A Trapper's Body, Found by the Dogs That Followed a Bear
Missing since December in the Stehekin valley, William Keeyer is discovered at last — led to by hunting dogs, months after the snowslide that killed him.
CHELAN, May 25.—Special: The body of William M. Keeyer, who was reported lost last winter while trapping between Bridge Creek and Horse Shoe Basin, was discovered last week near Park, about three miles above Bridge Creek, in the Stehekin valley, by a party of miners who were on their way to the lake from the west side of the Cascade pass.
The men had a couple of dogs with them, which were following the tracks of a bear when it led them to where the body lay, not far from the trail. It is supposed that he was killed by a snowslide while on his way to the lake for provisions, and the several attempts that were made to find his body last December were of no avail on account of the continuous fall of snow. His friends at Stehekin will care for his remains.
“It is supposed that he was killed by a snowslide while on his way to the lake for provisions.”
The Stehekin valley remains one of the most remote corners of Washington, reachable yet only by boat, trail or floatplane, and avalanches still close its passes each winter. This is a reminder that the state's mountain communities were settled — and sometimes buried — by solitary trappers whose nearest help was a day's walk away.
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