The Star Line Nail and Transportation Company operated a stagecoach line, which traveled a regular schedule between Prescott, Arizona and Santa Fe, New Mexico. Primarily catering to the United States Army, the stage line carried troops, supplies and sometimes, the army’s payroll between Fort Wingate and For Whipple.

In 1874, Samuel Wharton and Thomas Horton held up the stage just northwest of Albuquerque, escaping with $50,000 in gold coins intended for the army payroll. Traveling north on horses stolen from a Navajo Indian herd, they passed through Largo Canyon before reaching the San Juan River near Blanco.

Riding swiftly and covering quite a distance, they were surprised when they looked behind them and saw the cavalry in hot pursuit. Panicked, they buried the gold near a rock shaped arch and fled. However, they were captured just a short time later. Identified by two Navajo guides as having been the men who stole the horses, Tom Horton and Samuel Wharton were tried and sentenced to forty years in the New Mexico Territorial Prison.

While in prison, Tom Horton died, but Samuel Wharton lived to be released. Thirty-five years after the theft he returned to Aztec, New Mexico spending the summer riding the countryside of San Juan County. Reportedly he could never find the exact place where they had stashed the gold. The rock shaped arch is said to be hidden in Slane’s or Potter Arroyo between Aztec and Blanco.