Let's Talk Wyoming - Unraveling Secrets: Wyoming Weather, Cowboys' Triumph, Oliver Anthony moment & and the Quest for Cursed Gold Coins

Get ready for a thrilling ride as we unravel the mystery of Wyoming's weather, Cowboys' football, and a forgotten treasure tale that might just turn real. How does the ever-changing weather of Wyoming affect the local farmers struggling to complete their beet harvest? Find out how a race against nature is shaping up! Speaking of races, the Cowboys are amassing impressive victories. We get into all the action, discussing their wins against App State and New Mexico, and the anticipation for the game against Air Force.

But that's not all! We've got a tale that could be straight out of a western movie. An old prisoner's tale of lost gold coins worth $30,000 sparks a guard's interest, leading to a wild chase for treasure. As we sift through the rumors of cursed gold coins in the quiet town of Bird's Eye Station, we're left wondering - is the gold really cursed? We end our thrilling journey with a closer look at pressing issues in Wyoming and around the globe. From open border concerns to price surges and university troubles, we've got it all. So buckle up and join us on this wild journey exploring weather, sports, folklore, and more.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:24

Good morning and welcome to let's Talk Wyoming. I'm Mark Hamilton, your host, and today we'll of course, be looking at Wyoming weather. We'll be taking a look at Wyoming sports and get caught up on those cowboys and how they're doing. We'll also take a look at our Oliver Hanthony moment, as I get an opportunity to do a little venting and a little sharing, and finally we'll talk about $30,000 of gold coins. Thanks for joining us today and hope you enjoy the show.

Speaker 1: 1:01

Taking a look at Wyoming weather here on the first part of October. Definitely it is starting to change. We've got a forecast ahead here the week of the 10th, the 9th, I should say today is the 11th. We've got rain for a couple days, several temperatures, mountain forecasts for some potential Pretty good snow falls. They've got warnings up in the surrounding ranges around the Bighorn Mountains and everything around us here in Thermopolis. So we will be getting a little bit of winter weather and I did see some forecast out in the Midwest they could start seeing some storms coming through. So it looks like this October may be a little interesting, but the weather nicer days still. There's a lot of people out there. A lot of the farmers I should say are out there pulling sugar beets, getting that beet harvest done. So they would love to get these beets taken care of before this weather suddenly changes for them and they end up with a quagmire and end up with a real issue trying to finish up this harvest. So we'll see what the weather does, but right now it looks like two days of pretty good rainfall and that looks like with the weekend it's going to start to clear up. I saw some low 60s next week, which is kind of what happens this time of year. We start getting these cooler days. It might warm up a little bit, get a little bit of a storm, maybe warm up and then gradually just slide off the edge and no more warm days, just cold days with snow. So Wyoming weather here in the fall. We're still enjoying it.

Speaker 1: 2:36

We can look at Wyoming sports here on the 11th day of October. Been out for a couple weeks having to get caught up on Cowboy football. When we last left off we were talking about Appalachia State, app State, which Cowboys won. They did have homecoming against New Mexico. They won that game. It was a kind of interesting game but Cowboys came out victorious.

Speaker 1: 2:59

And then last week they played Fresno State on Saturday night in the Fox game of the week. That night game Tim Brando and Spencer Tillman making the call, they came out like ball of fire. They came out and got ahead and that first quarter scored 23 points 23 to 7 and a half. Second half different Cowboy team Couldn't score, couldn't do anything offensively. The defense held on and ultimately won the game. It was rather interesting. The starting quarterback for Fresno State got hurt. They put the relief guy in the second teamer and he actually drove him down the field and threw a really nice pass for a touchdown. Cowboys ended up having to punt. Fresno State turned around and head back up the field looking this guy I like that App State drive and our defensive end had a tip. He knocked it up in the air. He actually caught the ball, the tip ball for the interception and ran it back in the center, just dropping to the ground. He continued to run and always that worries him, he's going to strip the ball for him. But he went down and the Cowboys won it.

Speaker 1: 4:10

So this week is it brutal game for the Cowboys after these last two have been pretty tough games and you know, come even out of Texas games. So they've had some issues pretty beat up right now but they've got the Air Force Academy Saturday night down in Colorado Springs and for any cowboy fan you know this is a rival game. I saw Coaches show where coach ball was asked about that and you know he talked about it is for Wyoming, maybe not for the academies because they take on Navy and Army are probably two of their main rivals, but it's always a brutal game. The Air Force runs a option offense, a lot of crack blocking, a lot of blocking below the waist, and the Air Force Academy has always been accused of a little bit of some cheap blocks and it's always pretty rough on those defensive linemen. They come out of that pretty well, bruised up and Air Force is undefeated. They actually look like they can pass the ball this year.

Speaker 1: 5:12

So this is going to be a real test for the Cowboys. They've got to come out somehow. They've got to figure out how to be consistent on their offensive end. Harrison Whaley, the new sensation, the transfer he got injured late in the game Against Fresno State had to come out of the game. They've got him day to day so we'll see where he is going into this Air Force game. It would be a real blow for the Cowboys, because he's always got that chance to break it and just that Changes the look of the offense. But Cowboys, they have the ability, but now they just have to do it for four quarters. They can't be Jekyll and Hyde. They have issues, but in that second half they just could not get anything done. So it'll be good, it'll be on TV Cowboys. They've got to be getting some good PR for all these games. Cowboys are depending on which pole. They're just right outside the top 25, so the Cowboys will be in action against Air Force. Look forward to bringing the results next week In high school sports here in the state of Wyoming.

Speaker 1: 6:18

Getting down to the end of the season, two more weeks left of the regular season, teams are right now jockeying for a playoff positions. It'll be interesting to see what happens in 4a. It looks like Sheridan this kind of surprise star Valley did knock off Cody pretty convincingly, but I would say that could be a repeat of matchup in Laramie for the state championship. In 2a I would have to go with big horn. 1a right now is this kind of wide open. I think there are three or four teams that could get into that. So it's looking pretty good that football so far has been pretty good and had some exciting games. Volleyball the same Boy ball is going to be coming here at the end of the month with their regionals. In the following week They'll have their state tournament in Casper.

Speaker 1: 7:08

On Other note of football, I don't know if anybody else is tired of the NFL as I am, and I definitely will tell you and I hate to admit this, but I'm not a Taylor Swift fan and this whole fiasco with her and Travis Kelsey from the Chiefs Just getting tired and all they want to show on any replay is what this Taylor Swift doing during the football game. But again, the NFL definitely likes to what I'd say I. They're looking at that dollar, they're going to do it. So NFL season continues and our Josh Allen right now is at 3-2. The Bills have been kind of a little bit sporadic defense. They've had some injuries, but that's really the only team I'm really watching right now and this is not very frequently, but would be the Buffalo Bills because of Josh Allen. But that's life here in the United States with our NFL football. It's time for that Oliver Anthony moment.

Speaker 1: 8:08

Talk about living in this new world with an old soul. A lot of things are on her plate. Right now. A lot of things are going on in this world that really make you think. With the situation happening over in the Middle East between Hamas and Israel, with the attack when I heard that immediately about the attack of those people in Israel by Hamas and the people that were killed, it made me think about our country Right now, what we're facing, with an open border and a lot of people coming in. How many people are here in this country that are wanting to do something to us? And with the Middle East and with the Ukraine situation, everything is just on fire right now. There are just so many pots that are boiling just ready to blow up and again, as I brought back to our southern border, there's been millions of people that have come across and they don't even know who's coming across, and a lot of these people are in our country right now. It's going to have an effect on us with our economy.

Speaker 1: 9:14

I saw a post on Twitter. Somebody said did you notice the difference from a year ago with the prices? And I had to respond from one month, I've seen prices increase and we all have, and it's just getting to be a difficult time out there with all these things in our lives, we can't help but see what's going on. And then we've got a lot of stuff going on internally with some of the issues going on, like here in Wyoming, at our University of Wyoming, some people have some concerns. Other things that are going on in our state with the BLM making a land grab on some of the BLM land, trying to pull it out of use by the people here in the state of Wyoming.

Speaker 1: 9:54

Definitely a time. I see these numbers, the amount of people that are going to some type of a church. It's at an all time low right now, and now is the time when it should be at an all time high. It talks about in revelations about at this point, about looking up, and by looking up we're looking up to God for guidance. We're looking to Him with our prayers, and so we need to make sure that we are praying for our country, need to pray for your family, be prepared to defend your family. What's your plan of attack If something does happen? Do you have options or do you know what you're going to do?

