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The Coyote Hole Stage Robbery- Outlaw Series LbNA #6490

Owner:Adoptable
Plant date:Nov 15, 2003
Location:
City:Ridgecrest
County:Kern
State:California
Boxes:4
Planted by:PenGwen
Found by: Kelsung (4)
Last found:Oct 29, 2023
Status:FFFFFFFFFFFFFF
Last edited:Nov 15, 2003

These letterboxes are in the area of the intersection of Hwy. 14 and Hwy. 178. This intersection is approximately 40+ miles north of Mojave and a few miles south of the junction of Hwy.395 and Hwy.14. The closest town is Ridgecrest. This is not a difficult hike but you do have to be concerned about weather and road conditions. Letterbox #3 & #4 can't be accessed from February 1 to July 1 due to Raptor nesting.



The Coyote Hole Robbery

Tiburcio Vasquez was the last Mexican Bandito to terrorize California in the 1870’s
He was representative of the turbulent times when the United States took California from Mexico. While the “Gringo” establishment hated and feared him, he found much sympathy and support from fellow Mexican ranchers and even more sympathy and support from the local senoritas and senoras.
Born in Monterey, in 1835, Vasquez’ life of crime started at age 14 when he was accused of taking part in the murder of a lawman. While never being caught for this crime, he found himself residing in San Quentin in 1857 after being convicted of horse stealing. After his release in 1863 he made daring and dashing raids around Gilroy, Millerton and Firebaugh areas always escaping with the help of fellow Mexicans sympathetic to him. After a raid on the town of Tres Pinos in 1873 Vasquez and his gang fled to Tulare Lake. Three storekeepers were killed in Tres Pinos and the populace was outraged and the local support for Vasquez vanished. From Tulare Lake his path led from the Bakersfield area east to the Owens Valley passing through the Kern River Valley via Walker’s Pass. Legend says that Vasquez surveyed the Coyote Hole stage stop (now Freeman Junction) from atop the prominent rock formation one mile southwest of the junction. Ever since, the rock formation has been known as Robbers’ Roost and can be easily seen today while traveling on Highway 14 near the Freeman Junction. After surveying the stage stop, the gang rode to Coyote Hole, seized the station, tied up the station workers and waited for the stage. When the stage arrived from Owens Valley, the gang surprised the driver and 3 passengers, quickly disarmed them and removed their valuables. The story told by the robbery victims was that Vasquez’s expectations turned to disgust when he opened the strong box and found only mining stock certificates not gold or silver.

Now that may be the story and legend but one of the passengers was Mortimer Belshaw, proprietor/owner of the rich Cerro Cordo mine and it seems unlikely that Belshaw would be traveling on a stage that held no bullion ore from his mine. One thing is for sure; Vasquez wasn’t very successful in stage hold ups after this one as Belshaw after this time only shipped ingots in 300 lb. balls, which were too heavy to carry on horseback.

Realizing that future holdups in this area would not be successful, Vasquez headed toward Los Angeles.He was eventually captured in 1874 after an amorous encounter with a gang member’s wife. The former gang member turned himself in to the Los Angeles Sheriff and told the sheriff where Vasquez could be found and sealed Vasquez fate. He was taken to San Jose where he was tried, convicted and hung for the Tres Pinos robbery and murders.(See Buzzard's "Tiburcio Vasquez-The Repetto Ranch Raid" Letterbox in Greater Los Angeles for continuation of this story)
He was buried in Santa Clara.
The hunt for these letterboxes will take you in Vasquez’ footsteps.




# 1 Freeman Junction was homesteaded in 1920 by Clare C. Wiley on the site of Coyote Hole Stage Stop. After a 50-year venture in restaurant, gas station and mining. the area was closed down in 1976 and only rubble remains.
Clues:
At the junction of Highway 14 and 178 (about 40 miles north of Mojave)
stop near the billboard advertising Lake Isabella and the Kern River Valley. Enter the unlocked gate on the west side of Highway 14 to find the stagecoach.
Locate the small triangular shaped partial foundation with several pieces of pipe/poles rising above it. There may be a piece of white pvc stuck in the tallest pipe.
Take a compass heading of 235 degrees and walk about 85 paces to a speckled gray large boulder. Behind the boulder among smaller rocks is the stagecoach.
Alternate headings: From the walk through entrance gate go 225 degrees for about 118
paces to the large boulder. There is a large rubble pile in the way of your pace count, just walk around it and resume your compass heading to your destination.
Further help: Standing near the triangular foundation and the tallest pole, you will note, looking over your shoulder, that the rear rocky tower of the billboard across the street can be the start of an imaginary line, continued to the tallest part of the Robber’s Roost rocks beyond the power lines in the distance ahead of you. The boulder you are seeking is also on that imaginary line towards the big rock formation in the distance. Please re-hide the box well.

#2 A Gringo's image.
( A picture of the plaque can be seen on the internet )

From Box # 1 turn west on Highway 178 look for the plaque and California Historic Landmark 766. To find what gringos thought of Tiburcio Vasquez, solve this code
based on line, word, letter. You will need paper and pencil.
Example: 3-5-2 means go to third line on plaque, count over to the fifth word
and then count to the second letter in that word to find the letter that you will combine with the other number sequences to form the clues. The first letter then is F.
To help you out, note that a // denotes the end of a word. If there is a solitary number given, use it as is.

