Seventy-five years ago (in 1951), the U.S. Highway 70 Association began promoting US Route 70 as “America’s Treasure Trail.”
Now, as US Route 70 celebrates its 100-year anniversary on Nov. 11, 2026, the old slogan still has legs…especially for us here in eastern North Carolina where images of pirates and buried treasures have permeated the legends and lore of our coastal waters since the Golden Age of Piracy in the early 1700s.
All of this “pirate mania” has been fueled, of course, by the nefarious Capt. Edward Teach, also known as “Blackbeard,” who was considered the most fearsome and ruthless pirate of all time.
The eastern terminus of US Route 70 is in the village of Atlantic in Down East Carteret County, N.C., on the shores of Core Sound, waters that were frequented by Blackbeard’s flagship vessel, Queen Anne’s Revenge.
Interestingly, the western terminus of US Route 70 is in Globe, a small city and the county seat of Gila County, Ariz., situated in the foothills of the Pinal Mountains in America’s Old West territory.
Images of prospectors and miners are central to the history of Globe, which was established in 1876 when large deposits of silver were detected in the region, including one large piece of silver in the shape of a globe.
Indeed, Globe was once a wild and wooly frontier town typical of the Wild, Wild West.
It seems that a “pairing” of tales about North Carolina’s pirates with yarns about characters from Arizona’s western culture could be a “natural attraction” to truly restore the aura of US Route 70 as “America’s Treasure Trail.”
Recently, the I-42/US 70 Corridor Commission, a public-private partnership representing five counties within North Carolina (Carteret, Craven, Johnston, Lenoir and Wayne), approved a Resolution of Appreciation to recognize the observance of US Route 70’s centennial year in 2026.
To emphasize the scenic vistas along the 2,381-mile route, the Corridor Commission is recommending a rebranding approach that gives a slightly new twist to the traditional slogan – “Scenic 70: Still America’s Treasure Trail.”
Pearl Hart adds to Globe’s mystique
In the Arizona Territory, the community of Globe had a reputation for being a rough-and-tumble Western town.
That image was enriched in 1899 with a stagecoach robbery that involved one of Globe’s most colorful female citizens – Pearl Hart. She was dubbed the “Bandit Queen.”
No one was killed or injured in the infamous stagecoach hold-up. Pearl Hart and her accomplice William James “Joe” Boot, a two-bit outlaw from Globe, made off with more than $400, stolen from three stagecoach passengers.
Joe Boot had carefully planned to intercept the stagecoach near a watering hole in Cane Springs Canyon on the road between Florence and Globe, Ariz. This was a narrow and winding passage not far from the Gila River, a perfect location for an ambush.
This was one of the last stagecoach routes still operating in the Arizona Territory. The run had not been robbed in several years, and driver Henry Bacon was alone; no one was “riding shotgun.”
While the stagecoach robbery went off without a hitch, the getaway got complicated. Pearl Hart and Joe Boot galloped away on their horses, but they got lost trying to find the trail back to Globe and couldn’t get their bearings.
Meanwhile, Bacon returned to Florence to alert Pinal County Sheriff Bill Truman, who assembled a posse to pursue Pearl Hart and Joe Boot. The robbers were found asleep at their campsite and apprehended without incident.
Kathy Alexander, creator of the Legends of America website, said Pearl Hart’s trial drew nationwide newspaper coverage.
Though Pearl admitted her guilt, she was acquitted by the all-male jury, most likely because of her story about being compelled to rob the stage, so she could send money to her mother back in Ohio who was gravely ill.
“Judge Fletcher M. Doan was furious at the verdict, claiming that Pearl ‘…flirted with the jury, bending them to her will,’” Alexander wrote.
“He replaced the jury and had Pearl re-tried for unlawfully carrying a gun” (the one she took from stagecoach driver Henry Bacon).
“Her charms did not sway the (second) jury, and she was convicted and sentenced to five years in the Yuma Territorial Prison,” Alexander said.
Author Jana Bommersbach noted: “Joe Boot (in a separate trial) was handily convicted of the stage robbery and got a 30-year sentence.”
Hart and Boot arrived at the Yuma Territorial Prison together, and “Pearl put another notch in her celebrity bonnet – she was the only female prisoner.”
While at Yuma, Boot was “squeaky clean” and rewarded. He became a trusty and was assigned to drive a wagon loaded with food and supplies to inmate crews working outside the prison walls.
