Glacier Park records: The missing and the dead

Two recent deaths in Glacier National Park were caused by heart attacks — the No. 2 cause of deaths in the Park.

A 67-year-old Indiana man hiking with his wife on a ranger-led program died in the St. Mary Falls area on July 28, and a 75-year-old California man died while hiking the Iceberg Trail near Many Glacier on July 29.

The Park’s death records date back to January 1913, when Joe Prince froze to death while snowshoeing between Cut Bank and St. Mary. Four more people died of exposure in the Park over the next 100 years.

All told, 260 people have died or are presumed to have died in the Park through 2013. That includes two homicide victims — Frederick Pongrace in 1983 and Cody Johnson last year.

The top-five causes of death in Glacier Park are drowning, heart attack, climbing, vehicle accident and falling while hiking.

The first drowning was recorded in 1916, when 39-year-old Jane Davis drowned in the Two Medicine River. Fifty-seven people have drowned in the Park since then, including Abigail Sylvester, 33, who drowned in McDonald Creek on July 12 this year.

Forty-one people died of heart attacks through 2013, and 35 died while climbing. The cause of the second death in Glacier Park records is given as “by falling object,” but it was falling ice on the Blackfoot Glacier that ended Dr. Fletcher’s life in August 1913.

The first person to die in a motor vehicle accident in Glacier Park was an unidentified bus driver killed on Divide Hill in September 1922. Twenty-nine others died in collisions through 2013, mostly since World War II.

Julie Helgeson and Michele Koons were the first people to die from a bear attack, according to Park records. Both died on the night of Aug. 13, 1967 but in completely different locations in the Park. Eight more people were killed by bears through 2013.

Three people died while taking photographs. Two fell from the Going-to-the-Sun Road. The third was knocked over a guard wall by her horse when it got spooked on the east side of Ptarmigan Tunnel in July 1998.

Suicide was the cause of death for six people who died in the Park through 2013. The first was a ranger staying at the remote Kishenehn Ranger Station in February 1926. Nine people died of natural causes, including a man who expired while shoveling snow off the roof of a motel in 1955.

Adventure sports can be deadly. A Whitefish man fell into a bergshrund on East Gunsight Peak while skiing its steep north face in August 1971, another Whitefish man died while moonlight biking on the Sun Road in August 2001, and a snowboarder from East Glacier was killed by an avalanche on Mount Shields in March 2010.

Twelve people are considered missing and presumed dead. The first two drowned in Lake McDonald in July 1923 but were never found. The next year, two hikers presumably got lost between Granite Park and Lake McDonald. A man who left to climb Mount Brown in July 1933 never returned, and another man went missing around Goat Haunt the next year.

Two fishermen went missing in Kintla Lake in September 1950, but the body of the third man in the boat was found. A member of Glacier Park’s blister rust crew disappeared in July 1963 while climbing Going-to-the-Sun Mountain alone.

The next year, an employee at the Rising Sun Motor Inn fell from the top of St. Mary Falls. His body was never found. In June 1976, a man left his wife and five children at the Apgar picnic area and disappeared on Lake McDonald. His boat was found halfway up the west shore wedged between rocks with the propeller stuck in gravel.

The Robert Fire in July 2003 may have made finding the remains of Larry Kimble, 40, impossible. His truck was found at the Rocky Point Trailhead near the Fish Creek Campground in June 2003. The area where he may have disappeared completely burned over after the Robert Fire crossed into the Park.

A 13th person who might be considered missing and presumed dead inside Glacier Park is Patrick Whalen. He was 33 when his truck was found on U.S. 89 near Kiowa Junction in November 2001. Park rangers had found his illegal camp near Atlantic Creek in May 2001.

Park deaths 1913-2013

Drowned: 57

Heart attack: 41

Climbing accident: 35

Vehicle accident: 30

Fell while hiking: 23

Presumed dead: 12

Killed by bear: 10

Avalanche fatality: 9

Unclassifed accident: 9

Natural death: 9

Falling object: 8

Airplane accident: 7

Suicide: 6

Died from exposure: 5

Homicide: 2

Burned to death: 1

Fell riding horse: 1