Las Animas County

Around about 1858 there was a wagon train traveling through Las Animas County, carrying 1,500 pounds of gold ingots. They were attacked by a group of outlaws and renegade Indians, but managed to fight them off and headed into Chacuaco canyon in an effort to elude the gang. The fact that they hadn't easily taken the wagon train apparently pissed off the gang of thieves because they took off into the canyon and came after the wagons with a vengeance.

Finding a place to hide for a while, three members of the wagon train loaded all the gold onto six mules and led them to a rock outcropping along a creek that was nearby. While they were hiding the gold, the gang caught up to the wagons.

When the outlaws found out the gold was gone, they got really pissed off, and slaughtered every member of the wagon train. While the slaughter was taking place, the three men that hid the gold took off for a nearby Mexican village.

Some time later they headed back out to Chacuaco canyon to retrieve the gold but ran into a band of Ute Indians and were killed.

The gold has never been found, Back in 1863 there was a gang of outlaws that terrorized the San Luis Valley. They were known as the "Bloody Espinosas". Members of this gang claimed to have had received a vision from the Virgin Mary telling them to rid the valley of all the Anglos. They decided to get rid of the Anglos by going on a robbery spree and killing at least 13 people.

After getting a pretty good haul from the robberies, the gang headed north. They buried their ill gotten gains near the present day town of Cascade on Ute Pass on the slopes of Pikes Peak. They managed to elude capture until an Army scout from Fort Garland caught up with them. He killed them and rode back to Fort Garland, in the San Luis Valley, with their heads in a bag.

It is also said that in the hills between Colorado Springs and Denver, near what is now Monument Colorado, the Butch Cassidy gang hid a stash of over $100,000.00 that they had obtained in three bank robberies. The money has never been found.