BUTCH CASSIDY AND FRISCO, UTAH Part 1
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| Frisco Main street 1880 |
Of the many places in Southern Utah that have been associated with the early childhood and youth of Butch Cassidy little mention has been of the wild mining camp of Frisco, Utah. However Frisco played a small, but integral part in the early life of Robert Leroy Parker later known as "Butch" Cassidy. Frisco now a ghost town is located some 30 miles west of Beaver, where Bob Parker as he was known then, was born. What little is said in the annals of Butch was that his father, Maximilian (Max) Parker worked occasionally in Frisco, or cutting and hauling wood to Frisco, for use as railroad ties, for charcoal to be used in the smelters, or as mine timbers. A typical story, as told by his sister Lula Parker Betensen, goes like this:
"Dad got work at Frisco, a mining town west of Beaver, cutting ties for the railroad and studding for the mines. He traveled back and forth between Frisco and the ranch, according to the work available, and he freighted and hauled timber for charcoal."
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| Frisco Smelter 1880 |
Frisco was much more than just a mining town. west of Beaver. By 1879 when young Bob Parker started work at the Hay Springs Ranch, 20 miles away, Frisco was a rip roaring mining camp of over 2000 miners and camp follower. It had at least four hotels, five general stores twenty saloons, two of the largest smelters in Utah, But what made it somewhat unique was that Frisco had own horse racing track, complete with a half mile track, grandstands and a judging booth.
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| Horn Silver Mine ca. 1910 |
Frisco was also the home of the fabulous Horn Silver Mine dubbed by the Eastern press at the time as the "richest silver/lead mine in the world." The Superintendent of the Horn Silver mine was none other than Pat Ryan, one of the owners of the Hay Springs Ranch. Ryan, as the Superintendent of the mine and leader of the town was the driving force in building the track. Almost weekly, races were held with hundreds, sometime thousands of dollars changing hands. Local horses, as well as prominent horses such as "Blue Dick," "Kentucky Bill," "Jack Rabbit", and "Prince" raced regularly at the track. Another local horse that also raced in the area, was "Markmore," owned by Parker family neighbor Jim Marshall.
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| Frisco Charcoal Kilns ca. 1990 |
The constant need for wood, to be turned into Charcoal for the smelters, and for timbering in the mines, is what attracted Max Parker to Frisco. Parker was able to make a few hard earned and needed dollars. Cash money was a scarce commodity in Southern Utah in 1879 and the Parkers needed every penny they could get. But another draw to the area for Max Parker would have been the races as Max had ambitions of being a successful rancher and horse raiser.
As the oldest boy n the family, Bob Parker would have been taken along on many of Max's trips delivering wood into Frisco. Though only 13, he was expected by his family to do "his share of the work," and that included helping his father cut and deliver the cord wood to the mines.
While in Frisco, after selling his load, Max would have attended any race possible. While Lula Parker Bentensen downplayed the role of horse racing in her book, Butch Cassidy, My Brother, horses were a big part of Parker family life and Max would have been impressed with the size and layout of the Frisco track. Sitting in the grandstand, he would have dreamt about the money his horses could bring in, if he could just train them properly. Young Bob, also watching the races would have had his own fantasies.
So when Pat Ryan took an interest in young Bob and Bob's interest in the horses, Max Parker readily agreed to have the boy work for Ryan out at the ranch at Hay Springs for a season working with the horses. Bob, with his enthusiasm for the horses was just the kind of boy he needed to help around the stables. And with Bob's build, not tall, a little lean on top, with most of his weight around his hips and thighs, the thought could have crossed Ryan's mind that Bob had the body of a jockey.
Not much is known of Robert Parker's time at Hay Springs. It lasted perhaps a year. The ranch was primarily a horse ranch. Pat Ryan built an additional race track there at the ranch to train both his and other's horses. Regular trips would have been made between the Frisco and the ranch, and if Bob was helping with the horses he would have gone along either way.. It may have been at Frisco where young Bob could have gotten his taste for the wild life.
Pat Ryan would say of Bob Parker's time working for him that: "when a young man the fellow gave no signs of the desperate career he subsequently adopted, but on the contrary he was quiet and inoffensive, . . . . he was hard on the horse on which he was mounted, that was the only offense for which he was rebuked"
