Bank Robbers

The robbery paid a lawyer. Cassidy's friend Matt Warner was in jail in Utah awaiting trial for two killings in the Uinta Mountains, and the Montpelier money went to Douglas Preston of Rock Springs, who got the charge reduced to manslaughter. Most accounts put the take near $7,000, well under the sign's figure. Cassidy and Elzy Lay were never identified; Bub Meeks, named by the cashier, drew 35 years and was later judged insane. The robbed bank building still stands across the street, now a museum.

What the plaque says

Bank Robbers On Aug. 13, 1896, Butch Cassidy and his infamous Wild Bunch of gunmen invaded Montpelier's bank and scooped up more than $16,500 in gold, silver, and currency. Leaving a surprised cashier and his terrified customers, they calmly rode away. A deputy sheriff who borrowed a bicycle to pursue them up Montpelier canyon was quickly outdistanced. Cassidy never was caught, but Bob Meeks was imprisoned until 1912 for helping in Montpelier's great bank robbery. 446 Text prepared by the Idaho Historical Society Marker made & installed by Idaho Transportation Department

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• National Oregon/California Trail Center — 0.7 mi
  Emigrants came down off Big Hill and camped in the clover here. Brigham Young renamed the town; the trail center brings the camp back in costume.
• Bear Lake National Wildlife Refuge — 7.7 mi
  The Bear River crosses this marsh twice: once in a canal into Bear Lake, and once in another canal on its way back out.
• Minnetonka Cave — 19 mi
  Found by a grouse hunter, named first for a porcupine and then in a language from the far side of the Rockies. Five kinds of bats winter inside.
• Beaver Mountain Ski Area — 27 mi
  A family-owned ski hill that has been run by the same family since 1939

More markers nearby

• Smith's Trading Post — 5.2 mi
• McAuley's Road — 6.8 mi
• Big Hill — 6.8 mi
• Paris Tabernacle — 8.0 mi