Speaker 1: 10:31

Here in our state of Wyoming we do have a lot of people that have a lot of firearms by our Second Amendment and that was one of the issues they ran into in Israel, the people that didn't have any type of weaponry and they said there's only less than 5% of the people that have a weapon and it's really hard to get a weapon and now they're going to let everyone have a weapon over there. They suddenly have changed their mind. It's a time to sit back and reflect. Maybe it's a time to go to that local church. There is a lot of church services available, I know online. I'm involved with also our local church, but also with an online life church. Online is really easy to find this type of life church. They have services throughout the week where you can come in anonymously and listen to the message. You can find somebody to turn to in these troubled times in our world right there, right now. So pray for our country, pray for your family's protection and pray for your guidance in the difficult days ahead.

Speaker 1: 11:36

Today in our history section, we want to look at a story about the Birds Eye State Station Gold, and this comes from the Lost Mines and Buried Treasures of Old Wyoming by WC Jamison. During the Wyoming warmth of mid August of 1888, a snow scotch pulled into Birds Eye State Station located in Fremont County about 20 miles southwest of the current town of Thermopolis. The site, now long abandoned and fallen into ruins, is located on the present day Wind River Indian Reservation. In addition to the driver and the guard, the coach carried two passengers, luggage, some mail and a metal straw box containing approximately $30,000 in gold coins. Expecting a greeting from the station master, the driver and guard were surprised as two strangers emerging from the station house, wearing masks and pointing revolvers at them. At the same time, two more masked men, each on horseback, suddenly appeared at the rear of the coach, also brandishing guns. One of the men on foot ordered the driver and guard off the stage, while the other invited the passengers to step out of the coach.

Speaker 1: 12:43

Within minutes, the heavy locked straw box was thrown from the top of the stage where it had been stored. As the driver was held at gunpoint, he inquired about the station master and was informed his friend was tied up inside and unharmed. The coach's passengers watched as one of the outlaws hammered on the lock of the straw box with an iron bar and a frugal attempt to break it open. After ten minutes of trying to break the lock, with no success. One of the outlaws on the horseback gave a whistle and pointed back towards the northeast. In the distance, two men were spotted riding towards the stage station. Believing the newcomers to be lawmen, one of the outlaws tied one end of the rope around a handle on the straw box and dallyed the other around his saddle horn. A moment later the four men were riding into the brush and trees to the west, dragging the heavy box behind them. The two newcomers rode up on the station as the driver was untying the station master. The driver recognized them as area ranchers and they explained they were stopping by to visit their friend and share some coffee. They guarded and informed them that the coach had just been robbed and encouraged the two ranchers to go in pursuit of the outlaws. The ranchers, men in their sixties, confessed they were not prepared to go chasing after stagecoach robbers and offered instead to ride to Andersonville, the predecessor of the maulplice, to inform a deputy. Another hour passed while fresh horses were hooked up to the coach and passengers refreshed themselves and had a short meal. Finally, the stage continued on towards Lander. It was late the following afternoon when the deputy arrived at the station. After interviewing the station master, the lawmen promised he would do his best to track down the robbers, then mounted up and returned to town as a result of pressing duties and inability to raise a posse. The outlaws were never pursued and the robbery was never solved.

Speaker 1: 14:37

Twenty-three years later, a San Quentin prison inmate lay dying in the facility's infirmary. Though his name has been lost to history, it is known that he had been in prison for twenty-two years for his role in a stagecoach hold up in Arizona. While serving his time, he was known as a hard worker and got along with the prisoners and guards alike For weeks. As the inmate grew weaker from the ravages of consumption, he was visited by the many friends from his cell block that he had made over the years. Some of the prison guards even stopped by from time to time to look in on him, in particular one named Jones, who was in charge of the section where the prisoner was housed. On one occasion the warden even came by to visit with the dying man and sat with him for more than an hour talking about a variety of topics, late one evening when Jones signed off from guard duty. At the end of his shift he stopped by the infirmary to see his friend, while the doctor was busy with his duties in another part of the building. Jones pulled a small flouse from his coat pocket and gave the prisoner a sip of whiskey.

