If You Were an Outlaw Where Would You Shop?

If You Were an Outlaw Where Would You Shop?. . Diagonally across the street from you was the Ashley Cooperative Mercantile. It began in 1881 as a small, one-story log and rock building. By 1900, a new two-story general merchandise store with groceries, meat, dry goods, hardware, shoes, and a men's department was constructed. Area residents also used the store to deposit and exchange money, to obtain loans, and to make investments. The volume of money became more than the Co-op could handle, resulting in the establishment of the first Bank of Vernal. The bank opened inside the Co-op in 1903. To discourage local outlaws a large walk-in vault and a bulletproof screen surrounding a steel-lined counter became added security features to the new bank. , , In the early 1880's, two gun-toting horsemen robbed the Co-op. At closing time, the robbers caught the store clerk up on a ladder, where he was showing off a new, brimmed hat to two customers. In response to the clerk's reply, they fired a shot, grazing the store clerk's hatband before making off with the money. , , Butch Cassidy (Robert Leroy Parker) was also a Co-op customer. In 1896, he purchased a Colt .45 single-action revolver which may have been used by the outlaw on his exploits with the notorious Wild Bunch. , , (Photo captions) , The corner building is the Ashley Mercantile Cooperative. Horses were still the only form of rapid transportation when this photo was taken, around 1900. , , Can you see the mortar and pestle located on top of the pole in front of the Vernal Drug Company? Those were the symbols for druggists whose job it was to mix their own prescriptions which were "carefully compounded". , , The statue of the soldier, commonly known as the "Doughboy," is a tribute to the men from this basin who served their country as world war one veterans. The statue was located in the middle of the intersection of Main Street and Vernal Avenue until 1925. It is now located in front of the Uintah County Courthouse on Main Street as part of a memorial to all of the veterans of wars since world war one.