Lewis Swift was born in 1854 in Ohio. His early adventures may have included driving a stagecoach in South Dakota and seeking his fortune staking mining claims in the United States and later in Canada. After prospecting in British Columbia, Swift made his way into the Athabasca valley and settled at Jasper House, the abandoned fur trade post on Jasper Lake.
In the early 1890s Swift met and married Suzette Chalifoux and they settled on the west bank of the Athabasca River where they raised a growing family. The family kept chickens, cows, and horses and Swift built a water wheel which was used to grind his wheat. This, along with a vegetable garden, allowed the Swifts to be self sufficient with extra to trade with some of the early travelers coming through the valley. Swift’s partner, Suzette Chalifoux was a Métis from the St. Albert area. She was an accomplished seamstress and renowned for her beadwork, some of which she sold to visitors or gave as gifts to Jasper residents.
Swift applied for a patent on his land so that, when Jasper became a Forest Park in 1907, the government could not evict him as they did the Métis families who had settled along the Athabasca River. Swift realized the value of his land especially because of its proximity to the newly built railway lines and decided to enter into a partnership with the President of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railroad, Charles Hays. They drew up a brochure to advertise their Swiftholm development and hoped it would appeal to city dwellers who wanted a summer home in the Rocky Mountains. Unfortunately, Charles Hays was one of the many passengers who did not survive the sinking of the Titanic and the dream of Swiftholm was never realized.
In 1935, the federal government offered to buy Swift’s land but Swift accepted another offer from A.C. Wilby who then sunk thousands of dollars into turning the homestead into a dude ranch which he named Pyramid Mountain Lodge. Wilby died in 1947, the land was put up for sale and Gordon Bried purchased it, further developing the site. Finally, in 1962 the government was able to purchase the only privately held land in Jasper National Park which they later turned into a training center for Parks Canada.
After selling to Wilby, the Swift family moved into the town of Jasper where they resided until Lewis Swift passed away in 1940 and Suzette Chalifoux in 1946.
