The I-80 corridor through Tooele County is becoming an increasingly busy route for smuggling marijuana, with several drug busts in January netting 273 pounds of the illegal drug.

But running along that I-80 corridor is a railroad track that saw its fair share of crime more than 126 years ago.

In January 1883, a group of bandits known as the Deep Creek Highway Robbers roamed the western part of Tooele County, stealing cattle and robbing general stores, but their biggest crime led to the eventual downfall of the group — the Central Pacific Railroad robbery.

When the eastbound express train from San Francisco reached Montello, which sits near the Utah-Nevada border, the engineer saw some figures several rods ahead. Thinking there was no danger, the engineer stopped the train quickly and jumped off to see what was the trouble. He soon saw that the track switch had been turned to run the train on the side track.

Demanding an answer, the engineer yelled at the group of men. The answer he received in return was an order to stand by a water tank that was nearby. The man obeyed the order promptly when he saw a number of gun muzzles pointed at his head.

The robbers then took the fireman, the brakeman, and the conductor off the train and placed them under guard, but temporarily released the engineer and ordered him to put the train on the side track, which he did.

The bandits then rallied together to loot the Wells Fargo & Co. car on the train, which was in the care of Aaron Y. Ross.

Ross was alone in the car when the robbers roused him from his sleep. The bandits ordered him to step out of the car, but Ross refused to do so and managed to shut and fasten the car door on the inside and put out the lights.

Not about to give up, the rustlers procured a coal pick and commenced to break in the doors on each side of the car. They started to shoot into the car through the holes.

In the meantime, Ross had barricaded himself with boxes and returned fire, thereby keeping the thieves at bay. The bandits backed off at the sight of Ross’s bullets, but weren’t about to retreat. They next went to uncouple the Wells Fargo car from the other cars.

But by this time Ross had resumed firing briskly through the end of the car, hoping to kill some of the bandits or at least to prevent them from accomplishing their purpose.

The robbers tried climbing on top of the car to stop Ross, where they did manage to hit him once, though not fatally.

Then they tried a new tactic, hunting for wood with which to set the car on fire and fortunately found none.

This battle continued for two hours until a westbound train from Ogden happened upon the scene. The conductor of the westbound train went to inquire about the eastbound train’s stop and was ordered at gunpoint to keep his train moving forward.

After continuing their efforts for some time, the bandits moved off into the brush where they held consultation for about an hour. They concluded not to renew the conflict, but mounted their horses and rode away with only $15 in cash from the conductor, never bothering the passengers or the mail car.

Ross had managed to hold off seven bandits by himself. He was only hit by a single bullet in his finger. No one else was hurt.

Wells Fargo & Co. and Central Pacific each offered $500 for the arrest and conviction of the bandits, and the local authorities added $250 for each, totaling $1,250 per bandit.

The foiled train robbers were apprehended about two weeks later.

Natalie Tripp: ntripp@tooeletranscript.com