By 1881, five years after the opening of the Crow Creek Freight Road, freighters had begun calling this place Snowslide Canyon because snowslides frequently came off the shale ridge on snowy, windy days, crashing into the canyon below, damming the creek, burying loads, and crippling or killing teams of horses pulling freight along the road. Although several men had close calls, no one lost his life here. On January 12, 1912, Tommy Ritson was buried with his team while traveling with the Inez Campbell and Clifford Thornton wedding party, and the party saved his life by keeping his head above the rising water while digging him out, though his team drowned before they could be freed. In February 1914, eighteen sleighs were caught in a blizzard in the canyon, and with snowslides blocking the way ahead and behind, freighters rode their horses out over the slide to Hanke’s ranch, where they kept warm by the fire in turns during the four days it took to dig out of Snowslide Canyon. Jacob Henggi, known as Hanke, kept a dairy and road ranch on Montpelier Creek above what is now the headwaters of Montpelier Reservoir, and he was known as a hospitable horse trader, farrier, and welcome sight to weary freighters on the Crow Creek Road.