Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Matt Warner
Matt Warner (April 12, 1864 – December 21, 1938) was a notable figure from the American Old West who was a farmer, cowboy, rancher, ferryman, cattle rustler, bank robber, justice of the peace, lawman, and bootlegger. Born Erastus Christiansen, he changed his name in his teens when he became an outlaw.
Warner operated in the Robbers Roost area of southeastern Utah before teaming up with outlaw Butch Cassidy. While on the run from the law, he married Rose Morgan. For a while he operated a cattle ranch in Washington's Big Bend Country. Later he operated a ranch on Diamond Mountain in Uintah County, Utah, using the registered brand of Quarter Circle Bar Quarter Circle, commonly called the Horse Bit brand. He co-wrote The Last of the Bandit Riders, a memoir.
Erastus Christiansen was born on April 12, 1864, in Ephraim, Sanpete County, Utah. Both of his parents, Christian and Christina Christiansen, were from Denmark. His father was a farmer and a Mormon bishop, Christina being, by some accounts, his fifth wife. Christian converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Denmark and his son, John, was the first child born into the faith there. He came to the United States and lived in Utah in the early 1850s. He was a missionary and a preacher in the United States and for two years in Denmark. The Christiansens lived in several towns (Nephi, Ephraim, Levan, and Manti, Utah), depending upon his roles within the church. He became the Bishop of Levan, and had eight children, including Ezra and Oliver.
Teeny, Warner's sister, married Tom McCarty, the leader of the Blue Mountain Gang. The Christiansens lived on the frontier, where their neighbors included cattle rustlers and horse thieves. When Warner was thirteen or fourteen years old, he got into a fight with another young man over a girl. Thinking that he had killed him, Warner ran away from home.
In 1878, Warner went to the eastern Uinta Mountains, where cattle grazed on the range and farmers irrigated their crops on remote homesteads. There were some small settlements, but no churches or towns, and very little law enforcement.
He shot a Mexican horse thief during a gunfight; he was 15. At the same age, he started working for a rancher Jim Warren at Diamond Mountain, Utah. He received some of the cattle that he had rustled with Warren, enough to start his own cattle ranch on Diamond Mountain.
He joined a crew of cowboys trailing a herd of horses into the Uinta Basin of northeastern Utah. There he soon joined up with cattle rustlers working out of Browns Park, earning the name of the "Mormon Kid".
Along with other outlaws and "colorful figures" that worked for him as a freighter or ferry operator, Warner occasionally worked on John Jarvie's ferry that crossed the Green River in Browns Park (also called Brown's Hole). Warner had 124 horses by October 16, 1886, when he mortgaged them. He agreed to receive $847.90 (equivalent to $30,383 in 2025) and repay the balance with 12% annual interest by April 16, 1887.
Hub AI
Matt Warner AI simulator
(@Matt Warner_simulator)
Matt Warner
Matt Warner (April 12, 1864 – December 21, 1938) was a notable figure from the American Old West who was a farmer, cowboy, rancher, ferryman, cattle rustler, bank robber, justice of the peace, lawman, and bootlegger. Born Erastus Christiansen, he changed his name in his teens when he became an outlaw.
Warner operated in the Robbers Roost area of southeastern Utah before teaming up with outlaw Butch Cassidy. While on the run from the law, he married Rose Morgan. For a while he operated a cattle ranch in Washington's Big Bend Country. Later he operated a ranch on Diamond Mountain in Uintah County, Utah, using the registered brand of Quarter Circle Bar Quarter Circle, commonly called the Horse Bit brand. He co-wrote The Last of the Bandit Riders, a memoir.
Erastus Christiansen was born on April 12, 1864, in Ephraim, Sanpete County, Utah. Both of his parents, Christian and Christina Christiansen, were from Denmark. His father was a farmer and a Mormon bishop, Christina being, by some accounts, his fifth wife. Christian converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Denmark and his son, John, was the first child born into the faith there. He came to the United States and lived in Utah in the early 1850s. He was a missionary and a preacher in the United States and for two years in Denmark. The Christiansens lived in several towns (Nephi, Ephraim, Levan, and Manti, Utah), depending upon his roles within the church. He became the Bishop of Levan, and had eight children, including Ezra and Oliver.
Teeny, Warner's sister, married Tom McCarty, the leader of the Blue Mountain Gang. The Christiansens lived on the frontier, where their neighbors included cattle rustlers and horse thieves. When Warner was thirteen or fourteen years old, he got into a fight with another young man over a girl. Thinking that he had killed him, Warner ran away from home.
In 1878, Warner went to the eastern Uinta Mountains, where cattle grazed on the range and farmers irrigated their crops on remote homesteads. There were some small settlements, but no churches or towns, and very little law enforcement.
He shot a Mexican horse thief during a gunfight; he was 15. At the same age, he started working for a rancher Jim Warren at Diamond Mountain, Utah. He received some of the cattle that he had rustled with Warren, enough to start his own cattle ranch on Diamond Mountain.
He joined a crew of cowboys trailing a herd of horses into the Uinta Basin of northeastern Utah. There he soon joined up with cattle rustlers working out of Browns Park, earning the name of the "Mormon Kid".
Along with other outlaws and "colorful figures" that worked for him as a freighter or ferry operator, Warner occasionally worked on John Jarvie's ferry that crossed the Green River in Browns Park (also called Brown's Hole). Warner had 124 horses by October 16, 1886, when he mortgaged them. He agreed to receive $847.90 (equivalent to $30,383 in 2025) and repay the balance with 12% annual interest by April 16, 1887.