Howdy folks and greetings from the Great Plains of North Texas!
We're in the middle of a series about two of America's most famous and successful outlaws, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. In the last post Butch, Sundance and Etta were ready to board an ocean liner which would take them to Buenos Aires. The trip took 3 weeks and 3 days.
The ship had a newspaper!
I forgot to mention that those ocean liners back then even had daily newspapers. They had printing presses and writers on board. The writers would listen to radio news and information and write articles which would be printed up right on the ship!
Makes you wonder if they ever read anything about themselves or about robberies which their gang members were committing back home. At any rate, they got to Buenos Aires and checked into the best hotel in the city called Hotel Europa.
I think they should have changed their names again to make it harder for the Pinkertons but they kept the same names of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Place and James Ryan.
They also deposited $12,000 in gold notes in the main bank. What's interesting is that they had many questions about the bank's security. lol... I guess they wanted to make sure their own money was safe or else was casing the joint in case they decided to withdraw more than their own funds!
They knew the general direction they wanted to go was South as the Patagonia region was on the Southern tip of South America and covered an area of both Argentina and Chile.
But they needed more information so they went to the American consulate and talked to a man who knew of an ideal location for raising livestock and building a ranch.
In the valley of Cholila the pastures were rich and lush and virgin pastureland. The area was secluded, located at the foot of the Andes Mountains along the border of Chile.
The location was 400 miles from the nearest railroad and there were no telegraph wires in the area, the villages were few and far between and it was a 750 mile trip by steam ship up to Buenos Aires.
Well dang, is that the most perfect location for starting a ranch and hiding from authorities that you ever heard of? They loved the idea so that's where they set off to. When they got to Cholila they were amazed and impressed. It was as idyllic as they had imagined.
Snow capped mountains on the horizon, peaceful and isolated, it reminded them of Montana. The grass was tall and the land was dotted with lakes. This was the perfect place to lay down roots and start life over. They got to work buying building material and building a home. The year was 1901.
A quick trip to the States
After working on developing the property for a year Sundance and Etta took a trip back to the United States. The precise reason is unclear but apparently Sundance had some kind of recurring medical condition. No one knows for sure what it was, possibly a sinus infection issue.
But historians know that they again spent time in New York City and even went down to visit his sister in Pennsylvania. When they got back to Buenos Aires Sundance closed out their account at the bank, taking the remaining $1,100 that was left.
They're official now
During the 6 months that Sundance and Etta were in the States Butch filed the necessary paperwork with the government to purchase 25,000 acres of land in Cholila.
In his required proof of improvement to the land he listed that they were currently grazing 1,300 sheep, 500 head of cattle, and 35 horses on the land. So those guys had been busy!
They were now legitimate ranchers in their new land and life was good. They could live out their lives in peace and prosperity.
Hey, it was a good plan. In the next post we'll talk about life as a rancher in Patagonia.
Thanks for reading folks, God bless you all!
-jonboy Texas
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Sounds like the good life so far.
Howdy again rebeccabe! it was! It was a dream come true. . for awhile.
Almost heaven. That would have been the storybook ending, but I'm guessing there is more to come :)
howdy sirbigtom! yes sir it was perfect and they were dedicated to living a peaceful life from all indications. I mean they sunk a ton of money and back-breaking work into building that operation.
Well "dang!" LOL! That is a perfect place indeed. This was an interesting part of their lives that I didn't know. : )
howdy again whatisnew! Are you a fan of the movie? I haven't seen it for probably 40 years but I think they left this part of the story out! lol. thanks for reading and commenting!
My pleasure! Yes I am and just like you, a very long time ago. I don't remember this part either.
Well if two of us don't remember it then it wasn't in there! lol. But yes, people thought my series would be over when they went to South America but there is still quite a bit left to tell.
Good to hear that. I will be waiting...with bells on. Sleigh bells.
sleigh bells! lol...good one! well, the series will go for awhile because I don't want it to end, I've come to really like those guys and the more I researched the more I found that Paul Newman and Robert Redford matched their characters really well. They were really nice guys. They just liked robbing big companys and banks is all! lol. So anyway I don't want it to end so I'll try to stretch it out a little. And you weren't around when I first started talking about doing this one but I asked first if people wanted me to even though everyone knew how it ends.
