Outlaw Trails and Hideouts

by Linda Farmer Harris

Since the January 2013 launch of Christian Fiction Historical Society, now Heroes, Heroines and History, several writers have posted about robbers, thieves, and outlaws. 

Most recently, Nancy J. Farrier blogged about "Billy the Kid" — http://www.hhhistory.com/2015/07/billy-kid-and-giveaway.html

Ramona K. Cecil wrote about the "First Train Robbery & The Reno Gang" — http://www.hhhistory.com/2013/09/worlds-first-train-robbery-reno-gang-by.html

It was fascinating reading about the people, but I wondered where they went after the shoot 'em-up, bang, bang was over.

What's the first old West hideout that comes to your mind? 

One of the best-known is Robbers Roost in southwest Utah. This hideout was home to Butch Cassidy and his Wild Bunch. There were only five women known to have been allowed inside Robbers Roost: Laura Bullion, Maude Davis, Etta Place, Ann Bassett, and Josie Bassett.

Upper Robbers Roost Canyon, aerial photo by Doc Searls

Robbers Roost Plat Map

Did you name Hole-in-the-Wall? Surrounded by imposing rock formations, there are few entrances to this remote pass in the Big Horn Mountains of Johnson County, Wyoming.

Hole in the Wall, Wyoming

Butch Cassidy and his Wild Bunch, Black Jack Ketchum, Kid Curry, the Sundance Kid, and the Hole In the Wall Gang are among the outlaws who used this hideout. Cassidy and Sundance really got around!

The Hole in the Wall is actually a pass

Robbers Roost and Hole-in-the-Wall were remote, secluded, and easily defended. Both places made it impossible for lawmen or anyone to approach without alerting the outlaws.

I'm a fan of Brown's Hole, now known as Brown's Park, located in Colorado on the border with Utah. It's also an isolated mountain valley along the Green River in Moffat County, Colorado and Daggett County, Utah.

Entrance to Brown's Hole

Brown's Hole was the birthplace of Ann Bassett, romantically involved with Butch Cassidy and Ben Kilpatrick. She is also the alleged girlfriend of Sundance Kid. Her occupations were western rancher and cattle rustler. Rustlin's one way to stock a ranch!

Initially considered a favorite wintering place for Shoshoni and Ute tribes, it became a frequented by fur trappers and mountain men including Kit Carson, Jim Bridger, Joe Meeks, and Jack Robinson.

By the 1860's Brown's Hole became a haven for outlaws, horse thieves, and cattle rustlers. It's interesting to note that the Brown's Hole code of ethics allowed for most "outlaw deed" except murder.

Ann Swinger wrote in her book Run, River, Run: A Naturalist's Journey Down One of the Great Rivers of the West (New York, 1975, p. 141), that Brown's Hole was "a more or less permanent hideout for many who found total honesty a personal encumbrance."

Part of the charm of this area is little has changed from those wild west frontier days. However, I'm confident you'll see more fishing rods than six guns should you have the opportunity to visit Brown's Hole.

If you were a desperado, where would you hide? 

Does your state have any famous outlaw hideouts?

Blessings,

Linda (Lin) Farmer Harris

Lin and her husband live on a ranch in Chimney Rock, Colorado. She writes historical fiction for adults and children. Her enjoyment of genealogy and family history adds unique elements to her stories.

 

Robber's Roost: Inside a Stagecoach Station

Today's post is brought to you courtesy of Janalyn Voigt. Escape into creative fiction and simple living.

Inside Robber's Roost

Time slows up a bit when you cross the border into Montana. The closer you get to Robber's Roost, the more it crawls. By the time the wooden turnstile gate swung around to admit me, I could have sworn time even flowed backward.

Turnstile gate at Robber's Roost

There I was, transported to 1863, when the logs used to build this stagecoach station were still green. Daly's, it was called, but when the reputation of an earlier outpost at this site attached to it, Robber's Roost it became. Outlaws, they were, and from that earlier building, they'd kept an eagle eye out for hapless travelers on the road from Virginia City, capital of Montana Territory, and the gold at Bannack. Pete Daly managed to survive the invasion until the Vigilantes of Montana ended the lives of many of his guests. Daly swore himself a victim, thus avoiding the noose, and rebuilt.

The new station led a quieter existence, becoming a refuge where travelers could find food, companionship, and a place to bed down.

Nowadays, visitors to this once-teaming stagecoach station are few, and most don't make it inside. The interior can be viewed only by special arrangement, using snail mail. I've wanted to explore a stagecoach station for a long time, so I took the trouble while on a research trip to Montana and now my husband and I found ourselves exploring a slice of Old West history. The member of the Virginia City Preservation Alliance who let us in the building left us for a bit so we could savor the experience on our own.

Inside Robber's Roost, looking out

The thud of our footsteps was the only sound apart from birdsong drifting in from the open doorway. the heat was oppressive but inside it was cool. I didn't know how to use my new Canon camera yet, so I snappped shots using my cell phone. There was the sense that I was capturing a moment in time that would never come again. How urgently we who love history want to preserve it so that others may touch it as we do. We explored the downstairs rooms, which were the entrance, a kitchen area with falling-down plaster, and two small rooms that probably served as bedrooms.

We then faced a daunting prospect.

I've lightened this image to show the details. The original photograph looks a lot like a dark hole with a bit of light at the top. This stairway led into an unknown darkness, and I had to steel myself to climb it. When I did, the first thing I noticed was the solid construction. This stairway would take a lot of boot heels without flinching.

At the top of the stair, I stepped onto floorboards in a huge chamber flooded with light from its many windows. I had expected something more dungeon-like, but this chamber would have been comfortable. People must have slept here, but there were no partitions, and my mind ran back over something I'd read about stagecoach travel. People slept sitting up in the coaches and sometimes on no more than a dirt floor at stations. By contrast, this would have seemed luxurious.

Upstairs at Robber's Roost stagecoach station

After we looked around upstairs, we went outside and found an old covered well.

The covered well at Robber's Roost presents an iconic image of  Wild West days.

I hope I've given you part of what was a moving experience. It's not possible to show you all my photographs of Robber's Roost in this blog post, but you'll find the gallery at my Literary Wayfarer Travel website.

I'd love to hear about your own ghost town visit or a historic site you're longing to visit. Also, remember to enter the giveaway drawing, below. You might just win a free copy of DawnSinger or one of the other great prizes in our month of giveaways. 

About Janalyn Voigt

Escape into creative worlds of fiction with Janalyn Voigt. Her unique blend of adventure, romance, suspense, and fantasy creates worlds of beauty and danger for readers. Tales of Faeraven, her epic fantasy series beginning with DawnSinger, carries the reader into a land only imagined in dreams.

Janalyn is represented by Sarah Joy Freese of Wordserve Literary. Her memberships include ACFW and NCWA.

When she's not writing, Janalyn loves to discover worlds of adventure in the great outdoors.

Visit the author site for Janalyn Voigt