Hole-in-the-Wall is a remote pass in the Big Horn Mountains of
Johnson County, Wyoming
Johnson County is a county in the north central part of the U.S. state of Wyoming. At the 2020 United States census, the population was 8,447. The county seat is Buffalo. Kaycee is the only other incorporated town in the county. Johnson Cou ...
. In the late 19th and the early 20th centuries, the
Hole-in-the-Wall Gang and
Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch gang met at the log cabin, which is now preserved at the Old Trail Town museum in
Cody, Wyoming.
History
Hole-in-the-Wall is located in the
Big Horn Mountains of Johnson County in northern
Wyoming
Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...
. The site was used in the late 19th century by the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang, a group of cattle rustlers and other outlaws that included the
Logan brothers,
Black Jack Ketchum, and Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch. Cassidy, the Sundance Kid, and other
desperados met at a
log cabin
A log cabin is a small log house, especially a minimally finished or less architecturally sophisticated structure. Log cabins have an ancient history in Europe, and in America are often associated with first-generation home building by settl ...
in the Hole-in-the-Wall country, which has been preserved at the Old Trail Town museum in Cody, Wyoming. The cabin was built in 1883 by Alexander Ghent.
wrote "I started for the
Big Horn Basin in the vicinity of the Hole-in-the-Wall in northern Wyoming. I had received instructions from Asst. Supt. Curran to go up there and get in with the friends of the 'Wild Bunch', and learn their secrets."
The area was remote and secluded, easily defended because of its narrow passes, and impossible for lawmen to approach without alerting the outlaws. From the late 1860s to around 1910, the pass was used frequently by numerous outlaw gangs. Eventually, it faded into history, with gangs using it less frequently. At its height, it featured several cabins that gangs used to lie up during the harsh Wyoming winters, and it had a
livery stable
A livery yard, livery stable or boarding stable, is a stable where horse owners pay a weekly or monthly fee to keep their horses. A livery or boarding yard is not usually a riding school and the horses are not normally for hire (unless on wor ...
, a
corral, livestock, and supplies, with each gang contributing to the upkeep of the site.
Robert Redford described the Hole-in-the-Wall as "an outlaw stronghold that deserves its name from a niche in the Great Red Wall of cliffs extending many miles to the south. It was here that the Wild Bunch established one of their three 'headquarters' in 1896, although the 'Wall' had been a favorite hiding place of outlaws many years before that. Hole-in-the-Wall was one of three main strongholds used not just by the Wild Bunch but other outlaws as well in those days. (
Brown's Park and
Robbers Roost, in Colorado and Utah, respectively, were the other two.)"
References
External links
* : recreation site with driving directions.
Willow Creek Ranch at the Hole in the Wall
Crime in Wyoming
Buildings and structures in Johnson County, Wyoming
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