Kelly is a unincorporated community in Teton
County
in the U.S. state of
Wyoming
. The community is located along the Gros Ventre river on the eastern side of the
Jackson
Hole
valley. The settlement formed in the late
1890s as
Grovont, but was renamed Kelly in 1909 to avoid
confusion with a similarly named settlement nearby.
On May 18, 1927 the town was
destroyed when a natural dam formed by the
Gros Ventre
landslide
two years earlier collapsed and completely flooded
the town. Today, the population of the community is
242.
Kelly is
part of the Jackson
, WY–ID
Micropolitan Statistical
Area.
The Kelly Flood

The Gros Ventre Slide
June 23,
1925 following
weeks of heavy rain, approximately of rock slid off the north face
of Sheep Mountain, and into a valley formed by the
Gros Ventre River.
The rock formed a
large natural dam, backing up the water and forming Lower Slide
Lake
. The lake and dam eventually stabilized, and
engineers determined there was no danger of collapse. There were
heavy snows in the winter of 1926-1927, and the higher than normal
snow melt was accompanied by more weeks of heavy rain in May 1927.
On May 18th, residents started to notice debris from the flooding
of the upper valley floating downstream in the river. Alarmed,
several residents went to the dam to discover that the lake had
overflowed the top of the dam and was beginning to erode it. The
warning was given, and the residents of the town evacuated. The
ensuing flood was 6 feet (2 m) deep for at least 25 miles (60
km) downstream. The flood destroyed most of the town, leaving only
the church and the schoolhouse standing. Thanks to the prior
warning, only six people perished in the flood.
The deluge also
damaged ranches and part of the community of Wilson
, 14 miles (22 km) downstream on the Snake River.
References
External links