Let's Talk Wyoming
A podcast about Wyoming and everything we talk about including the weather, politics, energy & agriculture, sports & everything else effecting our state.
Let's Talk Wyoming
Let's Talk Wyoming - Searing Heat, Yellowstone's Fiery Threat, Paul Harvey and Treasure Hunts of the Wild West
Join me, Mark Hamilton, on a gripping journey through the pressing issues facing Wyoming today. Feel the heat as we tackle the searing weather and potential arson-fueled wildfires menacing Yellowstone Park, threatening homes and communities. Ever wondered about the impact of such disasters and the need for accountability? I'll voice my concerns and reflections. Plus, hear a heartfelt letter from Paul Harvey, brimming with timeless wisdom for future generations, and delve into the recent stock market chaos that’s causing widespread distress over retirement funds. This episode is a blend of current events, personal insights, and practical advice, designed to keep you informed and inspired.
Venture into the wild west with our thrilling stories "The Treasure of Hallelujah Gulch" and "Western Wyoming Treasure Hunt." Follow a relentless sheriff and his posse as they chase down outlaws in a dramatic shootout, leading to a hidden treasure hunt that spans years and captures the imagination. Then, uncover the secrets of stagecoach robberies near ancient ruins, pondering the lore and spirit of Wyoming with me. These captivating tales showcase the rugged landscape and resilient spirit of its people, celebrating the undying pursuit of dreams. Don't miss this multifaceted episode that promises both the latest updates and enchanting stories of the Old West.
Good morning and welcome to let's Talk Wyoming. I'm Mark Hamilton, your host Today. We'll be talking about our hot Wyoming weather, some happenings in the stock market, and a lot of it isn't very positive. We'll also have a story from Paul Harvey. We'll share a little bit of wisdom from the good book and we'll talk about the robbery that took place at Hallelujah Gulch. Thanks for joining us and I hope you enjoy the show.
Speaker 1:Look at Wyoming weather here on the 30th day of July. Yes, july is almost over, thank goodness. Looking out the window, as I mentioned last week, nothing but smoke outside. Another warning for sensitive breathing situations, sensitive air out there. It's just totally unbelievable what's happening here right now. Reported a new fire up on the east gate of the Yellowstone Park outside of Cody and it is getting larger. The current report is that 1,000 acres. There's a lot of homes and other facilities up there that are in the line of this fire and I've looked at maps here recently and they're just all over the west right now and I think a lot of these are being set intentionally. This has happened before. They've arrested people that are doing this. It's an absolute crime. These people should be thrown in prison for quite a long time. This is a crime against our humanity doing something like this to our forest.
Speaker 1:But it is definitely hot right now. We had a little bit of a break over the weekend. A little bit of a storm came through, a little rain, but we're back up to 90. And of course, the wind's been blowing. It's just miserable. Everybody out there is just miserable. It's affecting a lot of the stuff going on in the area. So here is the 30th, and this may be one of those years that we get away from this later on, late in the fall, when we may get some late rain. Snow is that wet snow, but I know years in the past that it's been some of these fires. They don't die out until winter comes, so it could be a long rest of the summer and a long fall heading into winter here in the state of Wyoming.
Speaker 1:Today I'd like to share a story from Paul Harvey, and this is Paul Harvey's letter to his grandchildren. We tried so hard to make things better for our kids that we made them worse For my grandchildren. I'd like better. I'd really like for them to know about hand-me-down clothes and homemade ice cream and leftover meatloaf sandwiches. I really would hope you would learn humility by being humiliated and that you learn honesty by being cheated. I hope you learn to make your own bed and mow the lawn and wash the car, and I really hope nobody gives you a brand new car when you are 16. It will be good if at least one time you can see puppies born and your old dog put to sleep.
Speaker 1:I hope you get a black eye fighting for something you believe in. I hope you have to share a bedroom with your younger brother or sister and it's all right if you have to draw a line down the middle of the room, but when he wants to crawl under the covers with you because he's scared, I hope you let him in. When you want to see a movie and your little brother or sister wants to tag along, I hope you'll let them. I hope you have to walk uphill to school with your friends and that you live in a town where you can do it safely On rainy days. When you have to catch a ride, I hope you don't ask your driver to drop you two blocks away so you won't be seen riding with someone as uncool as your mom. If you want a slingshot, I hope your dad teaches you how to make one instead of buying one. I hope you learn to dig in the dirt and read books when you learn to use computers. I hope you also learn to add and subtract in your head. I hope you get teased by your friends when you have your first crush on a boy or girl and when you talk back to your mother that you learned what ivory soap tastes like. May you skin your knee climbing a mountain, burn your hand on a stove and stick your tongue on a frozen flagpole. I don't care if you try beer once, but I hope you don't like it. And if a friend offers you dope or a joint, I hope you realize he or she is not your friend. I sure hope you make time to sit on the porch with your grandma or grandpa and go fishing with your uncle. May you feel sorrow at a funeral and joy during the holidays. I hope your mother punishes you when you throw a baseball through your neighbor's window and that she hugs you and kisses you at Christmas time when you give her a plaster mold of your hand. These things I wish for you are tough times and disappointment, hard work and happiness. To me it's the only way to appreciate life. And another great piece from Paul Harvey again, through the years of listening every day at lunch to Paul Harvey and the rest of the story, it's always great to hear additional wisdom from Paul Harvey In other news that is affecting our state and our nation.
