Wyoming

Wyoming History: 1927 Kelly Flood Killed 6, Washed Out 75 Buildings

Published

10 months ago

June 1, 2025

Wyoming History: 1927 Kelly Flood Killed 6, Washed Out 75 Buildings

For years growing up in sight to the Grand Tetons to the west and Gros Ventre Range to her east, Dawn Kent kept her eye out on the landscape along the Gros Ventre River in Kelly, Wyoming, for a post office safe.

It washed away 98 years ago in the Kelly Flood, and her grandfather, Raymond C. Kent, was postmaster for the small Wyoming community at the time.

“There were two safes that were lost in the flood,” she said. “One at the Kneedy home and one at the post office. The Kneedy safe was found about 30 years ago, about 2 miles downstream in the river bottom.

“But the post office one was never found, although I was always told there really wasn’t much in it that mattered.”

It’s been a century since the rumble of collapsing boulders, dirt and shale created an estimated 50 million cubic yards of debris that formed a natural dam on the Gros Ventre River in Teton County on June 23, 1925.

Two years later, heavy rains and snowmelt collaborated to breach the barrier and unleash a flood, leaving behind memories and landscape scars.

Kent, 71, believes her family may be the sole remnant with blood links in Kelly to the pioneers who were around when the dam let loose and washed out about 75 buildings and killed six people May 18, 1927. That includes homes, outbuildings and much of the town.

“Gros Ventre River Flood Takes Huge Toll in Life and Property,” the Jackson’s Hole Courier newspaper headline reported Thursday, May 19, 1927. “Death and destruction came down the Gros Ventre River yesterday morning in a great wall of water that snuffed out at least six lives, wiped the town of Kelly off the map and swept away several hundred head of livestock.”

Kent said to understand the flood, one has to go back to the natural dam formed when a large part of the north side of Sheep Mountain in the Gros Ventre Range slid down into the valley below blocking the river.

Her grandmother, Anne Kent lived in Kelly in 1925, helping run the local store and post office with her husband, Raymond.

In 1940, Anne wrote an account of both the slide and the flood that her granddaughter keeps filed in a book.

The Episcopal Church in Kelly was one of three buildings that survived the flood. (Courtesy Wyoming State Archives)
Anne Kent and her husband, Raymond, ran the store and post office in Kelly at the time of the flood. She wrote about the event in 1940 and her granddaughter, Dawn Kent, still has the original document. (Courtesy Dawn Kent)
The location of the town of Kelly, Wyoming, prior to the 1927 flood. (Courtesy Wyoming State Archives)
The scar on Sheep Mountain in the Gros Ventre Ranch on the east side of Jackson Hole still shows the scope of slide in May 1927. (Courtesy Google Earth)
A Google Earth view of the current location of Kelly, Wyoming, and Lower Slide Lake, which was created in the 1925 by a slide of rock, shale, and debris off Sheep Mountain. (Courtesy Google Earth)

Written Remembrance

“There was a big landslide just four miles east of the settlement. That slide was an enormous thing, hundreds of tons of earth break off from the north hillside, filling the canyon for one-half mile, making a dam just that thick and 200-feet high,” Anne Kent wrote. “It shut off the river and backup up the water, taking about 12 or 15 days in making a lake seven miles long.”

Anne Kent wrote that “miraculously,” no one was caught in the slight and that only shortly before the slide, cowboys had put the last of their range cattle through the canyon.

“The last two riders were so close to the edge of that moving mass they were covered with dust,” she penned.

Jackson’s Hole Courier reported Thursday, June 25, 1927, that the Gill Huff ranch was almost totally inundated and that Huff lost a “fine new $10,000 home underwater.”

It also reported the Card ranches were lost and another rancher, Ed Russell, was also threatened.

The slide followed a similar event in 1909 that first created the original “Slide Lake,” which thereafter would be “Upper Slide Lake” while the new lake was dubbed “Lower Slide Lake.”

The newspaper reported that prior to the slide there had been a “number of light earth tremors” felt in the Jackson Hole region.

A visit by Wyoming State Engineer Frank Emerson in July 1925 found that things had settled down and the river was flowing through the center of the 180-foot-high dam. The lake behind the dam was about 5 feet from the top of the fill.

