Wreck of the PC Blue
A Park City Historical Mystery
This cache is part of a series. Please see PC Blue 1 for details.
While doing research in the Park City Library for a pending puzzle cache, I came across an amazing account of an incident in local history. Finding it very intriguing, I did some more digging and eventually made a visit to the site of the incident, not more than a short drive and hike from the library. Of course, I couldn't resist placing a cache there, and sharing a very abbreviated version of the history with you.
In the late 1950s, an immigrant from Australia, Lachlan Arnold, moved from Sydney to Park City, Utah. The accounts don't mention a reason for the move. A truck driver by trade, he soon had employment driving loads of silver ore from the only remaining active mine in Park City to Midvale for processing. He moved into a modest home just outside downtown Park City and continued driving the same route for several years.
Although the silver mining industry in Park City was largely dormant by the early 1960s, there was still enough activity to make it economically worthwhile, and a handful of residents had built mansions in and near Park City after amassing considerable wealth from the mines they owned. In addition to silver and silver ore, there was a need to transport a fair amount of cash between Park City and Salt Lake City and other points west. This flow of cash made a tempting target for armed robbers, and there were a few incidences of successful heists along the route.
In an attempt to prevent further loss, Wells Fargo, the primary transporter of cash and other valuables, made a decision to move some of the money in unmarked vehicles, rather than in armored transport trucks, which were very obvious targets. Following up with the plan, Lachlan Arnold and three other truck drivers were approached and soon hired in an experiment for alternate cash transport.
In 1962, Lachlan made the first transport of several bags of cash in addition to the usual load of silver ore. For the additional responsibility, he was paid a significant amount, more than doubling his original salary. After a few months of this added work, he was able to purchase a new truck, a large (for those days) 27,000 pound capacity Ford painted a bright blue. Due to its unique color scheme, the truck was soon fondly referred to as "PC Blue" as it made its way through the streets of Park City.
The surviving accounts of the events of February 18, 1962, are few and somewhat in contradiction. However, I have pieced together what I believe is an accurate picture of what happened, and the mysteries that ensued. Much of this is derived from the actual notes and testimonies from Lachlan Arnold himself. From everything I have read, Lachlan was the very picture of dependability, honesty and level-headedness.
That February evening was very cold and a heavy snow was falling. Lachlan almost decided to cancel the run from Park City to Salt Lake, but decided to proceed, not wanting to fall behind schedule. He was carrying a load of 13,000 pounds of silver ore and cash in the amount of $650,000 in unmarked bags. Other than the weather, it was a fairly typical run.
Lachlan was following the usual road (what is now Highway 224), driving slowly in white-out conditions, when a figure appeared in the middle of the road in his path. Slamming on the brakes, he slid to a stop just feet from a tall, thin man standing still in the middle of the road. Lachlan's memories were dimmed by impending events, but he does recall the stranger was wearing an Aussie-style hat similar to his own, and that he seemed friendly and not at all cold or bothered by the frigid winter conditions in which he was standing, many miles from any form of shelter.
The stranger stepped up to Lachlan's window and introduced himself as "Sandy" and asked if he could get a lift to Salt Lake City. Not realizing at the time that the fact that the stranger knew his destination should have been a red flag, Lachlan agreed, knowing that the fellow's chances of survival in those conditions were slim. Thus, despite Wells Fargo's prohibition of anyone other than the driver being in the vehicle, the two continued on the journey to Salt Lake.
Lachlan claims to remember nothing of their conversation, only recalling that conditions were getting worse and worse and that they were likely to end up stuck in the deepening snow drifts. The wind was howling outside and visibility was zero. He did recall, though, that Sandy told him that "he had better take the Hellgate Cutoff" if they wanted to make Salt Lake that evening. Lachlan, who always followed exactly the same route, was not familiar with the suggested cutoff. Sandy explained that it would knock eight miles off the journey and would be much less snow-covered. Grudgingly, Lachlan agreed, as his passenger was obviously much more familiar with the area than he was. A few hundred feet later, following Sandy's directions, they turned off onto a "much less-traveled side road" that Lachlan didn't recall ever seeing before.
They drove for a long period of time, creeping through deeper and deeper snow in total contradiction to the better conditions promised by Sandy. Lachlan remembers being told that he would need to speed up as much as possible, just after passing a sharp bend in the road, in order to make it to the top of a hill just ahead. He did as directed, with a greater and greater sense of unease. As far as he could tell, they weren't even going close to the right direction anymore.
Then, everything became a blur. Rather than a hill, they had reached the edge of a great drop-off and the headlights revealed what looked like the edge of a sheer abyss right in their path. Unable to stop, they plunged over the edge and fell through open air for what seemed like a great distance, before smashing into the rocks below. PC Blue had made its final run.