Speaker 1:Here on Monday morning, the 5th, the stock market has had a major setback. I saw some reports on this on X Sunday night about expecting this to happen and boy it was amazing. I tried to get on my Fidelity account this morning to maybe sell a few stocks. They were having technical difficulties. So probably what was happening? They were just getting crashed with the amount of people that were trying to bail out of the market, worrying that we'd have a total collapse. People have talked about this. I've heard a lot of experts say it was coming and you just don't think it's going to happen. I have diversified a lot of my stuff but 401k, retirement stuff is all in stocks and bonds and such at a large brokerage house and you just start to wonder about people across the country how they're feeling today when they looked at their 401k and what they were going to have for retirement. Again, we just hope that with some time that this possibly can come back, but right as of now, where we are in the country, with everything going on, I don't know how quickly that's going to happen so definitely a day that a lot of people are going to remember on the 5th of August 2024. We'll see what happens on the market in the next week to 10 days, if it does rebound at all.
Speaker 1:A lot of this was started I guess mostly it was started from the collapse in Japan with their economy. They've been in a major setback and of course, this is a world market and everything kind of goes that direction, and then it can help again. We're talking about wars that are potentially happening in the Middle East. I thought we were maybe going to avoid something, but it's gotten reignited and I think it's going to just spiral out of control. If we have that situation, then our energy prices will go through the roof if there is problems in the Gulf. So these next few months might be a little rocky, heading into our November election, and a lot of experts said there was going to be a black swan event to happen and people are starting to wonder.
Speaker 1:Maybe this is the true facts of things, but for everyone out there, I guess it's the time. I hope you had a lot of dollars stuffed under your bed in that secret hiding spot. You might need them in the weeks ahead. And finally, reading a verse that I want to share that I ran across yesterday and I think it has a lot of bearing on where we are, and this comes from 2 Timothy 4, 2 through 4. Preach the word of God patiently, correct, rebuke and encourage your people with good teaching, for a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. They will reject the truth and chase after myths. Today in our history section, we want to share an interesting story from the lost mines and buried treasures of Old Wyoming by WC Jameson Hallelujah Gulch Robbery Loot.
Speaker 1:Suitwater County in the southwestern part of Wyoming was the location of dozens of stagecoach robberies from the late 1860s through the 1880s. A number of outlaw gangs worked the region and tens of thousands of dollars were lost to them by the stage companies and their passengers. One such gang was composed of seven or eight unnamed toughs, save for one, matt Borden. His identity was learned. The gang had great success, robbing the Hudson to Downing Stages, a place known as the Narrows near Green River. After robbing a coach of its mailbags and strongbox, the outlaws known as the Hallelujah Gulch Gang took money, watches and jewelry from the passengers and sometime, it was reported, even their boots. After each robbery, the gang retreated to the Hallelujah Gulch, the remote canyon through which flowed a small stream that eventually joined the Green River. A short distance away, during one robbery in 1886, the gang took a $31,000 shipment of gold coins. It was the act that finally tipped the scales against them. Law enforcement officials, along with the operators of the stagecoach line, decided they had enough of the Hallelujah Gulch gang and it was time to put them out of business once and for all.
Speaker 1:After assembling a posse of a dozen men, the sheriff followed the gang's trail from the robbery site into Hallelujah Gulch. The lawmen rode cautiously into the gulch, an ideal place for an ambush. They traveled nearly the entire length of the canyon without mishap, and in the deepest recesses of the gulch they spotted a plume of smoke coming from the chimney of a rock and log cabin ahead. They suspected, correctly, that this was the hiding place of the gang. After looking around to make certain, no guards were posted, the sheriff and his deputies dismounted and crept on foot towards the cabin, revolvers and rifles at the ready. One of the deputies moved to the side of the cabin, put his ear to the unclinked spaces in the logs and determined that the men inside were playing cards and their attention was focused on their poker game. After receiving brief instructions from the sheriff, the lawmen burst into the cabin, withdrawn revolvers, ordered the men inside to raise their hands. Instead, the outlaws pulled their own guns and a shootout ensured in the close quarters.
Speaker 1:Every one of the outlaws was killed, except for Matt Borden, who received a serious wound. Two lawmen suffered wounds which were bandaged, and the men were declared fit enough to travel. Because Borden was bleeding heavily, the lawman suspected he wouldn't live long Holding a gun to his head. They questioned him about the gold coins and other stagecoach robbery loot taken during the previous months. Borden pretended to faint and acted like he was unconscious, and acted like he was unconscious when the posse members were distracted while treating their own wounded. He crawled away, mounted a horse and rode out of Hallelujah Gulch before anyone realized he was gone.
