Butch Cassidy recruited Harry Alonzo Longabaugh, also known as "The Sundance Kid", a native of Pennsylvania, into the Wild Bunch. In early 1897, Cassidy was joined at Robbers Roost by Ann Bassett, Elzy Lay, and Lay's girlfriend Maude Davis. The four hid there until early April, when Lay and Cassidy sent the women home so that the men could plan their next robbery. On April 22, 1897, in the mining town of Castle Gate, Utah, Cassidy and Lay ambushed a small group of men carrying the payroll of the Pleasant Valley Coal Company, stealing a sack containing $7,000 in gold, with which
Butch Cassidy them. Cassidy's first bank robbery took place on June 24, 1889, when he, Warner and two of the McCarty brothers robbed the San Miguel Valley Bank in Telluride, stealing approximately $21,000 (), after which they fled to the Robbers Roost, a remote hideout in southeastern Utah. In 1890, Cassidy purchased a ranch on the outskirts of Dubois, Wyoming. This location is across the state from the notorious Hole-in-the-Wall, a natural geological formation and a popular hideout for outlaw gangs including Cassidy's during the era, so it is possible that Cassidy's ranching, at which he was never economically successful, was a