He estimated that water levels would eventually decrease below the fill to about 25 feet. The natural dam was holding, and people should not be afraid to enter Yellowstone National Park from the southern entrance.

“A person would probably be safer in any traveled region of the Jackson Hole region today than he would be upon the streets of any of our large cities,” Emerson wrote.

Floating Hayrack

However, in May 1927, with melting snows and rains feeding the lake, a ranger noticed an old hayrack that had been floating on the lake for two years suddenly floating down the river.

He realized the dam was weakening and water was topping it. He rode to Kelly to warn people to get out.

Dawn Kent said her father, who was 14 at the time, was in school. Her grandfather ran to the school and told all the students to go home.

Her grandfather instructed her dad to go home and let the horses out, but not to take any time collecting tack and just to head to high ground.

Her mother, who lived on a ranch north of town, was 7 years old at the time and witnessed the wall of water descend when the dam broke. Kent’s grandmother in her account of the flood wrote that the Gros Ventre River had become muddy and swollen.

“Sometime in the forenoon, the dam gave way and by 11:30 the town of Kelly was washed away,” Anne Kent recorded. “The residents had realized that a large amount of water was coming and most of them left for high ground.

“One family of three was caught and drowned, also three others who lived on the river below the town.”

Kent’s grandmother estimated that 75 buildings were washed away along with all the possessions and materials inside them, including bedsteads, kitchen ranges, ice boxes and two safes.

“A marriage certificate, Mr. Kent’s and mine, was afterwards found covered with mud,” Anne Kent wrote. “Several pieces of thin cut glass, a wedding gift to one couple, was later found with not a nick or a scratch.”

Flood waters went all the way to Wilson and ranch land, cattle and buildings along the river between Kelly and the junction of the Gros Ventre and Snake rivers were destroyed.

The destruction was estimated to be 3 miles as its widest point.

The Star Valley Independent newspaper in Afton, Wyoming reported on the loss of lives and property in Kelly, Wyoming in its may 20, 1927 edition. Although the headline proclaims seven deaths, only six people died in the flood. (Newspapers.com)
Jackson’s Hole Courier newspaper carried the Sheep Mountain slide on its front page in the June 25, 1925, edition. (Courtesy Newspapers.com)
Jackson’s Hole Courier had the story of the Kelly flood the next day on its front page. (Courtesy Newspapers.com)

Casualties

In Kelly, the Kneedy family — Henry Milt Kneedy, his wife, and adopted son, Joe — died as did a pioneer schoolteacher, Maud Smith, and her sister, May Lovejoy.

Rancher Clint Stevens tried to ride a hayrack through the surging waters and drowned.

Many in the estimated 50-member community narrowly escaped death. The Jackson’s Hole Courier reported that Charles Rhinehart pulled himself to safety through a grove of aspen, that a Mrs. Almy and an unidentified man pulled themselves out of the surging water just below Kelly, and Chester Simpson lost his car in the flood as he was trying to start it.

“Henry Francis (carried) him to safety behind his saddle,” the newspaper reported May 19, 1927.

Only the Episcopal Church, its parsonage and the school were left standing in Kelly. Overall, an estimated 40 families in the region were displaced.

Dawn Kent said her grandparents moved the store and the post office to the church building. And the store continued to be operated by her family until 1971 when the building burned.

As a girl working at the family store in the 1960s, she said people would ask about the flood, and the family became adept at repeating the story for tourists and others.

One story from the flood is that a woman when she evacuated town right before the flood to higher ground took her wind-up victrola player and one record. The record was the “Wreck of Old ’97.”

“And so, they sat up there on the bench and listened to the ‘Wreck of Old ’97,’” Kent said.

In the years following the flood, debris that had sunk in the mud would surface.

Kent said as a girl she saw rusted cars along the river she assumes were from the flood. Old bottles, tin cans and other rusted debris once buried and sticking out of the ground in the river region were always suspected as remnants from the disaster.

A Safe

In 1999, fisherman Ernie Wampler Sr. saw a piece of metal poking out of the riverbank while fishing in late November.

