The Pawnee strip is a piece of Federal land that has long been a haven for outlaws.
A professor and his men are taking a survey on the Navajo Reservation land so that they can get to the rock oil that is underneath the rocks. They murder the Indian agent.
Judge Wiley's business is not doing so well due to the hard-to-beat prices of a competitor. Meanwhile, half of the supplies sent to the Indians always seems to go missing.
Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch rob a stagecoach carrying a mine's payroll. Butch knocks out the marshal guarding the money and exchanges identities with the unconscious lawman.