Black Jack's Hideout / Colfax County War

Black Jack Ketchum was not at the fight that bears his name. His brother Sam, with Elzy Lay and Will Carver, robbed the Colorado and Southern near Folsom on July 11, 1899, after the brothers had split. On July 16 a posse under Sheriff Ed Farr of Huerfano County, Colorado, found them in Turkey Creek Canyon; Farr was killed, and Sam, badly hurt, was taken and died in the territorial prison at Santa Fe. A month later Black Jack tried the same train alone and lost an arm. The panel's other face turns to the Colfax County War.

What the plaque says

Official Scenic Historic Marker Black Jack's Hideout In Turkey Creek Canyon near here, the outlaw gang of Thomas "Black Jack" Ketchum had one of its hideouts. After a train robbery in July 1899, a posse surprised the gang at the hideout. The outlaws scattered after a bloody battle, and the Ketchum gang was broken up. Official Scenic Historic Marker Colfax County War For twenty years after the 1869 sale of the Maxwell Land Grant, homesteaders, ranchers, and miners fought the new owners for control of this enormous region. The re- sulting murders and general break- down of law and order led to the removal from office, in 1878, of Territorial Governor Samuel B. Axtell.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• St. James Hotel — steps away
  Henri Lambert's 1872 inn and saloon on the Santa Fe Trail at Cimarron, a stage for the Colfax County War, where the old saloon ceiling still shows 22 bullet holes.

More markers nearby

• Santa Fe Trail — steps away
• Cimarron Canyon — 4.2 mi
• Eagle Nest Lake State Park — 18 mi
• Elizabethtown — 20 mi