Historically, robbers would have to be strategic about where they hid their loot. Train and stagecoach robberies were quite common in the late 19th century, especially in remote areas. The robbers would often stash their loot in a shallow or moderate hole until the heat was off of them. They would also want to have easy retrieval when they came back to get it.
Most large amounts of gold and silver that were in route were for payroll to employees of The Railroad, Civil War, or for shipment to the mints for processing. For instance, if $100,000 dollars worth of gold was stolen, that would, more than likely, be a one ounce $20 dollar gold piece. That, times 5000 coins, would equal $100,000 and 5,000 ounces, or around 416 pounds to be carry in addition to its bulk.
If the gold or silver was in bars or nuggets/dust, that number increases dramatically. $100,000 of raw gold would weigh over 8,300 pounds 1.
Technically, gold and other precious metals are usually weighed in the Troy weight system. The system used in the US is called the avoirdupois weight system or (avdp), where sixteen ounces equals one pound. A pound (avdp) is equal to 1.21528338 Troy pounds. One Troy ounce of gold weighs 1.0971377 ounce (avdp) and there are 12 Troy ounces in one Troy pound and only 0.822853347 pounds (avdp).
