Table of Contents
Acknowledgments v
Chapter 1 Digging up History 1
Chapter 2 Chick Grimsley's Tough Trip 5
Cowboy Chick Grimsley was the first pioneer and outfitter in the upper Middle Fork
Chapter 3 Nyack Train Wreck Mystery 23
In 1901, two trains collided and dozens died at a remote siding between Glacier National Park and the Great Bear Wilderness
Chapter 4 Lost Paola Ranger Station 39
Renowned ranger Clyde Fauley patrols the remote side of the Middle Fork in early Glacier National Park
Chapter 5 Schafer Meadows Winter 61
Two trappers spend a frigid winter alone in the heart of the Middle Fork
Chapter 6 Slim and the Griz 81
Arthur Edward Meyer (aka Slim Link) meets his maker while trapping in Kishenehn Creek within Glacier National Park
Chapter 11 Unlucky Trappers 99
A Japanese trapper disappears in China Basin in the upper North Fork and other trappers have a run of bad luck
Chapter 8 Backcountry Coal and Old-timer Tales 117
Big seams of coal spurred early travel into the North Fork of the Flathead, and old-timers tell tales of a mysterious disappearance and a curious trap
Chapter 9 Killing Billy Kruse: Shootout in the Upper North Fork 139
Billy Kruse is gunned down in a "justifiable homicide" near Mud Lake
Chapter 10 The Mystery of Baptiste 155
Enigmatic prospector and trapper Baptiste Joyal may have been the first Euro-American in the South Fork
Chapter 11 The Ranger's Ranger 167
No one could outwalk or out-tough old-time wilderness ranger Henry Thol in the South Fork backcountry
Chapter 12 A Tangle with the Alpha Grizzly 193
Old-time ranger Jalmer Wirkkala tangles with a legendary griz and a packrat in what is now the Bob Marshall Wilderness
Chapter 13 Flagship Ranger District 207
The Big Prairie Ranger District has anchored the Bob through a century of public service
Chapter 14 Little Salmon Plane Crash 249
Three elk hunters found a lost plane in the Bob Marshall Wilderness and solved a mystery
Chapter 15 Gems of Discovery 265
The people behind the stories
Index 271
About the Author 280