Speaker 1:By the time Borden reached the town of Green River, he realized he would die if his wound did not receive some attention. It was midnight when he banged on the door of a doctor's office pleading for help. By the time the town doctor opened the door, borden had collapsed to the porch in a faint. The doctor dragged Borden inside, placed him on a table and treated his wounds. But he was not optimistic that his nighttime visitor would live until dawn. When he had done what he could for the stranger, he carried him into a spare room and placed him on the bed. When the doctor checked on Borden in the morning, he was surprised to find the injured man awake. As the doctor removed the bandages from his previous night, cleaned the wounds and applied new wrappings, borden confessed who he was and why he had been shot.
Speaker 1:At first the doctor believed his own life might be in peril, but Borden was submissive and non-threatening. As the doctor cleaned the wounds, borden bragged about how many stagecoaches the gang had robbed and how much loot they had taken. The gang had used some of the money and gold to purchase supplies in town, he said, but most of it was buried in Hallelujah Gulch. The outlaws intended to rob a few more stage and leave the area for good. Borden told the doctor. All his companions had been killed and as soon as he was able to travel he would return to the Gaults and dig up the money for himself. He would be rich, he said, and he would travel to California where he planned to live like a king.
Speaker 1:When the doctor gave Borden the bad news, he told the outlaw that he didn't expect him to live more than a few hours. He had lost so much blood and his wound was fatal. The diagnosis angered Borden and he threatened to shoot the physician. When the reality of the situation finally sunk in, however, borden broke down and cried During the day. He went astray and fell in with these bad men.
Speaker 1:An hour later, borden called the doctor into the room. He thanked him for the efforts to save his life and said he wanted to tell him where the location was of the buried loot at Hallelujah Gulch. He said the hiding place was so simple it would be the first place the search party would overlook. Borden asked the doctor for a pencil and a piece of paper so he could draw a map. The doctor went to fetch the requested items, but when he returned, borden said he was tired and wanted to sleep for a while. When the doctor looked in on him. An hour later the outlaw was dead. He had written nothing on the piece of paper. At the first opportunity, the doctor informed the sheriff about the patient and told him the outlaw said about the treasure buried in Hallelujah Gulch. He related what Borden said about the treasure being cached in an obvious place. The sheriff passed this information along to an official at the stage line. Together, the two agencies organized a group of men to search for the canyon in hope of finding the loot and returning it to the stage company. Though they searched for days, they found nothing.
Speaker 1:During the 1930s, an aged hermit took up residence in the outlaw cabin in Hallelujah Gulch. From time to time the old man traveled to Green River where he worked odd jobs for a few days to make some money to buy food, and returned to the canyon. During his stay in the cabin the hermit was plagued by pack rats, so he decided to try to find their nest and rid the place of them. He found a small opening in the rocks on one of the walls where the rodents came and went. He followed the narrow rodent trail from the cabin to a location several yards away and, after moving a few rocks and branches, found the nest. The hermit pulled apart the nest, but as he did he spotted the edge of a leather pouch that appeared to have been buried in the ground. He lifted the pouch from the ground, opened it and poured out sixteen twenty-dollar gold pieces.
Speaker 1:The following day the hermit took his newfound wealth into Green River and began ordering drinks at a tavern. After five or six drinks he became quite inebriated and began bragging about his discovery of gold in the pack grout's nest. He did not, however, reveal that the location was in Hallelujah Gulch. Several hours later, when the old man staggered out of the bar, he stepped into the street in front of a pair of speeding horses pulling a wagon. The horse rode him down. Patrons of the tavern carried the hermit to the doctor's house and explained what had happened. The old man had several broken bones and a punctured lung and was bleeding internally. The physician promised that he would do what he could, but moments later the old man died. He never revealed the source of the gold coins because no one ever associated the old hermit with hallelujah galtz.
Speaker 1:Until many years later there was no effort to travel through the canyon to search for the old cabin and the cache. Furthermore, at the time, many residents of green river believed outlaws were still living there. Years later, when the outlaw gang had been driven from the area, someone still occasionally entered hallelujah gulch in hope of finding the buried loot. Though many encountered the cabin deep in the canyon, no one has been able to find the cache and the walls have mostly tumbled down. Thick brush has grown up around the site and a visitor must be wary of rattlesnakes that dine on the pack rats In an unknown location.
Speaker 1:A short distance behind the ruins lie the spoils of several stagecoach robberies. Researchers estimate the value of the cash to be nearly $1 million. I guess how lowly a gulch Opportunity for some riches at Gold Lute would be quite a find. Thanks for joining us today and we hope you enjoy our podcast. As per the Code of the West, we ride for the brand and we ride for Wyoming. We'll be right back. Come on, come on, come on. © BF-WATCH TV 2021. Thank you.
