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Page 1 of the July 1996 ISSUE OF PASS PATROL CAMPFIRE TALES

The July issue included here contains the stories and not the advertisements. Keep in mind, the stories here were written in 1996.  

This issue includes

Buckhorn Wash

Black Dragon Canyon

Dusty and IQ-1

BUCKHORN WASH - Another of the many adventures of PASS PATROL

With two posses hot on their tails after the Castlegate Holdup, Butch Cassidy, Elzy Lay, and Joe Walker charged into Buckhorn Wash. They wasted no time getting to the San Rafael River and following it to Mexican Mountain where they had fresh horses waiting. After making that switch, they split up. Walker took the outlaw trail to Brown’s Hole with the money while Cassidy and Lay left an easy trail for the posse to follow all the way to Robbers Roost. They knew the posse would turn around as soon as they reached that outlaw stronghold.  Robbers Roost was the most difficult hideout on the Outlaw Trail for lawmen to capture any outlaw.

Meanwhile, the posse from Castledale reached Buckhorn Wash before the Price posse. Castledale had not considered that Cassidy’s carefully selected horses had already taken them past that point. When the Price posse arrived, Castledale thought they were the outlaws. Price figured they had just caught up to the outlaws. Both sides opened fire and although no one was hurt on either side, both posses were very embarrassed once they found out they were keeping each other busy while the outlaws escaped.

When I first began my search for the Outlaw Trail several years ago, history involving the outlaws led me to Buckhorn Wash.  It was nothing more than a faint path though dense brush and lots of trees. Today it is a graded two lane country highway. Once they improved the road, traffic exploded and the canyon is feeling the pressure. ATV trails go everywhere, interpretive signs are placed near some of the pictographs, and people travel through it by the busloads.

There are still a few attractions that are not marked.  The dinosaur footprint is one. Matt Warner’s signature is another. Matt was with Cassidy when he robbed is first bank in Telluride. The cattleguard pictographs are also unmarked.