3-5-2 7-3-5 11-1-1 7-5-5// 2-2-1 7 2-2-2// 4-4-1- 9-3-2 2-1-1 8-5-1 6-2-2/// 3-3-6// 10-5-2 10-6-2// 11-5-1 7-1-2 4-2-1 2-3-1 6-7-7 4-2-3 3-4-4 8-3-3 7-5-2// 11-5-5 3-3-5 5-2-2 10-3-3 6-5-1 8-1-3 3-`-3 1-1-6 4-1-1 3-6-4 7-3-4// 9-3-2 6-4-4 3-3 5 3-6-1// 7-2-6 6-4-6 10-5-2 4-7-1// 4-1-3 4-4-4// 10-3-5 10-3-4 7-7-4 7-7-7 8-3-3 8-3-4// 8-4-1 2-3-5 4-2-1 5-7-3 5-7-5// 3-2-1 11-5-3// 6-2-4 2-8-2 2-3-1// 2-6-1// 7-4-4 10-3-2 3-6-1 9-3-3// 8-7-1 9-3-1// 10-2-1 6-4-4 4-1-3 8-6-6// 10-6-5 3-1-7 3-1-7 4-2-4// 3-1-2 6-4-2 8-3-4 5-3-2 4-1-4// 1-2-4 3-5-4 7-5-5 3-5-4 10-1-4 11-4-1//2-5-1 8-4-4- 11-2-1 11-2-1 10-5-1 6-2-2// 4-1-1 4-1-2 4-1-3 4-1-4// 3-3-2 1-1-3// 7-5-3 8-5-2 11-2-1 7-2-4 10-6-4// 11-5-9 3-1-2 11-5-1 11-5-1 1-2-7 1-1-2 1-2-5







# 3 and # 4 Vasquez and the "Booty"

Note: The road to # 3 and # 4 is approximately 1 1/2 miles in length. While we were there it was two-wheel drive accessible. There are many 4x4 and motorcycle paths in the area. Don’t deviate from the directions or you may find yourself on a very difficult track. The road conditions can change due to erosion so be alert to driving conditions. Boxes 3 and 4 cannot be accessed from February 1 to July 1 due to restriction concerning raptor nesting grounds. During the summer months make sure you have plenty of water for you and your vehicle. There are no facilities in the area that means no water, no gas, no pottys and no eats. Kinda like the old west, huh?
This area is rife with crisscrossing dirt bike trails so watch out for the bikers or bring your bike and join the fun..

Note: On 11-11-2004 we found that a geocacher has placed a cache about 3 ft. from box #4. Hopefully the cachers will not remove our letterbox or stamp.
Clues:

From the California Historic Monument drive west on 178 about ½ mile to the dirt road on your left (south) and turn in just past guard rails on each side of 178. A sign will greet you: “Welcome to the Jawbone-Butterbredt area of critical environmental concern.” Follow the gravel road that parallels what appears to be a concrete road, pass by a machine storage yard/oasis on the left, stay on gravel road that leads into the gully beyond what appears to be a bridge. (The bridge is actually part of the aqueduct system so do not drive on the bridge) Just beyond the bridge and gully turn right, driving up a slight rise passing a small cement rectangular building off to your right. Drive towards rocks entering a slightly bigger dirt road and pass by dirt road entrance SC330. Continue on bigger dirt road passing concrete blocks and turn right going up to SC 333. Where the dirt road crosses another look for a yellow sign “Birds of Prey Nesting Area, No Entry Feb 1 to July 1”. Look for another sign for SCC333 (about 1.6 miles) just ahead of you. Keep heading toward rocks, turn right as the road takes you toward the first rock grouping, passing first by 2 other smaller track dirt roads.
Park at base of northernmost large rock and walk around to the other side and find a dry waterfall that drops into a gully. Above the dry waterfall among the rock formation you will see several large white, smooth rocks that have been swept down towards the dry waterfall. From near the lip of the dry waterfall take a compass heading of 95 degrees across the gully to a very rocky fractured outcropping on the upslope of the gully.
Walk around to the front of the dry waterfall where it is safe to cross and taking about 40 paces walk down the gully and up to the rocky outcropping. In a scooped out area of about 12 feet in diameter with brownish/orange rocks at the rear, look under a cairn of rocks at the back of the scooped out area for Box # 3

Note: The Joshua trees listed in letterbox #4 may actually be Yuccas. We aren't really sure what the heck they are since we aren't desert folks. Just look for a typical desert type tree/bush/plant. They should be the only tall plants around.

# 4 Hope you are enjoying these very cool rocks. Now it is time to look for the
loot.
From box #3 head at 215 degrees for approximately 300 yards and look across another gully to a large Joshua bunch (the only one in your immediate area)
The Joshua grouping is towards the middle of the rock formations, along side of a dirt road and can be seen from the south east side of the northernmost large rock. You can drive fairly close in the direction of the Joshuas but park near the pock marked rocks to the north of the dry waterfall A big gully separates you from the
Joshuas. DO NOT DRIVE ACROSS THE GULLY. Walk towards your destination.
The Joshua grove is made up of about 30 trunks. The box is at the western side of the clump, in the middle of 3 Joshuas at the N.W. corner under movable rocks and dead Joshua stems.

For more Tiburcio Vasquez Letterboxes and continuation of the story see Buzzard's Tiburcio Vasquez- The Repetto Ranch Raid.
www.letterboxing.org/BoxView.asp?boxnum=9175&boxname=Tiburcio_Vasquez--The_Repetto_Ranch_Raid

and

Robber's Roost by Paperdance
www.paperdance.com/letterboxing.php?box=vasquez

When researching our clues please be aware that when previous searchers list “ATTEMPTED” on the clue sheets it may reflect more on their abilities as finders than indicate whether the box is viable or not. We do monitor our clues and boxes pretty well and appreciate the notes written to us by those that find or attempt our letterboxes.
Please contact placer directly or through the LBNA chat list regarding status rather than unofficial data bases. Up to date status can only be ascertained from placer as other information services will not have current data. Listing information about this letterbox on unauthorized information services is not appreciated by the placer.