Tom Mix Wash
Located along the Pinal Pioneer Parkway, between Florence, AZ, and Tucson, AZ, we found a roadside marker erected in memory of the famous silent film cowboy star, Tom Mix. It turns out that this is the spot where the actor was killed in 1940. I barely remember the Tom Mix reruns on TV in 1950’s.
From WikiPedia:
On the afternoon of October 12, 1940 Mix was driving his 1937 Cord 812 Phaeton near Florence, Arizona (between Tucson and Phoenix) on Arizona State Route 79 when he came upon construction barriers at a bridge previously washed away by a flash flood. A work crew watched as he was unable to brake in time and his car slid into a gully. A large polished aluminium suitcase he had put on the seat behind him flew forward and struck Mix in the back of the head, shattering his skull and breaking his neck. The 60-year-old actor was killed almost instantly. Accounts vary as to whether Mix was speeding before the accident, along with the role alcohol consumption may have played.
The site of his death is located on what is now State Route 79. There is an historical marker and the gully is named Tom Mix Wash. Mix is interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.
Alcohol MAY have been involved? Heh.
