Distinctly Montana Magazine

W W W. D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA NA . C O M 17 O n the evening of July 12, 1967, Brian Parsons, 20, of Nanuet, New York, an employee of the Yellwostone Park Company at Lake Lodge and a biology major at SUNY - New Paltz, decided to go on a late-night excursion with friends. It was his birthday. They drove some 48 miles to the Nez Pierce Creek area north of Old Faithful and hiked up the creek in near darkness. The imprudent group did not secure a fire permit nor did they even have a flashlight. Parsons and his friend, Ronald May, 18, of Cheyenne, Wyoming, wandered away from the main group to go swimming il- legally in one of the hot springs. In the dark of around midnight, Parsons somehow fell or dove into a hot spring of around 180 degrees Fahr- enheit. May attempted to rescue him and sustained second-degree burns to both of his legs. Parsons was covered with sec- ond- and third-degree burns over 90 percent of his body. He lived for some 12 days afterward in a Salt Lake City hospital, but finally died. Because "he was greatly enamored of the outdoors and the creatures found there," friends established a biology scholarship in his name, which has ever since been awarded annually at his university. S ix people have met their deaths by hurtling into the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River about 20 miles down- stream from Lower Falls. The Tower area, with its beautiful columns, spires, pinnacles, and scree slopes that captivate viewers, has probably hypnotized several persons not watching their footsteps, thus becoming victims fof a fatal attraction. Robert Landram, 31, of Salt Lake City was one of these who fell into the Canyon, trying to get a better view from the high panoramic overlook. Landram died on July 9, 1955, at about 7:30pm, when he fell about 490 feet from a ledge at the stone wall near the tall spire known as the Needle. He went over the ledge, fell 130 feet and hit another ledge, then fell the remaining 360 feet into the Yellowstone River. His body washed downstream and was never recovered. Falling! Hot Springs! # 2 # 3 Drowning! # 1 J ames Wilkerson, 19, was drowned on Hellroaring Creek near its mouth on July 18, 1982. Wilk- erson was attempting to ford the creek (known to be a nearly unfordable stream) to aid a female companion struggling in the water when he was swept into the nearby Yel- lowstone River. It had been a wet winter and the stream was running very high. Rather than use a footbridge a mile farther upstream, he decided to ford. The woman was swept to safety, but Wilkerson was flushed from Hellroaring Creek into the Yellowstone River. A friend remembers that Wilkerson looked back with a bewildered expression, and that was the last they saw of him. His body was never recovered.

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