Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
A MYSTERY IN THE PARK
Although there are a handful of woeful stories about bear attacks, restless ghosts,
drownings, and freak accidents in Glacier, few are as chilling as the tales of those
souls who simply vanish. Though there have been well over 230 deaths in Glacier
since 1900, only seven people have disappeared. Among those were Joseph and Wil-
liam Whitehead, two brothers from Chicago who vanished without a trace in Glaci-
er's backcountry in 1924.
Joseph Whitehead, 29, was an engineer, and his younger brother, William, 22, was
a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. They had come to Glacier as
thoughtful adventurers for a well-planned two-week journey. The trip had gone ex-
ceedingly well, and in their last letter to their mother, the boys wrote, “Don't worry .
. . we won't go into any danger.”
Early in the morning on August 24, 1924, the boys set out from Granite Park
Chalet on a reasonably ambitious 22-mile hike to the Lewis Hotel at Lake McDonald.
When they failed to return to Chicago on September 1, their mother, Dora, alerted
park authorities that her sons were missing. An extensive manhunt followed, with
countless park employees and volunteers covering nearly every corner of the park.
No trace of them was found.
Dora refused to give up the search; even President Calvin Coolidge got involved,
instructing the Park Service to continue the search with no expense spared. Dora
offered a $500 reward, and Louis Hill, son of railroad magnate James Hill, added
an additional $1,000 to anyone with information. False leads flooded in, but nothing
else.
In late September, nearly a month after the young men had been reported missing,
a horse party reported having met the brothers on the afternoon of August 24 hiking
along Logan Creek, just 10 miles from their destination and only a few miles from
the road to Lake McDonald. As winter set in, the FBI assumed control of the invest-
igation.
The following summer, Dora and her daughter traveled to Glacier to follow the
route the young men had taken. They didn't find a single clue, and the following year
FBI director J. Edgar Hoover closed the case, which remains unsolved to this day.
