Congress established Glacier National Park, located in northern Montana and close to the Canadian border, in 1910. The 1892 arrival of the Great Northern Railroad in the area facilitated an uptick in national park tourism. Glacier’s peaks and clear waters mirrored those featured in the traditional, lengthy European vacation. Early hotel concessionaires recognized this parallel and fashioned lodgings like Swiss chalets. Hiking trails and saddle ride routes first expanded access to the park, but as visitation increased, tourists wanted more comfortable, accessible ways to experience Glacier. Not only could boats link tourists to trails across lakes, but it could also connect guests from nearby towns to the park. Automobiles became the most efficient way to travel upon the completion of the Going-to-the-Sun Road in 1933, but boating remained a uniquely scenic way to explore the park.
\nEven before the federal government established Glacier, entrepreneurs were providing visitor services on Lake McDonald. By 1895, George Snyder purchased a steamship to ferry guests across the length of Lake McDonald to his hotel at the top, a trip that would often take an entire day.
\nAs Glacier’s popularity rose, so did the demand for boat travel. Captain J.W. “Billy” Swanson was the park’s most prominent boat concessionaire and builder for three decades. After running a boat-building operation on nearby Flathead Lake, Swanson moved his business to Glacier’s west side in 1911. He was known for his quality craftsmanship, ambitious personality, and willingness to go to extreme lengths in ensuring his boats’ success. In 1915, he hauled his steamship City of Polson, built for the Lewis Hotel owner John Lewis, upriver through a narrow canyon from Flathead Lake. After traveling over muddy, primitive roads to Lake McDonald, it was renamed Lewtana for ferrying and scenic touring on the lake.
\nAmongst other concessionaires, the captain built boats for the Great Northern’s tourism subsidiary, Glacier Park Hotel Company (GPHC). In 1920, the National Park Service granted him his own concession permit to build scenic cruisers and rental boats in Glacier’s eastern region. He built the Little Chief (St. Mary Lake) and the Rising Wolf (Two Medicine Lake) for the GPHC in 1926. The company also commissioned the International for its Canadian-American operation in 1927. He returned to west Glacier to build the DeSmet for the Glacier Park Transport Company, another boat and bus tour concessionaire, in 1930. When Swanson’s finances declined in 1938, the Glacier Park Boat Company (GPBC) bought the captain’s boats and concession rights. Arthur Burch, the company head, ran the boats with Swanson until World War Two broke out. In 1945, they built the Big Chief on Swiftcurrent Lake together. This boat would turn out to be the captain’s last in Glacier.
\nCaptain Swanson maintained good relationships with park administrators and other concessionaires. Swanson’s superior craftsmanship is his strongest legacy, though. The GPBC, still run by the Burch family, operates with Swanson’s original fleet. Even though a century has passed, modern passengers can ride across the same waters, stand on the same decks, and view the same scenic landscapes that so many enjoyed before them.
","sponsor":null,"accessinfo":"","lede":"Glacier National Park boasts a sprawling alpine landscape, with dozens of glacial lakes nestled between mountain faces and valleys. One concessionaire and expert craftsman, Captain J.W. “Billy” Swanson, constructed fleets of scenic cruisers and smaller boats that would allow visitors to soak in all Glacier had to offer.
","website":"","related_resources":["Glacier Park Foundation. “The Boats: A History of Boat Concessions in Glacier.” The Inside Trail, Voice of the Glacier Park Foundation 34, no. 1 (Spring 2019): 4–7. Accessed April 22, 2025. https://www.glacierparkfoundation.org/InsideTrail/IT_2019Sp.pdf.
","Mires, Calvin H. Plying the Waters in America's Little Switzerland: The Role of Turn of the Century Lake Tourism in Glacier National Park, Montana. Master's thesis, East Carolina University, 2005. Accessed April 22, 2025.","The Montana National Register Sign Program. “Rising Wolf ‘Little Chief.’” Historic Montana. Accessed April 22, 2025. https://historicmt.org/items/show/2414.
","National Park Service. “Chapter III: History as a National Park.” In Through the Years in Glacier National Park: An Administrative History. Accessed April 22, 2025. https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/glac/chap3.htm.
