unexpected story comes my way. On our way home from Tucson last week, we decided to take the back highway Route 79. Sharon was telling me about a monument for a cowboy actor who died along that particular stretch of road. His name was Tom Mix and he was known as “The King of Cowboys”.

Thomas Edwin Mix was born on January 6, 1880 into a poor logging family in Mix Run, Pennsylvania. He spent his youth riding horses and working on a local farm. His days were consumed with thoughts of being in the circus as a knife thrower. He was rumored to use his sister to assist while he practiced throwing knives against a wall. But life would take him in another direction as an American film actor in many early Western movies. Between 1910 and 1935, he chalked up a staggering 336 films, some of which were silent movies. He was respected and revered by many of the famous cowboys to follow such as John Wayne.

Mix enrolled in the Army on April of 1898 during the Spanish-American War. He married Grace I. Allin on July 18, 1902 and during his time off, he did not return back to duty. In November of 1902, he was listed as AWOL but never court-martialed or even discharged from the Army. After a year of marriage to Grace, they got an annulment. He turned around and married a woman named Kitty but this marriage only lasted a year as well. On January 10, 1909, he married again, this time to Olive Stokes.

After several years of different jobs while living in the Oklahoma Territory, he was hired at a 101,000 acre ranch known as the Miller Brothers 101 Ranch. He stood out as a skilled marksman and accomplished rider. In 1909 he won the National Riding and Rodeo Championship. A year later, he did his first movie in a supporting role showing off his cattle roping talents. Mix became an instant star and two years later a father when his wife Olive gave birth to their daughter, Ruth. Over the course of five years he was in over 100 movies, many with an actress named Victoria Forde. He became infatuated with her, fell in love, and divorced Olive.

By the 1920’s, he was in over 160 matinees that many would head to the theatre to escape from reality for a while. By 1929, he finished his last silent picture and at the age of 49 he was ready to hang up his spurs for good. Later that same year he was a pallbearer at the funeral of Wyatt Earp where it was rumored that he wept openly.

There were reports that on the day of October 12, 1940, Mix was driving his 1937 Cord 812 Phaeton on Arizona State Route 79 when his life came to a tragic end. After pausing at the Oracle Junction Inn, a well-liked gambling and drinking place, he called his agent, hopped in his car and headed on his way. They say he was moving at 80 mph when he hit the construction barriers near where a bridge was washed away by a flood. He couldn’t break in time, swerved his car, rolled twice into a gully, and was trapped beneath the car. In the back seat behind him was a large aluminum suitcase with lots of money, traveler’s check and jewels. The suitcase bolted forward hitting him in the head, breaking his neck and crushing his skull. Mix died instantly at the age of 60.

Along State Route 79 and marking the location where Mix died is a small stoned marker. The gully his car landed in is now named, “Tom Mix Wash”. On the stone marker is a plaque which reads, “In memory of Tom Mix whose spirit left his body on this spot and whose characterization and portrayals in life served to better fix memories of the old West in the minds of living men”.




Comments

  1. My great-great uncle was a stunt man for Tom Mix. I'd venture a guess that most people these days have never even heard of Tom Mix.

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    1. I have heard of him because he was in one my favorite western. I was on the website to see about him crying. That's cool about your great great uncle

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  2. Wow, what a story. I remember my Mom talking about him and seeing him in old silent movies myself. All his marriages must have helped set the stage for Hollywood marriages since then.

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  3. I remember his name, but that's about all. He was long gone from TV when I was born. I know that he was ranked high among the famous Cowboys such as Hop-a-Long Cassidy, Roy Rogers, and the Lone Ranger.

    Thanks for sharing this great information. I enjoyed reading about him.

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  4. i have never heard of him, thank you for the story...

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  5. Eric, very cool about your great-great uncle. I am one of those who never heard of him and enjoyed reading his story.

    Yes Lois, his personal life was quite interesting. I'm not sure if he married Victoria but the did have a hot love affair with her.

    Les, I enjoyed reading about him too. Many of the famous cowboys to follow in his boot steps, admired him.

    iZombie, I am with you. Thanks for reading it and commenting.

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  6. Didn't Bruce Willis play him in a film years ago? Also his hat is enormous.

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  7. Wow, what a crummy way to go. At least the story's got kind of a romantic "forever haunt the highway" feel to it. And I always a appreciate a fella who can pull of the white cowboy hat look.

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  8. His hat is enormous! I wonder if that's overcompensating? That was wild, the memorial location. It's in the middle of nowhere but whistling desert loneliness and yet a very nicely kept picnic area and monument. Im sort of personally hoping my monument is at a waterfall since I've lived in a freaking desert most of my life. He sounded like a real character. I used to babysit for Buster Crabbe's grandkid when I was teen. He lived down the street from me. A peer of Tom's and used to play Tarzan and Buck Rogers. I believe had pics of Mix on his wall.

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  9. Fantastic, all these great stories. It looks like the hat is as big as the legend. Thanks Sis for telling me about him and taking the highway by his monument.

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  10. Wonderful story! I'm sure 'The King of Cowboys' would enjoy knowing that on the spot he died, there was such a poignant memorial.

    You and Sharon really are a couple of adventurous gals!

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  11. Very cool. I love stopping at all those road side markers to learn what they are about. Never heard this story though! Thanks for sharing and for everyone's comments :)

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  12. Tom Mix was a friend of Wyatt Earp in the 1920s. Earp had become an advisor for cowboy movies. Earp died in 1929 and Mix was one of the pall bearers. Tom Mix openly cried at the funeral because, he said, Wyatt Earp's death was the end of an era.

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  13. Welsa, thanks for adding that bit of information.

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  14. My grandfather Lorenzo Fuentes was Tom Mix and Charlie Chaplin's stuntman in the 1920's. My grandfather owned a cirus which is named and still exists in Mexico. Circo Fuentes. My grandfather was and expert acrobat, dealt with horses and all types of animals. He would purchase the animals at Griffith Park. After my grandfather passed, his nephews branched out in several countries, cities taking the circus acts around the world. The circus was affiliated with the Ringling Bros. for a few yrs. My cousins travel and perform very often in Las Vegas at Circus Circus. We have many black and white photos of my granfather dressed up as Charlie Chaplin. What a small world.

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  15. I loved reading your story about your grandfather. I appreciate you coming here to tell it.

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  16. DIANNE S. PREACHERS KIDNovember 21, 2015 at 2:21 PM

    i see the most touching comment made about him that he was a pallbearer at the funeral of WYATT EARP...and that TOM MIX WEPT....see the movie TOMBSTONE WITH KURT RUSSELL and if you can catch the interview with Kurt and hear him talk about WYATT is awesome.....at the end of the movie ROBERT MITCHUM narrates and said among the pallbearers was Tom Mix.....TOM MIX WEPT

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  17. DIANNE S. PREACHERS KIDNovember 21, 2015 at 2:24 PM

    in the movie TOMBSTONE WITH KURT RUSSELL.....at the end Robert Mitchum narrates and said "among the pallbearers was TOM MIX..TOM MIX WEPT.

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