Because I always like to surprise people with the ending. But everyone said "do it!" so that's why I'm doing the series.
If I was around back then, I would have been one of the ones that said "do it!" I will be your new fan of the series. : )
Surprise endings...a twist... are the best.
The movie left this part out entirely! What a beautiful place to live! That is a really nice sized ranch.
Wouldn't you think he could have found a doctor who could treat his condition at little bit closer than the US?
Howdy tonight Melinda! I know, I'm surprised they came all the way back to the United States, they took a big chance you would think but they must not have been too concerned. Yes, that place was gorgeous.
How has your day been, did you make a post?
Yes... A post about a pomegranate! It's snowing here again. 6-12 inches are expected. I am winter weary.
wow Melinda, it's too early to get winter weary isn't it? Don't you have like two more months to go? 6-12 more inches! yikes.
Maybe it will be an early spring, but yeah, 2 more months before we get reliably nice weather. Some years my daffodils bloom in April, but some years my daffodils get snowed on.
And how often do you guys have an early Spring? Is that rare?
We often get a few days or even weeks of lovely spring like weather, and then it goes back to being cold again and everyone worries about the fruit trees and the flowers that have started to poke up out of the ground. Seems like that happens every year and sometimes it is severe enough to do damage to the fruit trees, but usually they do just fine with it.
Hi janton, I would really like to sail on one of those steamers, how amazingly wonderful it would be. Might just do a flash back into the past for the experience, lol.
Howdy angiemitchell! wouldn't that be something? I wouldn't even care if it took a month to get there! lol.
It sounds like the ideal setup... do you think they can be happy not doing crimes? This wasn't in the movie as far as I recall. I thought in the movie they went to Columbia but maybe I'm mistaken.
howdy sir Keith! no you are correct sir! The movie had them going to Columbia and the DO go to Columbia but that comes later. Yes they could be happy without doing crimes. lol. I'll prove it. It was the perfect setting to be sure.
Did your voting power recover? Mine sure didn't! lol.
I'm still under 80%. The problem I have with voting now is my Friday and Monday things take all my voting power away for 4 days or more, so I'm not visiting other people I follow as much. Plenty of people I know aren't into mountains or birds.
Ok..but doing those contests helps grow your account right? So you need to keep doing them? I don't take photos of mountains or birds but I sure love the ones that others have.
I guess so, I'm not really sure. In the long run I think it will help. My posts don't actually earn much unless it's through OCD. I vote 100% on every entry to feathered friday and mountain monday, and I resteem every entry - because my vote is only worth 0.01 I don't try to vote at less than 100%. I don't know if it pays off but what else could I be doing?
Howdy sir Keith! I think you are doing the best thing to grow your account. Getting your name out there in these contests has to attract people and get them to follow you. I don't know of a better way.
oh thanks so much for the esteem sir Keith, I thought this particular post was as dry as sand paper because I was so rushed that I just put it together and sent it without reworking it like I always do.lol. But I surely appreciate it!
oh no problem, I liked it and you found some cool pictures.
Yes sir Keith the pictures were pretty interesting, I didn't take a whole of time so hopefully I can find more of the region that they were in, Patagonia. What are you working on tonight, anything?
I'm just taking it easy. I was out taking a bunch of pictures in the morning, and then I was out shovelling snow. The light dusting of snow I wrote about today has turned into the real deal. We're getting up to a foot of snow overnight. I have a long stretch of sidewalk and laneway I have to clear, so I've been out a couple times tackling it before it gets too deep and heavy. This is the most snow I've seen since we moved here. There is a state of emergency south of us in Washington. Funny story... my first winter here, in 2012, I saw exactly THREE snowflakes, no more, no less. I was outside and I saw TWO of them and did a double-take. A second later I saw another one. Three flakes total. That was winter! Not this year.
Howdy back sir Keith! so that sounds like a serious situation for your city up there. Do you have to go anywhere tomorrow? It sounds like it might be a real mess! haha, good story about the snow flakes! What kind of pictures did you get this morning, wildlife or landscape?
It will be 38 F tomorrow and above 42 F by Thursday so this will melt soon. I won't be driving anywhere tomorrow, and I can walk anywhere I need to be. This morning I shot a bunch of black and white landscape stuff in the park and posted for monochrome monday. A bald eagle went over while I was in the park but I didn't have a long zoom lens to capture it. Here's the eagle and a bit of a redwood tree, cropped way too much...
