The Overland Trail stage line was regularly terrorized by outlaws, where the surrounding area provided multiple opportunistic hideouts. One hideout, labeled the Robbers Roost atop Table Mountain, was so popular that the outlaws built a cabin there. Table Mountain, only about a mile northeast of the Virginia Dale Stage Station, was a perfect hideout, as it is difficult to climb with practically perpendicular cliffs and a rim of shale.

At the time, it was rumored that Joseph "Jack" Slade, the Station Master was the leader of the gang. Jack Slade, not as famous as many other outlaw characters, was nevertheless, as notorious as many of them. Slade was said to have had an uncontrollable temper, was a heavy drinker, had murdered in the past, and was eventually hanged in Montana. Though the stage line suspected Slade, they could not prove it, so they just fired him. Uncharacteristically, the bad-tempered Slade, left without any problems.

Later Jack Slade moved on to Virginia City, Montana. A heavy drinker with a bad temper, he wrecked a saloon soon after his arrival. Jack was arrested but he tore up the arrest and threatened the judge. Though he pleaded for his life, he was immediately hanged.

Virginia Dale, his girlfriend (or common law wife) was brought to town by one of Jack's friends, took his body home, pickled it in alcohol in a metal casket, and kept it under her bed for several months. She then took it to Salt Lake City, Utah and buried him in the old Mormon Cemetery where his body remains today.

The gold taken by the robbers at Virginia Dale has never been found.

Today, Virginia Dale is nothing more than a ghost town, located in the northern part of Larimer County, about 45 miles northwest of Fort Collins, and just about four miles south of the Wyoming border on US Highway 287. The old Overland Trail Stage Station is listed on the National Register of Historical sites and recently efforts have been made to preserve the old station.

The stage station is situated at the very end of County Road 43F, about 1 mile east of US 287. A monument erected for the station marks the beginning of CR 43F. Follow the county road through a narrow gorge beneath Lover’s Leap, past a ranch, and it will take you right to the door. The station itself is on private property, but the access to the site is on a county road. If you intend to visit the Stage Station, you can take pictures of the grounds and the exterior of the building, but please do not trespass onto the private property.