Upon investigation, it turned out to be a safe. The safe was dug out and taken to the Jackson Hole Historical Society and Museum for a public opening.

“Artifacts from inside the safe include a silver pocket watch, a pair of eyeglasses, a glass jar, many coins and tokens dating from 1920 and earlier, leather pouches, purses and wallets, wads of paper embedded in mud and other items,” the Jackson Hole News reported Dec. 8, 1999.

It was determined to have belonged to the Kneedy family.

Each year, Kent said Kelly residents gather in May to remember the flood and share photos and interesting articles. They just wrapped up their annual meeting earlier this month.

On June 7, Kent said that as part of National Trails Day, a commemoration of the 1925 slide is planned by the Friends of the Bridger-Teton nonprofit. The group is planning work at the Gros Ventre Slide Geological Area to rehab trails and pull invasive species plants from 9 a.m. to noon. A special commemoration of the slide with speakers is planned.

Kent said the slide and flood are important to remember for history’s sake as well as how it changed the landscape of the area and impacted so many lives.

Shaking continues in the region from time to time and other minor slides have happened over the years.

But Ken said she continues to watch for the piece of history that can be traced back to the post office her grandfather oversaw.

“I’ve always had my eyes open, hoping that someday I might find that other safe,” Kent said. “But of course I never have … but it still could happen. Everyone was surprised when Ernie found the other one.”

Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.

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Wyoming

Wyoming Has Half Of The West’s 26 100-Year-Old Dude Ranches

Published

2 hours ago

March 29, 2026

Press Room

Wyoming Has Half Of The West’s 26 100-Year-Old Dude Ranches

Like many rabbit holes, it all started with a simple question.

About two years ago, Jaye Wells was at a small gathering in Cody when the topic of the 2026 centennial anniversary of the Dude Ranchers’ Association came up.

Wells asked how many dude ranches in the country had a comparable 100-year legacy to the Cody-based member organization.

“Nobody in the room knew,” said Wells, co-founder of the True Ranch Collection, with a portfolio of dude ranches around the West, including the Blackwater Creek Lodge and Guest Ranch in Cody.

Thus began a yearslong and, at times laborious, project of tracking down the number of dude ranches in operation since 1926, which are commemorated in “100 Years of Dude Ranching,” a coffee-table-style book published by Wells in December.

Though it took a lot of digging through records at the Wyoming Historical Society, old newspaper clippings and cross-referencing family records, the team behind the book finally identified a fitting answer to Wells’ question.

Of the 94 dude ranches that are members of the association today, 26 were in operation and accepting guests a century ago.

“That shocked us,” Wells said. “Every ranch has got its own little curiosity.”

The team behind the book was strict about the criteria it established: To be included in the book, a dude ranch must have been accepting guests in 1926. Had they expanded their criteria, the list would have been even longer.

“There are a lot of ranches that are 97 or 98 years old,” Wells said.

A Tribute To Hospitality

As much as the book celebrates the long legacy of dude ranching, it also serves as a tribute to a unique way of life — particularly in Wyoming.

The state is home to half of the 26 centennial ranches: A Bar A Ranch (Encampment), Absaroka Ranch (Dubois), Blackwater Creek Lodge and Guest Ranch (Cody), CM Ranch (Dubois), Crossed Sabres Ranch (Cody), Darwin Ranch (Jackson), Eatons’ Ranch (Wolf), the Hideout Lodge and Guest Ranch (Shell), Medicine Bow Lodge and Guest Ranch (Saratoga), Paradise Guest Ranch (Buffalo), Rimrock Ranch (Cody), Shoshone Lodge and Guest Ranch (Cody), and Triangle X Ranch (Moose).

As the book details, the origins of dude ranching trace back to the 1880s, when a ranch near modern-day Medora, North Dakota, began charging guests from back East room and board when they’d come out West to hunt bison and other big game.

The word “dude” had become a popular term by that time for a man with fancy duds.

More and more ranches started opening up to guests in the 1900s, including welcoming many young men whose parents had sent them West to dry out and stay out of trouble.

“You had to be wealthy to stay at a dude ranch back in the day,” Wells said.

But life on these ranches today might look surprisingly similar to a century ago.

