Fonds jas-1756 - Lewis Swift fonds

Lewis Swift, born in 1854 in Ohio, USA, came to Jasper in 1892 as a trapper and a prospector. Mr. Swift built his cabin on the present day sight of the Palisades, where he farmed the land with the aid of his wife Suzette Chalifoux and their four children. In 1911 he was granted a patent for a homestead of 158 acres. He was a game guardian for the Parks. In 1913 the Swift Ranch was subsidized into town lots in hopes they would be used for summer homes, however this was not a success and later the land was leased to Mr. Joe Saladana for market garden purposes who supplied fresh vegetables to the town of Jasper. In 1935 Mr. Arnold C. Wilby, a gentleman from England visiting Jasper, decided to make Jasper his summer home and purchased the Swift Ranch renaming it the Pyramid Mountain Lodge. Mr. Wilby did extensive improvements, new buildings, and fencing, and operated a dude ranch until his death in 1945. Mr. Gordon Bried, a local contractor, purchased the property in 1951 and converted all the buildings into accommodation for modern day tourists. In 1962 Gordon Bried sold the property to the Dominion Government and the Old Swift Place is now part of Jasper National Park, no longer the only 158 acres privately owned land in the National Park.