Road Agents Rock Road Agents Trail - Bannock to Virginia City Robbers Roost - Pete Daily's Road House
Road Agents Rock is an often overlooked historical site in southwestern Montana. From this spot, bandits, known as road agents would lie in wait for unsuspecting travelers. Gold shipments leaving Bannack were a prefered target for these criminals, led by Henry Plummer, who also happened to be the sheriff of Bannack. Access to the area is by a relatively good road which leaves highway 278 just east of the Badger Pass summit. (See additional waypoints) We suggest NO low ground clearance vehicles (although our mini-van made it just fine) and NOT attempting the cache in a 2WD vehicle if the road is muddy. Other than that, the terrain is pretty easy, with only a short walk to the cache from parking. As with all caches near historical areas, please be respectful of the site. Also be aware of private mining claims in the area. The cache itself is on BLM land, but there are several mining claims with vertical shafts in the general area. There is no need to approach any of these shafts to find the cache! We hope you enjoy this historical site as much as we did the first time we "found" it. We should mention that there is NO access to Bannack State Park from Road Agents Rock. The map will show a road, but it is gated near the park boundary. https://www.google.com/search?q=road+agents+trail&rlz=1C1GGGE_enUS468US468&oq=road+agents+trail&aqs=chrome.0.69i59l2.6839j0j4&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=122&ie=UTF-8#q=road+agents+rock+road+side+signs
Badger Pass accesses thousands of acres of Forest and BLM lands. Badger Mountain is just 2 air miles south with a summit of 7500 feet. Kelley Reservoir is accessible 6 air miles north. There are many miles of roads. Some are closed to motorized access in the summer; none are plowed in winter months leaving many miles available to cross country skiers. Road Agents Rock, the location road agents chose prior to descending on unsuspecting gold carrying wagons in the 1860’s is only 2.5 miles to the south. The first capital of the Montana Territory, Bannock, now a ghost town and state park is located roughly 5 miles south.
Best of the West Bill O'Neal p. 1052, 1161
The Story of Ajax, p. 6 https://books.google.com/books?id=Uux8czuYA5oC&pg=PA6&dq=%22road+agents+rock%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjZzMLwzLTJAhWGl4gKHbVmCT8Q6AEIKjAD#v=onepage&q=%22road%20agents%20rock%22&f=false
Beaverhead Rock served as an important landmark not only for Lewis and Clark, but also for the trappers, miners, and traders who followed them into this area. It was known to many of them as Point of Rocks. In 1863, a man named Goetschius built a stage station on the “well-traveled, deep rutted road” between Bannack and Alder Gulch near here. It was part of the Montana-Utah Road, but was also known as Road Agents Trail because of all the robberies that occurred along it during the 1860s. In addition to changing tired horses for fresh animals for the stagecoaches, the station also served meals and provided a place to sleep for stagecoach travelers.
http://www.mdt.mt.gov/travinfo/docs/roadsigns/BeaverheadRock.pdf
From Virginia and Nevada Cities we moved on to Twin Bridges and into the Beaverhead Valley down which flows (you guessed it) the Beaverhead river. At the top of this valley is a large limestone outcropping from which the valley and the river get its name (the local Indians thought it looked like a beavers head). This is the place that the Lewis and Clark expedition met up with the Shoshone and got horses with which to cross the Rockies. Before the arrival of whites to the area the local Indian tribes used this location as a summer meeting place. From Twin Bridges the highway follows approximately the route of the Road Agents Trail (a route used by miners and settlers in the late 1800s) to the town of Bannack; which is today a ghost town, maintained by the Montana Department of Fish and Wildlife as a state park. The towns name apparently derives from a Scottish word for small cakes cooked over an open fire because the local Indians cooked a form of grain cake.
http://www.whiteacorn.com/posts/theamericas/090321?
The WPA Guide to Montana: The Big Sky State, p. 359, 358.
Thought 1, not carried on -- Believe the Road Agents Trail, Bannock to Virginia City, stays on Ruby Road to Laurin, and crosses the bridge at Laurin and then continues to Virginia City, making loop to skirt the northern edge and the bench to skirt the northern edge of the Ruby Range.
thought 2, No, I think it crossed the Ruby River on the Duncan District Road, and then turned down the Middle Road to the SE to tun along the bluffs to go to Pete Daily's Road House and Stage Station (aka Robber's Roost). 45.392085° -112.147378° On Ramshorn Creek.
As a supply center near Alder Gulch, Laurin shared in the $100,000,000 riches of the gulch.
The town was established around a trading post ran by the Frenchman, Jean Baptiste Laurin. Laurin's store prospered because of the supplies carried for the miners and the furs traded with the Indians. Laurin was sometimes called Cicero, or Lorrain.
M. Laurin was a five foot seven inch tall man, weighing in at a grand total of 350 pounds. He was a very shrewd businessman even though he couldn't read or write. It has been estimated that he built an economic empire of $500,000. Another report indicated that he owned all the stores, bridges, and most of the ranches, cattle, horses, and mules from fifty to one hundred miles of the valley. Laurin was also a money lender charging between twelve to thirty-six percent on unsecured loans.
Laurin is most known for Hangman's Tree, the place where two of Plummer's road agents were hanged. http://www.visitmt.com/listings/general/ghost-town/laurin.html
Allen, Frederick. A Decent Orderly Lynching. Barsness, Larry. Gold Camp: Alder Gulch and Virginia City, Montana. Dimsdale, Thomas J. The Vigilantes of Montana. Ellingsen, John; John N. DeHaas; Tony Dalich; Ken Sievert. If these Walls Could Talk. Forney, Gary R. Discovery Men. Forney, Gary R. Finding El Dorado. Langford, Nathaniel P. Vigilante Days and Ways. Miller, John Knox. The Road to Virginia City; Andrew Rolle, editor. Nuggets of History from Virginia City, Dick Lee, editor. Pace, Dick. Golden Gulch. Sievert, Ken and Ellen Sievert. Virginia City and Alder Gulch.
http://www.virginiacity.com/#history
In the 1800's gold was discovered in southwest Montana. The road traveled from Bannock to Virginia City was known as "Road Agent Road." Highway 287, which loops Madison County, was and still is known as "The Vigilante Trail."
http://www.virginiacity.com/#event:396
Robbers Rock, Olaf Seltzer Painting"' ©Gilcrease Museum Title(s): Robber's Rock - Near Bannock, Mont. Rendezvous for the Plummer Gang of Road Agents Creator(s): Olaf Carl Seltzer (Artist) Culture: American Date: early 20th century Materials/Techniques: oil on board Dimensions: Overall: 6 1/4 x 7 3/4 x 7/8 in. (15.9 x 19.7 x 2.2 cm) See https://www.google.com/search?q=road+agents+rock&safe=active&rlz=1C1GGGE_enUS468US468&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjp-8rT-LvWAhUMzGMKHYzKDDoQ_AUICigB&biw=1302&bih=668#imgdii=vmt1hEHYhLEPhM:&imgrc=OnClRd1HqwfodM: