Camped outside the edge of...
Camped outside the edge of the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area with Sunset Pass in the background.
When Robert LeRoy Parker first visited Robbers Roost, he used the Angel Trail to get his horses across the canyon between the two trailheads. The Angel Trail was used frequently by outlaws simply because it was the shortest distance between Hanksville and Robbers Roost, and it was easily defended. Anyone coming across that canyon was a sitting duck for a good rifleman. On the other hand, the opposite was true for anyone crossing the canyon with a posse in hot pursuit.
During the 1870s, years before Parker saw the Angel Trail, Cap Brown and a couple of young riders were driving a herd of stolen horses across it. A posse closed in and they were forced to stop and fight. One of the young riders was hit by a bullet before the posse gave up and headed for home. The outlaws took their herd across the canyon to Angel Point then camped beside a hill where the young rider died. Even today, that hill is marked on maps as Dead Man's Hill.
We left the remains of the cabin and continued down the canyon to Roost Spring. We still had strong winds to deal with, and the temperature was dropping like a rock. A radio station claimed we would be enjoying snowfall and temperatures below 20 degrees on this April night. Since the wind prevented making a campfire, we cooked our meals on our tailgates and then made our beds in the backs of the vehicles. Roost Spring was, and still is, a popular watering hole on the Roost. So popular, in fact, that there are cowboy glyphs written on the rocks dating back to the 1800s. One of those signatures is Pearl Biddlecome's, the author mentioned earlier. Her family moved onto the Roost in 1909 and founded the first successful ranch after the outlaws moved out. The water troughs at Roost Spring were built by her father.
At the time, Robert LeRoy Parker rode across the Roost on his first trip (he was not yet using the name Butch Cassidy, and the Wild Bunch did not yet exist). Lawmen had never been to the Roost, but cattle thieves and horse thieves were using it regularly. Parker had no way of knowing he would some day rule the Roost or that he would be credited with founding and leading the Wild Bunch, the most infamous band of outlaws to roam the western states. Parker perfected the tactics for robbing banks and trains, yet his outlaws had a code of honor. Women were respected and treated well. Killing was to be avoided. Stealing from common folks was enough to be banned from the country. And nothing was worth doing unless it was fun.
Climbing over Sunset Pass...
Climbing over Sunset Pass.
One book tells the story of a woman who lived alone on a ranch. One night, a lone rider arrived and asked if she had anything to eat. She fed the man, and during the conversation mentioned that she was spending her last night in her home. Her husband had died, and she was unable to keep up with the payments. A banker was expected to arrive in the morning demanding the money or he would repossess her property. The stranger finished his meal then handed her enough cash to pay off the debt. He told her to be sure she got the deed fully signed and clear of all debt before the banker left. The next morning, she paid the banker and collected her deed. She later learned that the banker was robbed by a lone rider on his way back to town. That lone rider was Butch Cassidy.
Robert LeRoy Parker took his horses across the Angel Trail, watered them at Roost Spring, camped at Silver Spring, and then completed his journey to Telluride. He would return to the Roost years later under the name of Butch Cassidy, and with the help of Elzy Lay, would spend an entire winter preparing to pull off the most daring robbery Utah ever saw. It was called the Castle Gate Holdup... but that's another story. Join us next month for part two of "The Outlaw Trail."