Utah Centennial Studies

 

Ghost Riders and Rest Stops Packet B

 

NEEDLE ROCK STATION AND THE CACHE CAVE TREASURE

Dear Pupils,

The Overland Stage station furthest to the east in Utah was Needle Rock. You will find it in Summit County near the Utah Wyoming border. This stop was named for the Needle Rock, a prominent landmark used as a guide by all early pioneers. The station was a regular stop where horse teams were changed and meals and lodging could be had. Few travelers chose to stay any longer than necessary for the food was bad, the summers hot and the winter winds blew cold from the treeless hills.

From Needle Rock Station the trail passed through open sage covered flatlands down a grassy area not far from the Cache Cave, just off the trail. The cave had been the home of Indians long before the coming of white man and had also been used by mountain men and explorers. The cave contained the names of more than 150 trappers, explorers and pioneers some dating to 1820. From Cache Cave the trail continued down a grassy canyon to Echo Station.

Cache Cave is exactly what its name suggests, a cave where caches were made. Do you know what a cache is? Look up the word. Mountain men cached furs there and later it became a cache for outlaw loot, hidden there by the Ike Potter Gang. This gang terrorized small settlements throughout northern Utah during the 1860's. They attacked lone travelers, ambushed wagon trains and attacked settlements. They hid out at Cache Cave and it was common knowledge that Potter hid his loot; money, gold and other stolen valuables there. Potter wrote a note to a partner planning an attack to be made on Coalville, but as luck would have it the note fell into the hands of a Coalville man instead! When the attack came Ike and his gang were arrested by the sheriff and his 13 deputies.

Potter was later killed by a shotgun blast. No one knows where his loot is hidden, in fact, it might still be there.