Robbers Roost, Utah

Three or four of these to find:

In Wayne county, about 10 miles southeast of Hanksville is one of the biggest, most well known Robbers Roost.Being somewhat south, it was preferred in winter. The Dirty Devil river had to be crossed. The law never arrived and arrested anyone here. Another robbers roost is in Millard county, right next to Tatow Knob, 8416 feet, in the House range, due north of Swasey Peak which is 9669 feet. A sheriff once arrived at this roost and took the accused back to Nevada territory. The third roost is due east of the town of Beaver, the birthplace of Butch Cassidy (born Robert LeRoy Parker) on 4/13/1866. Today it is on Beaver canyon road 153. It may have been good for outlaws simply because of isolation. Another area near Hurricane had hard workers who jokingly named their area as Robbers Roost, since no one else wanted to arrive at this out-of-the-way place.

Frequented by known outlaws and rustlers:

Brown's Hole, a basin area mainly in Utah but edging into Colorado and Wyoming was a place where the lawman wasn't welcome. Butch Cassidy's hideout is on the map, to the southeast of present-day Flaming Gorge. The bad guys often spent good amounts of their ill-gotten gains, helping their local economy. Frontier juries often returned not-guilty verdicts. The victims were thought to have plenty of money: large cattle ranches and railroads didn't get enough sympathy. The banks could get a posse together, but it wasn't as skilled as the bad guys. Even brands on cattle could be cleverly changed. Finally the ranch might hire a hit-man to take care of their problem. Then who was the bad guy?

The wild bunch often had different members:

There is a familiar picture of Butch Cassidy's gang taken in Fort Worth, Texas when the members were feeling intoxicated and successful. It later helped the law know who they were seeking: Harry Longabaugh (the Sundance Kid), Will Carver (Will Case), Ben Kilpatrick (the Tall Texan), Harvey Logan (Kid Curry), and Robert LeRoy Parker (Butch Cassidy). There may have been dozens of men who worked (robbed) in different, small groups. Major crimes were committed in Utah, South Dakota, Nevada, Wyoming, New Mexico, and Montana in the years 1897 to 1901.