Trapper Daves Kishinena Grave

November 7 , 2014.
th

Dan Hicks

Starvation Peak, looking east from Cabin Creek Road; Rockies, Flathead River region, BC.
th
August 28 , 2014. DH Dave Slim Links tombstone stands at the sunlit base of the mountain.
2 to 4

Wilderness grave
Dave Slim Links tombstone, Kishinena Creek valley; Flathead River region, BC.
th

August 30 , 2014. DH

Tombstone back. Miskwasini Peak is visible on the left, looking northeast.

Tombstone back inscription.
5

Carving a path through ancient rock

Kishinena Creek Canyon, looking west, downstream; Flathead River region, BC.
th

August 30 , 2014. DH

The most haunting stories are those spun around a core of truth. Here is my imagined account
of trapper Dave Slim Links untimely demise in British Columbias southeast corner in 1912.
On August 30th, 2014, an impromptu guide showed me Links tombstone & related the story
behind it; though the tombstone itself disclosed the essence of Links cruel fate. The US Forest
Service mentions Links demise briefly on its website (see below). On October 30th, I emailed my
tombstone front photo to CBC Radio Almanac host Mark Forsythe, accompanied by the
following text. He posted the photo & referenced it & its background on his October 31st
Halloween show, thereby giving Trapper Dave his first public exposure. Marks show focused
on ghosts, but no urban ghost could be as frightful as Daves wilderness nemesis.
-----------------------------------------In the shadow of Starvation Peak lies the earthly remains of Dave Slim Link, a solitary trapper
who suffered a grisly fate while wresting a living from a mountainous, lonely land. In British
Columbias Kishinena Creek valley, in the Rockies of the Flathead River country, through the
winter of 1911-1912; furry creatures that he trapped & killed, he skinned by his little log hovel;
amassing a fine collection of stretched pelts of beaver, coyote, fox, fisher, lynx, martin, mink,
otter, squirrel, & weasel. Alas for Dave, with the long winter gone, springs warm breath
brought a deadly visitor with a ravenous appetite for the carcasses he had skinned, & perhaps
with an eye for Dave himself. The trapper fearfully weighed the great boar grizzlys ferocious
strength of fang & claw against the comparatively diminished impact of his revolver bullets, &
schemed as to how a remotely triggered point-blank shot might be his salvation.
Unfortunately, Daves set-gun scheme proved more deadly for him than the creature because
as he rigged his revolver within a reeking carcass, a loud crack & intense pain announced to him
that he had thrust himself through the very gates of hell. Grievously wounded by his own gun,
the doomed trapper lay helpless where he fell, & reappearing from the forest, the great boar
grizzly was delighted to find two tasty meals awaiting him; the usual inert animal carrion & a
delightfully fresh, squirming, screaming human morsel. After consuming every edible item in &

around Daves hovel, including Dave himself, the omnivore leisurely ambled up the Kishinena
Creek valley, the trek being salutary to his having become somewhat obese so early in the
spring. An alluring aroma put thoughts of mating into his ursine mind for he knew that the
sweetest sows loved the biggest boars, & he was the Kishinena King.
May passed into June, & across the line in Montana, trappers Charlie Wise & Chance Beebe
became concerned when Dave Slim Link failed to emerge from the Kishinena. A grisly scene
awaited them when they arrived at Daves hovel for little remained of their fellow trapper; a
skull fragment, a few crushed & scattered bones, & leather strips from his boots, all well
chewed. Though he had perished horrifically in the wilderness, Charlie & Chance gave Dave a
civilized Christian burial; digging a grave for his skeletal remains, erecting a wooden marker, &
praying that his lonely soul would find eternal peace.
Trapper Daves log hovel & wooden grave marker eventually crumbled to the earth & lay
decaying as did his bones below. Any trace of his grave would have vanished altogether had
not decent men of a later day erected a proper granite tombstone bearing the original markers
inscriptions on metal plates.
DAVE SLIM LINK
1912
SHOT HIMSELF BY
ACCIDENT MAY 1912
KILLED AND EATEN
BY A GRIZZLY
REMAINS BURIED
HERE
BY
CHARLIE WISE
CHANCE BEEBE
JUNE 1912
reverse

CABIN LOCATION 1912

DAVE SLIM LINK
CHANCE BEEBE
En route to the surging waters of ancient Kishinena Creek Canyon, Trapper Daves grave awaits
curious backcountry travelers, but the wiser of them never linger too long. They know that a
Kishinena grizzly, compelled by a collective memory, might at any time revisit what was once a
spring meal motherlode, very long ago, but oh so savory. Daves shady grave is suitably graced
by its solitary tombstone, additional tombstones would denigrate the site with a congestive air.
-----------------------------------------Geographic & UTM coordinates
Dave Slim Links tombstone
Commencement of trail leading south from Kishinena Creek Road to tombstone:

N49 02.262' W114 20.743'/ 11U 693984E 5435041N.

Dave Slim Links tombstone: N49 02.118' W114 20.709'/ 11U 694035E 5434776N.
Trail length: 375 meters. Walking time: 10 minutes.
Kishinena Creek canyon
Commencement of trail leading northeast from Kishinena Creek Road to Kishinena Creek
Canyon: N49 03.758' W114 16.703'/ 11U 698805E 5437988N.
Trail length: 50 meters. Walking time: 1 minute.
US Forest Service
Trails of the Past: Historical Overview of the Flathead National Forest, Montana, 1800-1960.
See Trapping. http://www.foresthistory.org/ASPNET/Publications/region/1/flathead/chap13.htm