Butch Cassidy was one of Pleasant Valley's early visitors. But nobody really wanted him to be there when he robbed the Pleasant Valley Coal paymaster of $7,000 in gold in front of nearly 100 witnesses back in 1897.
In 1991, the people of Colton, Utah, aren't shy about having visitors. In fact, they will dedicate the Pleasant Valley Junction monument - at high noon today - and hope some visitors will show. The monument is located where U.S. 6 and U-96 merge."Butch Cassidy, Robert Leroy Parker and my grandad were raised in the same area," said Dennis Finch, who was born and raised in Pleasant Valley.
The area has more to offer than cowboys and outlaws. Pleasant Valley Junction was an important transportation link for the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad, seeking a route from Denver to Salt Lake City.
Since coal mining was the major catalyst for the area, located in the appropriately named Carbon County, the railroad was crucial to its economy.
"The first D&RG round house was here," Finch said about the early 1880s happenings in the valley. Nevertheless, the valley's history dates back to the 1540s when one of the Spanish trails came through the area.
Besides coal and transportation, Ozokerite wax was another contributor to the valley's history. It is a rare mineral and there is only one other site on Earth where it has been found.
"There are about 130 items actually they used to use it on. This area and an area in Austria are the only two sites known where it can be found," Finch said.
Ozokerite was used to make the first phonograph records, telephones, insulation and often served as a substitute for beeswax.
"I don't know what actually caused them to shut down the mill," Finch said, noting that he used to work there in his younger days. "It ran until about World War II."
Finch now lives with his 84-year-old mother who started a convenience store, the Hilltop Country Service Store, in Colton "back in the '20s."
The monument, the original rock foundation of the old railroad house built in the late 1800s, now stands in front of the store.
"It's just rocks put together with a plate in front of it, a cement cap on top of it and a cement bottom," Finch said.
The monument was put in place by the Matt Warner Clampus chapter, a group that preserves historical sites throughout Utah, Nevada and Arizona.