Columbia Falls exhibit showcases outlaw Cosley
Joe Cosley, Glacier National Park’s first ranger who later was an infamous outlaw, is the focus of a yearlong public exhibit that debuts today at Glacier Discovery Square in Columbia Falls.
Called “Cosley’s Return,” the exhibit features a cabin that showcases Cosley memorabilia, information and artwork.
Among the historic artifacts are Cosley’s original saddle from his famous horse crash over the cliffs of Ahern Pass, original post cards, tree carvings, sketches of bronc-busting men and women and a J.C. Cosley engraved and carved pearl-handled .32-caliber Winchester revolver.
Glacier Park Superintendent Chas Cartwright will cut the ribbon on the exhibit at 6:30 p.m. Author Brian McClung will sign copies of the new edition of his popular book, “Belly River’s Famous Joe Cosley.”
At 7:30 p.m. at Credit Union Park (340 Nucleus Ave. in downtown Columbia Falls), current and retired park rangers and historians from Glacier and Waterton Lakes parks, Cosley family members and the Cardston Historical Society will tell stories and give a historic account of Cosley’s colorful life.
The Western Montana Muzzleloaders will set up a rendezvous camp and campfire to accompany the speakers and period music.
A float in the Heritage Days parade on Saturday will feature a Cosley theme. Cosley souvenirs such as T-shirts and posters will be sold on the lawn at Glacier Discovery Square on Saturday, and McClung will continue signing books.
A Canadian of French and Indian descent, Cosley came to Kalispell as a young man and went to work for the U.S. Forest Service before he transferred to Glacier Park in 1910. He was fired a few years later because he saw no real reason to stop the hunting and trapping he had done in the area before it became a park.
After a distinguished career as a Canadian soldier in World War I — he’s credited with killing 60 Germans as a sniper — he returned to the mountains and bedeviled authorities on both sides of the border for more than a decade.
Park Ranger Joseph Heimes is credited with finally capturing and arresting Cosley for poaching, possession of firearms, traps and pelts. Cosley went to trial in 1929.
Heimes expected Cosley to serve a few days in jail, but he was merely fined $100 and given a suspended jail sentence.
When Heimes learned Cosley was out of jail, the infamous outlaw was already on his way back to Belly River, hoping to beat park officials to his beaver cache.
By the time Heimes and Ranger Tom Whitcraft arrived at Belly River, all they found were tracks. At age 59, Cosley had snowshoed across the Continental Divide in less than 20 hours, picked up his furs and disappeared into the wilds of Alberta, Canada.
Cosley never returned to Glacier Park, but continued trapping for another 15 years before he died of scurvy in a cabin in Northern Saskatchewan in 1943 at age 73. He wasn’t found until a year after his death.
Dave and Jane Renfrow of Columbia Falls also have researched Cosley. In their account they wrote: “Boundaries blurred for Joe Cosley. Boundaries of a newly created Glacier National Park, boundaries of social propriety, boundaries of occasional denial of racial heritage he crisscrossed with abounding energy.
“Mountain man, artist, park ranger, guide, storyteller, endurance athlete, poet, outlaw, Canadian war hero, romantic, all describe facets of the enigmatic legend, Joe Cosley,” the Renfrows wrote. “The toughest of men were in awe of Joe’s ability to travel 40 or more miles in a day for livelihood, trapping and guiding, or to charm a woman at a community dance in towns outlying the Glacier Park area. All who knew Joe welcomed his visits.”