A program about the Kelly Flood with local historian Bill Chaney was presented on Thursday, April 18, 2014 at 7:00 p.m. at the history museum, 225 N. Cache. Bill discussed what happened on that day in 1927 when the lake created by the Gros Ventre Slide overflowed, eroding the natural dam and causing the Kelly flood. Six people drowned, and the effects were felt throughout the valley.
Cheney’s program was accompanied by a small exhibit which includes a safe and its contents lost in the flood and rescued seventy two years later from the Gros Ventre River. This program is the first in a new annual series called “Snapshots in Time” focusing on prominent historic moments in Jackson Hole’s history to involve the community in the museum’s mission of preserving and sharing the heritage of Jackson Hole. The community was invited to bring their historic photographs or objects to share or donate which were scanned or photographed for the archives and research center.