Incredibly, Lachlan's injuries were minor, but his recollection of what happened next is dim. He vaguely recalls his passenger crawling out through the broken side window of the cab, then a long period of darkness, cold and disorientation, later followed by very vague images of Sandy, completely uninjured, trudging through the ongoing blizzard and up the side of what turned out to be a large pit, carrying an armful of money bags. Then, nothing. Lachlan's next memory is of stumbling into Park City, hungry and hypothermic, then being taken inside and eventually to the hospital.
In the following days, Lachlan made a full recovery, relating the events as he remembered them over and over to police, FBI, Wells Fargo and many curious reporters and friends. The headline of the Park City Gazette screamed "Wreck of the PC Blue". The very next day, a party of law officers and Wells Fargo representatives set out in search of the wreck. They had little to go on beyond the turn from the main road onto the "Hellgate Cutoff", which no one had ever heard of. Many days of intensive searching followed, and Lachlan was able to join the search, even attempting to retrace the exact route of that fateful night. However, the cutoff, which he remembered immediately following a sharp bend in the road, simply did not exist. The very few side roads all ended at private family farms and were very short in length.
Months followed without a trace of PC Blue or of the mysterious passenger who disappeared after the crash. On the morning of June 2, 1962, Lachlan Arnold also disappeared, despite being under a fair amount of suspicion from the investigating lawmen and under strong suggestion not to leave town. Lachlan was neither seen nor heard from again, despite an intensive search throughout the region and even his Sydney homeland.
Then, on September 5, 1962, a party of hikers discovered the wreck of PC Blue. The truck was hanging halfway down the side of a deep pit four miles due west of Park City. The discovery also led to the first of many mysteries which remain unanswered to this day. The wreck was thoroughly searched with little to show for the effort. Many hours have since been spent by officials and curious treasure seekers in trying to determine just what happened and where all the missing cargo could have gone to. In summary, the following questions still remain unanswered:
1 - The pit where the wreck was discovered is in an area that, even today, is quite remote and seldom visited. In 1962, there were no roads whatsoever anywhere near the pit. The roads visible today in Google Earth were not constructed until much later, as was the natural gas pipeline south of the site. Furthermore, the terrain in all directions is extremely rugged. It would have been all but impossible to drive a cargo truck from the nearest road to the site of the wreck, let alone in a driving blizzard. How did PC Blue get there?
2 - Where did the huge pit come from? Geologists have determined that it is definitely man made, yet there are no records anywhere that document its existence. There is no history of any mining at all in that area. The pit has been examined by mining engineers who state that it was professionally constructed and would have taken enormous effort. Yet, there is no sign of any of the tailings that were removed from the pit and no indication who was responsible for its creation.
3 - Did or does the "Hellgate Cutoff" actually exist? Even old-timers of the area had never heard of it, nor of any road ever having been constructed proximate to the pit. Lachlan's account clearly documents a minor, but well-maintained road leading directly to the edge of the pit, yet even the maps of the time show no roads there whatsoever.
4 - At the time of the wreck, PC Blue was carrying 13,000 pounds of silver ore, which, once refined, would have been worth a substantial amount. And yet, when the truck was discovered, not one ounce of ore was in the bed or anywhere near the crash site. What happened to all that ore?
5 - Similarly, what happened to the $650,000 in bagged cash that Lachlan was carrying for Wells Fargo? His accounts state that he witnessed Sandy carrying an armful of bags away from the crash, yet there was far too much to carry in one trip. He would have had to make multiple trips down into the pit to remove all the cash. And what became of it? No hint of its existence has ever been found.
6 - The same for the mysterious passenger, "Sandy". No one questioned had ever seen a person matching that description in the area, and no trace of him was ever found. Did he even really exist? Was it part of a story concocted by Lachlan? And where did Lachlan himself go? His disappearance from Park City was totally unexpected. Was he involved with the theft of the cash, and perhaps the silver ore? If so, why would he return to Park City and remain there, helping with the investigation, for months? Again, his disappearance was without a trace and no one has any idea what became of him.
7 - How did Lachlan get back to Park City in subzero temperatures and a monster snowstorm with no provisions at all? What happened during the eight or so hours between the crash and his reappearance on foot and barely alive, back in Park City?
8 - A few years after these events, in 1977, another hiker came across the site of the wreck and discovered the (apparently recent) wreck of a second vehicle, much smaller, near PC Blue. Although rusted beyond recognition now, at the time, this second vehicle was identified as a Ford Granada, but a European version and one never sold in the U.S. It was registered, amazingly, to an owner in Sydney, Australia, and reported stolen several months earlier. The owner was never located. Its rusting hulk remains in the pit to this day.
None of the above accounts that I read about in the Park City Library provide the GPS coordinates of the crash site. Thus, it took me a fair amount of searching to locate it. By pursuing this geocache, you, too, can visit this quite striking scene and ponder the incredible events, be they real or fabricated, that were associated with this wreck. Check the hint and finding the cache should be easy. Look for the original blue paint still intact on parts of the wreck as well as the nearby remains of the smaller Granada.
If you are so inclined, please provide your own theories of what happened in your online log. Enjoy the hike and be safe!