America's history is one of struggle, where the difference between right and wrong depends on the size of your posse or your skills with a gun. As you explore America's Byways, dig deeper into the history of good guys and bad guys and see how outlaws and lawmen shaped America.
While the east doesn't have the same reputation for lawlessness as the Wild West, several courageous outlaws banded together to fight legal injustice. The Underground Railroad helped over 100,000 southern slaves escape to Canada, despite increasing threats from the law and large groups of slave owners hot on the chase.
Thomas Garrett of Wilmington, Delaware defied the law and sheltered nearly 2,900 slaves over the course of forty years, despite paying $5,400 in fines. Follow the slaves' route along the Brandywine Valley Scenic Byway in Pennsylvania, and imagine life on the run. Or take a side trip from the Seaway Trail in New York and visit the home of Harriet Tubman, whose courage led hundreds of slaves to freedom. As she put it, "a live runaway could do great harm by going back, but a dead one could tell no secrets." No one ever chose the wrong end of her gun, and they learned to have faith in their "Moses".
While the conductors on the Underground Railroad were outlaws with a noble cause, other outlaws took what they could from the nation's railroads. Such was the case of the Sontag brothers from Mankato, Minnesota, located along the Minnesota River Valley Scenic Byway. George and John Sontag turned to a life of crime early on in life, and eventually joined with Chris Evans to rob several trains across the west.
The Sontag-Evans gang had an ingenious method of robbing trains. They would ride ahead along the track, hide their horses, and then walk back to the station and sneak aboard the train. When the train neared their hiding spot, they would stick up the engineer, blow the safe, and make their getaway. They successfully robbed several trains in California, but had less luck in their hometown. When they held up a train between St. Peter and Kasota, the safe was empty.
But although the gang rode away empty-handed, their activities came to the attention of railroad officials and the Pinkerton detectives, who were the most skilled man hunters in the nation. It wouldn't be long before George Sontag was arrested and sentenced to life, while his brother died in a shootout in California. After being pardoned, George took a tour of the nation, describing his experience in a life of crime. Follow the Sontags' route along the Minnesota River Valley Scenic Byway, and picture life as a train robber.
For a more classic picture of life as an outlaw, visit the Billy the Kid Trail in New Mexico. In the old west, law enforcement was selective and vengeful, often based more on personal friendships than strict justice. Such was the case for Billy the Kid, who was practically orphaned as a young man and left to fend for himself.
As you tour the historic city of Lincoln, learn of the feuds and events that would lead to the last great shootout of the Old West. Corrupt Sheriff Brady deputized the Kid's Old gang to murder a rival businessman, and when the Kid killed Brady in retaliation, he was sentenced to hang. After a daring escape from the courtroom's outhouse, the Kid made his way across New Mexico before Sheriff Pat Garrett finally shot him. Commemorate the west's greatest outlaw during Lincoln's The Last Escape of Billy the Kid reenactment in August at the Lincoln State Monument.
Not all lawmen were corrupt, and justice and friendship sometimes clashed on the dusty streets of the Old West. One locally famous sheriff is John T. Pope of Vernal, Utah, who lived and worked near what is now the Dinosaur Diamond Prehistoric Parkway. Legislation had made the corner of Utah, Colorado and Wyoming into a criminal hotbed, driving out the four previous sheriffs. Sheriff Pope refused to be intimidated, however, setting up his ranch in the center of the outlaws.
During this time, John Pope had a personal friendship with Butch Cassidy and several members of his Wild Bunch. Unfortunately, he was soon called on to arrest two members of the gang, placing him between an angry lynch mob and Butch Cassidy. Pope had to burn a lumber pile for a new jail to keep an all-night watch against the townspeople's frontier justice. Explore the countryside John Pope helped protect as you drive the desolate regions of the Dinosaur Diamond Scenic Byway.
From freedom fighters to those caught in the middle, learn about the incredible lives of the outlaws along America's Byways.
