Glacier National Park ranger refines poaching skills and eludes capture

Glacier National Park's Belly River is colorful country, so it is fitting that it was home to Joe Cosley, who made his fame not only as the park's first Belly River ranger but also as one of its most sought-after outlaws for poaching. Cosley, a Metis born of a French father and Algonquin mother in Canada, was in Montana by the age of 18. He built the first ranger station in the Belly in 1908 or 1909, and when the area was included in the new Glacier Park in 1910, he became its first park ranger. As a Forest Service ranger, he had been allowed to supplement his meager salary by hunting and trapping. But as a park ranger, he was strictly prohibited from doing so. Cosley openly defied the new rules, hauling his furs into Canada for sale. In 1911, he was fired for trapping at Upper Lake McDonald, but he returned to the Belly country and kept at it. But when, in 1914, Cosley was told he would be killed if caught again, he left and joined the Canadian army, where he distinguished himself in World War I. In 1919, Cosley returned to the Belly, resumed his poaching career and became famous for eluding park rangers. When Cosley was finally caught, convicted and sentenced, friends bailed him out. Cosley set off from West Glacier on snowshoes for a record return to the Belly River and his cache of furs. He beat the pursuit and returned to Canada to sell the furs. Cosley continued to trap and explore in Canada until he died in 1943...more