Speaker 1: 15:41

On this night, the prisoner Beckon Jones sit closer to the bed and told him an amazing story 23 years earlier, said the inmate, he and three companions robbed a stagecoach at Bird's Eye stage station in Wyoming and escaped with a strongbox filled with $30,000 in gold coins. He said that they tried to bust into the container so they could retrieve the gold and distribute it into their saddlebags, but were unable to break the lock. As they were attempting to open the docks, outlaws heard riders approaching, praying they might be lawmen. They tied a rope to the strongbox, mounted their horses and rode away into cover, dragging a container behind them. They had traveled approximately 200 yards when it became apparent they would have to abandon the strongbox once it was slowing them down, the riders pulled the box and dragged it into the dense brush, retrieved the rope and together they rode off. The prisoner said they could see the stagecoach station from the place where they left the box. Later that night, while camped several miles away, the outlaws agreed to let the situation cool down for a time before returning for the money.

Speaker 1: 16:49

Several months later, and before a plan, returned to Bird's Eye stage station to retrieve the stolen gold, four men decided to rob another coach. This time they met resistance in the form of a guard who was not imintimidated by the outlaws as he opened fire with his shotgun. Two of the passengers pulled their own revolvers, empty them into the fling outlaws. By the time the smoke cleared, three of the Woodbury robbers were dead and the fourth was on the ground in pain from a wound in his leg. He was arrested, tried and convicted and subsequently sentenced to a long term in San Quentin Prison in California.

Speaker 1: 17:24

Law enforcement authorities never connected the outlaw with the robbery nearly a year earlier at the Bird's Eye stage station in Wyoming and for years he kept his involvement a secret. Few days after his last visit with Jones, the prisoner died and was buried in nearby prison cemetery. The guard never told anyone what he had learned from the prisoner and several weeks later he wrote the tall tale down in a notebook, recreating it to the best he could remember. At the first opportunity he decided he was going to travel to Wyoming to try to find the strongbox containing $30,000 in gold coins. Months later, the guard took some time off from his job, took a train to Wyoming and rented a horse. He inquired into the whereabouts of the Bird's Eye stage station but was informed that it had gone out of business years earlier and only a few old men in town remembered it. From one of the old timers, the guard received some vague directions. Though he searched for the old stagecoats station for several days, jones was never able to locate it. This courage would be returned to his home in California, place his notebook in a drawer and returned to his job. When Jones died 13 years later, the notebook contained the description of the robbery and the approximate location of the lost gold-filled strongbox fell into the hands of his only son. Intrigued by the notion of finding the loot, the son began making plans to travel to Wyoming.

Speaker 1: 18:52

During the summer of 1924, younger Jones arrived at Thermopolis. Within a few days he found the remains of the old stage station. On the second day of his search, however, he fell on, broke a leg. With great difficulty he managed to return to Thermopolis, where he was treated by a physician who set the bad break and confined him to bed for three weeks. By the time he was able to travel, the younger Jones opted to abandon his quest for the gold for the time being and return home to California. Before leaving he gave his father's notebook to the physician. He is not known where the physician ever read the notebook, but in 1955 one of his children, now a grown man with a family of his own, encountered it. Fascinated with the story of Bird's Eye State Station robbery, he decided to make an attempt to find the gold From his home in Casper. The man departed for Thermopolis early one morning, driving his vehicle along State Highway 2026 and reaching an intersection at Shoshone he was struck by another car and killed instantly. The notebook was never found.

Speaker 1: 19:59

Among the handful of people who are familiar with the tale of the Bird's Eye Station robbery and the lost $30,000 in gold coins, a few are convinced the loot is cursed and that whoever attempts to find it inevitably meets with failure or disaster. Whatever the case, is agreed that the gold, now worth close to of a million dollars, is still contained in a metal straw box, still lying in the dents brush some 200 yards from the site of the old station. Kind of an interesting story. I had heard this story from my granddad when he was still alive many, many years ago and from where I'm doing my podcast right now.

Speaker 1: 20:38

It is about right over the hill is Bird's Eye Station, about 15, 20 miles over there Today. It's really hard to get to it because you have to go through private property to get through there and access is very limited. But definitely something that you might want to ponder before you go to look for the loot out there the $30,000 in gold coins that, hey, it may be cursed and may be not a good choice. Thanks for joining us today and we hope you enjoy our podcast. Whisper the code of the West. We ride for the brand and we ride for Wyoming. Three, two, one, three, two, one go, come on, come on, come on.