Yep, life is looking idyllic for the three. All that hard work attending many livestock must have got them itching for easy money, like another robbery?😊
haha! What, you don't trust those guys? lol..no actually they were dedicated to making their living the hard way and had no intention of robbing again. you'll see.
Don't cry for them Argentinaaaaaaaaaaaa
Howdy blacklux! I'm not totally sure what that means but thanks for reading and commenting!
Congratulations @janton!
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Howdy today arcange! Thank you for the acknowledgement!
You got a 16.09% upvote from @ocdb courtesy of @janton! :)
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Howdy there ocdb! Thank you for the upvote and for helping so many people!
Thank you for introducing us to historical stories, @janton !
Howdy there veta-less! Well thank you for reading and commenting and I'm so glad that you did because this is a reminder for me to go over to your blog so thank you for everything! lol. Oh, and the stories are my pleasure, history is very interesting to me. I should research some of the outlaws from your country!
Oh, that would be interesting! Are you interested in the crooks and robbers or serial killers?
Howdy again veta-less! I like all of them but just write mostly about crooks and robbers because the serial killers are pretty dark and on one can relate to them, I don't want to go to dark and evil on my blog! lol. Although they would make great stories.
I understand you! Well, if you only write about scammers, then I'll throw you a story about a Russian scammer. Her name is so well known and nominal that even wrote a book and filmed the series)))
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonya_Golden_Hand
Sonya Golden Hand
Sofia Ivanovna Blyuvshtein (also spelled as Bluvstein, Bluvsztejn; better known as Sonia (Son'ka) the Golden Hand; 1846–1902), was a legendary female con artist who lived in the Russian Empire and was eventually convicted of theft. She committed several carefully planned robberies, and was eventually captured and exiled to the Sakhalin penal colony. She became the basis of several books and films, in which she is romanticized as a Robin Hood figure, who never killed, and who stole only from the rich.In 1890, she met Anton Chekhov, who was visiting Sakhalin during his investigations into prison reform; he subsequently described the incident in his book Sakhalin Island.
A headless statue by an unmarked grave in Moscow's Vagankovo Cemetery is used as a shrine to Sonia; worshippers, who believe Sonya to be buried there, ask for her spiritual assistance in their own crimes.
Howdy again veta-loss! Thank you so much for this information! I will check her out when I have time and I'm saving this link. The last sentence of the wiki text about her is creepy! Criminals ask for her spiritual assistance in their crimes? wow! lol.
Thank you so much!
👍👍👍👍👍
You see the second half of this season's walking dead started last Sunday?
howdy sunlit7! yes Ma'am I did and I watched it, did you? Pretty decent. I won't talk about it until I find out if you watched it!
I watched it, was bit disappointed Rick's daughter let Negan go...then he shows back up at the end, wonder where they are going with that and how it will all play out. Will he end up replacing Rick in the long run or will it somehow end up being these people wearing walker mask be his old followers and how that will play out if so.
haha! I agree! I thought that would be perfect poetic justice if Rick's daughter killed Negan off. Well, I was wondering if that was the end of Negan, just riding off to some other area? Probably not. Not very dramatic.
It's going to be interesting to see where they go with this. Will they lock Negan back up when Ricks daughter brings him back at his own free will? Will he slowly end up becoming the new leader of the pack? How that will play out with the people at the Hilltop if he does or will he ultimately gain their trust just to deceive them all with these new masked walkers and in the end Rick shows up to kill him off in some surprise move before his final exit....and if that happens will that be the moment of the speculation that fear will merge with the WD?....lol, so much imagination, potential so little time to write it all down.
Howdy today sunlit7! wow you should be one of the writers on that show! Those are all amazing possililities. lol. I have no clue, I thought that negan was gone, I thought that was his exit and he was just riding off in the sunset to find another group to lead. Have you heard anything about him or Rick? I assumed Rick was gone for good too but man, you bring up a good possibility for Rick to come back and finish off negan like he should have to begin with! lol.
Rick was blown off a bridge, the garbage lady came in with a helicopter and whisked him off someplace...whenever they get back to that and how she came about a helicopter should prove interesting. So this is all building up to something....I guess we'll be left watching the next few episodes to see how this plays out with Negan and what his status is going to be.