County seat war

These "wars" often involved nothing more than lining up at the ballot box, but sometimes partisans for a particular town would resort to voter fraud, intimidation, violence, or even killings.

The fight between Coronado and neighboring Leoti in western Kansas is considered the bloodiest occurrence of this phenomenon.

Leoti hired lawmen Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson from Dodge City, Kansas to help win the fight.

In Colorado, a silver mining boom in Grand County led to the escalation of violence when the county seat was changed from Hot Sulphur Springs to Grand Lake in 1881.

The county sheriff, who had shot one of the pro-Grand Lake officials in the incident, wound up killing himself soon after the event.