Ranch hands might start rounding up horses at 4:30 in the morning and preparing breakfast so it’s ready for guests when they awaken, Wells said. In addition to historic photos of the ranches, photographer Scott Baxter spent four months on the road capturing how the ranches look now.

While still offering a vacation that’s more expensive than a typical tourist might be able to afford, Wells said one of the constants at the centennial ranches spread across four states is the service and experience they offer.

“The strongest element that’s kept dude ranching going all that time is a common denominator,” Wells said. “It’s the desire to offer great hospitality.”

As much as the book celebrates dude ranches, it’s also a tribute to a unique way of life, particularly in Wyoming. “It’s such a tough business, but it’s such a joy,” said Jaye Wells, who owns the Blackwater Creek Lodge & Guest Ranch in Cody. (Courtesy Scott T. Baxter)
It was while kicking around ideas for the 100-year anniversary of the Dude Ranching Association that Jaye Wells asked how many ranches have a similar legacy. “Nobody in the room knew,” Wells recalled. That’s how the new book “100 Years of Dude Ranching” was born. (Courtesy Scott T. Baxter)
As much as the book celebrates dude ranches, it’s also a tribute to a unique way of life, particularly in Wyoming. “It’s such a tough business, but it’s such a joy,” said Jaye Wells, who owns the Blackwater Creek Lodge & Guest Ranch in Cody. (Courtesy Scott T. Baxter)
As much as the book celebrates dude ranches, it’s also a tribute to a unique way of life, particularly in Wyoming. “It’s such a tough business, but it’s such a joy,” said Jaye Wells, who owns the Blackwater Creek Lodge & Guest Ranch in Cody. (Courtesy Scott T. Baxter)

Pressures To Modernize

Even so, dude ranch owners do feel some pressure to modernize to appease guests who have become downright uncomfortable unplugging.

Such changes have seen ranches offering Wi-Fi, say, or packing days with lots of activities.

Even though guests will quickly learn that riding a horse all day is exercise in and of itself, Wells said he’s felt that pressure, too. “We have a full-blown exercise room at White Stallion Ranch,” he said of one of his ranches near Tucson, Arizona. “You have to have it now.”

What’s more, even though guests will rave about how relaxing they find their stay or how much they appreciate the quality time with loved ones, they’re booking shorter and shorter stays.

In the 1920s, people from out East might come to a ranch for months at a time, and there was a time not so long ago when a one- or two-week stay was the norm.

“Now, guests only want to stay three nights. That’s the number one trend in the business we see,” Wells said. “We forget we’re so connected now, it’s almost too much. We’re being bombarded by information 24 hours a day.”

Wyoming has 13 100-year-old dude raches, half of the 26 centennial dude ranches in the West. That's one of the things the team behind the new book — Wyoming has 13 100-year-old dude raches, half of the 26 centennial dude ranches in the West. That’s one of the things the team behind the new book “100 Years of Dude Ranching” learned in documenting the industry’s century of Western hospitality. Above is a scene from the Blackwater Creek Ranch. (Courtesy Scott T. Baxter)

‘It’s Such A Joy’

Putting this book together gave Wells a newfound appreciation for the diversity of Wyoming’s topography and landscapes.

The project also offered constant reminders about why he loves dude ranching so much and how pivotal the business was to shaping the West.

Of course, he’s also reminded of how unique this business is while conversing with guests over the years — including tourists from abroad who marvel at the idea of being able to shoot a gun, spend a week bonding with a horse or simply get to decompress in a way they haven’t been able to do since childhood.

“I would venture to say it’s one of the most iconic symbols in the world,” Wells said of dude ranching. “It’s such a tough business, but it’s such a joy.”

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Wyoming

(PHOTOS) Casper Holistic Expo packs the Central Wyoming Fairgrounds

Published

14 hours ago

March 28, 2026

Press Room

(PHOTOS) Casper Holistic Expo packs the Central Wyoming Fairgrounds

CASPER, Wyo. — There was magic, or something like it, in the air on Saturday as the Central Wyoming Fairgrounds presented the 2026 Casper Holistic Expo, Casper’s longest running holistic expo and a hallmark of the beginning of spring in Natrona County.