One day in 1901, he drove his wagon through the gate…and kept on a’goin,’ disappearing into the wilderness. He was thought to have fled to Mexico and was never heard from again.
On the other hand, Pearl Hart cozied up to the warden at Yuma. He provided her with an oversized cell that included a small yard and allowed her to entertain reporters and other guests as well as pose for photographs.
The Arizona Silver Belt newspaper, published in Globe, reported: “An afternoon rarely goes by without her having lots of callers and herself being photographed. The camera fiends have taken shots of her with all sorts of firearms and looking as much the desperado as they can make her.”
Unexpectedly, Pearl Hart was released from prison in December 1902, pardoned by Arizona Territorial Gov. Alexander Brodie. In addition to “pockets full of cash,” she was given a train ticket to Missouri. The rumor was that Pearl Hart was “with child.”
Sources indicate that Gov. Brodie “decided that a baby could not be born in a prison,” so she was pardoned on the condition that she would leave the territory, never to return.
When queried about the reason for the pardon, Gov. Brodie’s secretary simply stated: “For good behavior.”
It may all have been a ruse by Pearl Hart. If there ever were a baby, there is no record of him or her.
Pearl Hart was born in 1871 in Lindsay, Ontario, Canada, about 85 miles northeast of Toronto. Her maiden name was believed to be Davy. The family lived in poverty.
Pearl’s first brush with the law occurred at age 11, when she and brother Willie, 13, were caught stealing a cow and re-selling it. She was released, but Willie was sent off to spend three years in a boys’ detention school.
In 1893, Pearl Hart attended the Chicago World’s Fair and was fascinated by a performance of “Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show,” glamorizing the western and cowboy lifestyle. She was mesmerized by Annie Oakley and her shooting artistry.
Pearl Hart reportedly worked her way west as a cook and singer, possibly supplementing her income as a demimondaine, while developing a fondness for cigars, liquor and morphine.
Pearl is believed to have perfected her marksmanship while sitting in a rocking chair on the front porch of her cabin in Globe with her pistol, blasting rattlesnakes who ventured too close for comfort.
Pearl Hart’s character was featured in two popular American western television shows in the early 1960s.
Beverly Garland played the role of Pearl Hart in a 1960 episode of “Tales of Wells Fargo," starring alongside Dale Robertson, who portrayed the lead character Jim Hardie.
Anne Francis was cast as Pearl Hart in a “Death Valley Days” episode that aired in 1964. Jesse Pearson played her accomplice, Joe Boot.
John Boessenecker, author of “Wildcat: The Untold Story of Pearl Hart, the Wild West’s Most Notorious Woman Bandit,” said that Henry Bacon’s stagecoach “was not a large, six-horse Concord coach of the type commonly seen in television and film.”
“Instead, the stage was a much lighter conveyance that looked like a carriage, known as a ‘mud wagon.’ It had three seats, a canvas top and a four-horse team.”
The ‘Treasure Trail’ continues...
There’s no shortage of “treasures” in between Atlantic and Globe.
Moving on through Tennessee in a westerly direction, motorists are invited to visit Lebanon, the county seat of Wilson County (east of Nashville). The locals pronounce it “LEB-nin.”
The community is known as the “Antique City of the South,” and its Fiddlers Grove Historic Village is a popular tourism destination.
Lebanon is the home of the world headquarters for Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, which was founded in 1969 and now boasts 660 restaurants in 44 states.
Cumberland University, a private university founded in 1842, with an enrollment of about 3,000 students, adds “academic character and cultural programming” to Lebanon’s community life.
Glenwood, Ark., is the mid-way point of US Route 70 between Atlantic and Globe.
Glenwood, is in Pike County, about 30 miles west of Hot Springs in the southwestern quadrant of Arkansas.
The community is “nestled in a bend of the Caddo River with spectacular views of Arkansas’ Ouachita Mountains,” which rise to a maximum elevation of 2,753 feet. (Ouachita is pronounced as WAH-she-taw.)
This area developed a reputation for having one of the “best stands of timber in all of Arkansas,” and several lumber companies were formed to harvest the trees.
Pike County is the home of the world-famous Crater of Diamonds, a popular state park. Over millions of years, volcanic eruptions and erosion brought many diamonds up to the surface.
Visitors can simply walk in with a shovel, sifting screen or even just their hands, and if they find a diamond, it’s theirs to keep.
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