","National Park Service. National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Rising Wolf (Little Chief). Site no. 24GL1676. Glacier County, Montana, 2016. Montana State Historic Preservation Office. Accessed April 22, 2025. https://mhs.mt.gov/shpo/docs/AGOL/24GL1676_NR
"],"factoids":[],"files":{"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/fullsize/99b8e82e63e17fc192c50ed163a91c67.jpg":{"id":3907,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Map of some of Captain J.W. Swanson’s Boats in Glacier National Park, with original launch sites, c.a. 1915-45, National Park Service (modified)","description":"Except for the City of Polson (renamed Lewtana), all of the listed boats are still in use today by the Glacier Park Boat Company. |Park Map - Glacier National Park. Map. Originally created October 6, 2022. Modified by Anaëlle DePoint. National Park Service. https://www.nps.gov/media/photo/collection-item.htm?pg=7347320&cid=305fb7af-a71b-469b-941e-a98b439c882f&id=9fe2fe28-43af-4574-8dde-2555a2657aca&sid=6b23a971-d29b-44ce-8506-e53428f218e8&p=1&sort=relevance
\n\nhttps://www.nps.gov/npgallery/GetAsset/9fe2fe28-43af-4574-8dde-2555a2657aca/proxy/hires?
","thumbnail":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/square_thumbnails/99b8e82e63e17fc192c50ed163a91c67.jpg"},"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/fullsize/ad79f7f0ca4265f88551b5450aeff969.jpg":{"id":3908,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Captain Swanson’s City of Polson, on Flathead Lake near Glacier, 1911","description":"John L. Lewis, owner of the Lewis Hotel on Lake McDonald, commissioned the boat for service on the lake. From Flathead, it was hauled sixty miles up the Middle Fork of the Flathead River, navigated through narrow McDonald Creek, then pushed laboriously over primitive muddy roads to finally be relaunched on Lake McDonald as the Lewtana. |Thiri, Al. The Speed Boat of Them All. 1911. Montana History Portal. Accessed April 25, 2025. https://www.mtmemory.org/nodes/view/79190.
","thumbnail":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/square_thumbnails/ad79f7f0ca4265f88551b5450aeff969.jpg"},"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/fullsize/afffbaec8a723700d412ce9999c55d4d.jpg":{"id":3909,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Captain J.W. “Billy” Swanson pictured on his boat, the DeSmet, 1930","description":"The Glacier Park Transport Company, which operated a hotel on Lake McDonald, commissioned the boat for service on the lake. |Hileman, T.J. The “DeSmet” boat being pulled on a trailer while en route to Lake McDonald. Photograph, ca. 1930. Montana History Portal. Accessed May 7, 2025.
https://www.mtmemory.org/nodes/view/113092?type=all&lsk=79022da10e457cb7eeaf83d99cc60906https://www.mtmemory.org/assets/display/831601-max?u=6d2720ac24386540a71344daf7641672
Grant, George Alexander. Boat landing at Two Medicine Lake, Sinopah Mountain, and bow of \"Rising Wolf\" launch. July 16, 1932. Montana History Portal. Accessed April 25, 2025. https://www.mtmemory.org/nodes/view/5181.
","thumbnail":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/square_thumbnails/80ac1ab9d17fd86d70a4445380efa42f.jpg"},"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/fullsize/9aec062b5b0a79afe8842a4addfa5768.jpg":{"id":3911,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"A group of tourists on a boat dock on Swiftcurrent Lake, ca. 1940-45","description":"The boat is possibly the Big Chief, built by Captain Swanson and Arthur Burch in 1945. Swiftcurrent Lake is in the Many Glacier region of the park, located on the east side. |Kabel, John. Swiftcurrent Lake, Launch, Glacier National Park. Photograph, ca. 1940-1945. Montana History Portal. Accessed May 7, 2025. https://www.mtmemory.org/nodes/view/5491?lsk=f7aaebf10f19231d034d023f42fac261
","thumbnail":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/square_thumbnails/9aec062b5b0a79afe8842a4addfa5768.jpg"},"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/fullsize/54dbaa126ddfaa2d094a7f53dd59d27b.jpg":{"id":3912,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"The Morning Eagle docked at Lake Josephine, 2010s","description":"It was originally named the Big Chief when it operated on Swiftcurrent Lake near Many Glacier Hotel in eastern Glacier. It still carries passengers across the lake for scenic tours and access to popular hiking trails.
\nTaylor, Rob. “Complete Guide to Many Glacier: Once In A Lifetime Sights and Old Montana.” 2TravelDads. February 3, 2020. https://2traveldads.com/glacier-national-park-many-glacier/.
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