Countless vendors from Casper and beyond gathered with their goodies to present them to eager customers searching for something a little different.

The holistic expo featured crystal and metaphysical shops, tattoo and body piercing studios, henna and glitter tattoo studios, holistic shops, tarot readings, fortune tellers, magic and so much more. There was truly something for everyone, and Christina Kuhn, the lead organizer, said that nobody who came to the expo would leave disappointed.

“This actually started over 20 years ago,” Kuhn said. “I’ve been doing it for years. My mom did it for seven years before me. And Judy Ick, who actually does our photography, she did it before that. So it’s been a very long, very longstanding and growing event.”

Kuhn said that the Holistic Expo has grown exponentially over the years.

“When Judy passed it down to mom, there were 38 booths,” she said. “After mom passed it down to me, there were 78. Now I think we’re up to, like, 98.”

The booths are as eclectic as the people who run them. There’s magic, mysticism and moonlight; storytellers and palm readers; conversationalists and creators. There are CBD products, organic teas, energy testing, and even fudge.

“Some of this is kind of a special niche,” Kuhn shared, “but some of it is not. We’ve got a chiropractor. We’ve got people that are working with healing modalities. Some of it’s spiritual stuff. We’ve got crafts, too.”

There’s a wide variety of vendors and customers as the Holistic Expo, and Kuhn said she wouldn’t want it any other way. The most important thing they do, Kuhn said, is donate to local nonprofits.

“People can either pay the $5 door fee — anybody that’s 13 or over — or they can donate five nonperishable goods,” Kuhn said. “We started donating that to poverty resistance, and then we did City Park Church. This year we’re donating to the Wyoming Food for Thought Project.”

Kuhn said this was just a simple way to give back to the community, a community she and her business have been a part of for years. Kuhn owns a store in downtown Casper called A Place for Passion, and the Holistic Expo also allows her to bring some merch from her store and put in on display with a variety of other items. It’s a fun way to spend a weekend, she said, and she’s proud to be a part of it.

“Good lord, I’ve been doing this for a long time,” she said. “I helped my mom with it for ages and she wanted somebody that would carry on and keep expanding and doing well with it. Before I was helping run the show and managing it, I was a booth. I started sharing a booth with my mom because I only had a few things and I wasn’t sure how well they’d sell. But then it just expanded and took off, and now here I am.”

Kuhn said it means a lot that she’s able to continue the Holistic Expo for her mother.

“It’s nice to keep expanding something, especially something that contributes so much to the community,” she said. “There are so many people that come out and enjoy everything that they get here. And it’s a big opportunity for them to connect with others, to connect with people that have stuff they want to offer them.”

That, Kuhn said, is her favorite part of the Holistic Expo — meeting people.

“It’s just nice connecting with people and helping them out in any way that you can,” she said. “Everybody’s got their own knowledge, gifts, products that they’re putting out — services, whatever it is. So being able to share that with others is awesome. You’ve got to come check it out. It’s an awesome experience. There’s a little something for everyone.”

The Casper Holistic Expo is happening Saturday until 6 p.m. and on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Industrial Building at the Central Wyoming Fairgrounds.

Photos from the Holistic Expo can be seen below:

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Wyoming

Wyoming teen discovers rare and ancient megalodon shark tooth off Florida coast

Published

1 day ago

March 28, 2026

Press Room

Wyoming teen discovers rare and ancient megalodon shark tooth off Florida coast

A 6-inch megalodon shark tooth was found by a Wyoming teen during a dive trip off Manasota Key, Florida earlier this week.

Sixteen-year-old Aiden Andrews and his father Brian were on a guided dive with Fossil Junkies, a local fossil-hunting tour company.

Captain John Kreatsoulas told FOX 13 Tampa Bay reporter Kimberly Kuizon that while finding small megalodon teeth isn’t uncommon, finding one that size is quite rare.

Video captured the moments when Aiden and his father celebrated underwater after making the remarkable discovery.

Popularized by Hollywood monster movies, the Carcharocles megalodon was the largest shark to have ever lived, according to the Smithsonian Institution.

A 6-inch megalodon shark tooth was found by a Wyoming teen during a dive trip off Manasota Key, Florida. Fossil Junkies