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“Bite-Size Bits of Local, National, and Global History”
Newcastle in Weston County, Wyoming — The American West (Mountains)
 

Canyon Springs Station:

Site of the "Treasure Run" Stage Robbery

 
 
Canyon Springs Station: Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Barry Swackhamer, June 6, 2016
1. Canyon Springs Station: Marker
Caption' Cheyenne-Deadwood Stage.
Inscription.
Outlaws haunted the Cheyenne - Deadwood Stage Line during the gold boom in Deadwood, Dakota Territory. By the end of 1877, gold seekers had mined more than ten million dollars worth of gold from the Black Hills, which the stage companies were desperate to protect. In 1877, the Cheyenne - Deadwood stage company purchased a "salamander" iron safe and installed it in one of their stages. The manufacturer's warranty claimed that it could not be opened in less than six days without knowledge of the combination. This specially outfitted stage made weekly "treasure runs" to Cheyenne.
On the afternoon of 26 September 1878, a band of outlaws rode into Canyon Springs Station, locked the stable hand in the grain room, hid in the barn, and prepared for a shootout. The stage pulled into the ambush, and was attacked while the horse team was being changed. As bullets flew, one passenger died while two guards and two outlaws were wounded. The outlaws seized the stagecoach and drove it into the trees, where they cracked the uncrackable safe and made off with over $27,000 in gold bullion, currency, and jewelry (approximately $1.75 million in 2010. Forty percent of the gold was never recovered - according to local legend it is buried somewhere nearby.
 
Erected by Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office
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Topics. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: Notable Events. A significant historical date for this entry is September 26, 1878.
 
Location. 44° 4.65′ N, 104° 8.268′ W. Marker is in Newcastle, Wyoming, in Weston County. Marker is at the intersection of U.S. 85 and Mallo Road, on the right when traveling south on U.S. 85. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 24695 US Highway 85, Four Corners WY 82715, United States of America. Touch for directions.
 
Other nearby markers. At least 5 other markers are within 16 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies. Cambria Salt Mine (approx. 7.3 miles away); Flying V Cambria Inn (approx. 8.9 miles away); Salt Creek Overlook (approx. 11 miles away); Cambria (approx. 11.3 miles away); Inyan Kara Methodist Episcopal Church (approx. 16 miles away).
 
More about this marker. This marker is locate near the Four Corners Country Inn, but there are only three corners there.
 
Also see . . .
1. Cheyenne-Deadwood Stage. Wyoming Tales and Trails website entry:
With the stages carrying gold, the danger from road agents was always present, indeed, to such an extent that the line used a ironclad coach named the "Monitor" for transporting gold... Regular passengers were not permitted and extra guards known as "messengers" would be on board. (Submitted on September 25, 2016, by Barry Swackhamer of Brentwood, California.)
Canyon Springs Station: Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Barry Swackhamer, June 6, 2016
2. Canyon Springs Station: Marker
Four Corners Country Inn is in the background.
 

2. Lame Johnny's Treasure - Canyon Springs Stage Robbery - 45 POUNDS OF GOLD!. TreasureNet website entry:
Cornelius Donahue, aka John A. Hurley, aka Lame Johnny, was a famous outlaw of the Black Hills region. Lame Johnny was born in Philadelphia about 1850 and came to the Black Hills in 1876 to seek his fortune. Usually his "fortune" was found by rustling horses but occassionally he and his gang went after stagecoaches. His most famous robbery was probably the stagecoach robbery of the armored stage known as the "Monitor" - a special stage built for the Homestake mine bullion shipments, equipped with loopholes for guns and a treasure box bolted to the floor. (Submitted on September 25, 2016, by Barry Swackhamer of Brentwood, California.) 
 
Deadwood Stage crossing the Cheyenne, image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Wyoming Tales and Trails
3. Deadwood Stage crossing the Cheyenne,
 
 
Credits. This page was last revised on December 5, 2021. It was originally submitted on September 25, 2016, by Barry Swackhamer of Brentwood, California. This page has been viewed 997 times since then and 150 times this year. Photos:   1, 2, 3. submitted on September 25, 2016, by Barry Swackhamer of Brentwood, California.

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May. 7, 2024