FATALITY ARTICLES

Harry Swanson Killed in Crater Lake Snowslide

From: Jackson Hole Courier
Harry Swanson, 17, of Jackson was probably killed in the Crater Lake snowslide on Teton Pass which ran about four o'clock last Thursday afternoon.

The Swansons, father and two sons were engaged in getting out wood near Crater Lake, having built a cabin there last fall. Early on the day of the accident the elder Swanson had cautioned his sons concerning the possibilities of the slide running.

Harry left the cabin late in the afternoon to work on a toboggan he was building and probably while engaged in this task the slide which was split by a great boulder struck him carrying him down the mountain side.

The elder Swanson and a second son were in the cabin at the time but did not hear the slide as it rushed by but presumably a short time after the father went out noticed that the slide had run and started looking for his son without avail. To date a part of the toboggan badly smashed has been found and it is believed that the body of the lad may be buried thirty to fifty feet under the snow somewhere below Crater Lake. Searching parties have found no trace of the victim.

Following the accident the boy who had been in the cabin with his father started towards Teton summit to try to locate his brother. Merl who is driving the mail as his father feared that Merl might also have been caught. He found Merl safe just above the Boulder Gulch slide which had also run and told him what had happened. Other drivers with Merl reported the accident at the summit from which point it was phoned to Jackson via Driggs, Pocatello, Rock Springs, Lander and Twogwotee Pass as the Jackson Teton Pass line had been disrupted by a slide or falling tree. Merl Swanson brought the locked mail sacks on to Jackson packing them to the Davis ranch on his back in spite of his brother's tragic accident. "The mail must go through."

From: Platts, Doris B.; The Pass Historic Teton Pass and Wilson, Wyoming, 1988.
Teenager Harry Swanson, had been cutting wood along with his father and brother. The latter two were in the cabin there but Harry was tinkering outside and was also hoping to watch the snowslide which was expected after the great storm. Instead, the slide swept the boy away. Despite day after day searching, his body could not be found. May. (Memorial Day) Swanson’s father, never having given up the search, spied Harry’s cap on the snowbank. Underneath, in a vertical position was his son’s body, at the bottom of the ravine just ten feet off the trail.