Butch Cassidy

Reportedly, in October 1899 Butch Cassidy and several members of the Wild Bunch, also known as the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang, traveled through Grand Valley. From 1889 to 1904, this band of desperadoes thrilled local citizens and terrified many merchants and laymen with brazen bank, train, and stagecoach robberies in Colorado’s Western Slope Region. George "Butch" Cassidy, the legendary outlaw leader, was also known as the "Robin Hood of the West" because of his practice of robbing from the rich and giving to the poor. His final fate remains a mystery and a subject of debate, with uncertainty over whether he died in South America or returned to the United States to live the rest of his years as a law-abiding citizen. Although their presence in Grand Valley resulted in no criminal activity, it reinforced the myth, legend, and lore of the region as part of the Western frontier during the last days of the Wild West.

Fruita, Colorado · United States