It’s hardly a stretch to say that part of Glacier National Park’s mystique lies in the danger inherent to its dramatic landscape.

Since Glacier was established as a national park in 1910, its jagged cliffs and stone spires, frigid waterways, extreme weather and dense concentration of grizzlies and black bears have contributed to an average of more than two human deaths per year.

In her latest addition to more than 30 books focused largely on historic accounts and travel guides to popular destinations in the U.S., New York author Randi Minetor’s “Death In Glacier National Park” catalogs all 264 documented fatalities in the park from 1910 establishment through early this year.

In an interview last month, Minetor said her attraction to Glacier fittingly began when she first learned of the “Night of the Grizzlies,” the book detailing the infamous pair of fatal grizzly attacks on Aug. 13, 1967.

“My third-grade teacher decided to read us a description of the bear attacks,” Minetor remembered. “I have no idea why he thought this was appropriate to read to a bunch of 8-year-olds, but the thing that stuck in my mind was Michelle screaming ‘Oh my God.’ And I had to see this park.”

After finally visiting Glacier in 2006, Minetor spent last summer poring over old newspapers, archived park documents, microfiche and hard-to-find obscurities such as the diary of Norton Pearl, who worked as a park ranger more than a century ago.

The book devotes each of its 14 chapters to different categories containing Glacier’s diverse causes of death. They range from the park’s number one killer — drowning — to avalanches, suicides, murders, weather exposure and motor accidents.

Along with the frequency of drowning victims, Minetor said she was surprised by how many fatalities were those of seasonal park employees who apparently disregarded their mandatory safety lectures after their arrival.

She also was struck by the number of children included among the deceased.

“This is a book about people that came to Glacier to have the time of their lives and went home dead,” she said. “And when those people are children, it’s hard to even absorb that.”

The book opens with a 1963 account pieced together from the archives of the Daily Inter Lake, the Montana Standard and the Butte Daily Post of a 6-year-old boy visiting with his family. Playing on the rocks along the McDonald Creek — still near-freezing in June from melting snow at its headwaters — he slipped and was quickly swept under.

And not unique to such accounts, the incident resulted in a second death: Flathead County search-and-rescue diver Tom Dumay.

While researching material for the book, Minetor was also impressed by the region’s emergency response expertise and dedication demonstrated throughout the years.

“The search-and-rescue operations that you have in Northwest Montana are extraordinary, and I hope that people respect what they have there,” Minetor said.

While she concedes her chosen angle for the book is a morbid one, Minetor said she hopes the stories within it might serve as a warning to keep history from repeating itself.

“People without a lot of experience hiking the backcountry or climbing the mountains, they’re so excited that they want to have that wilderness experience and they don’t fully understand what that’s going to mean,” she said. “There’s something about Glacier that makes you want to test your limits, and there’s no shame in knowing what those limits are.”

Reporter Sam Wilson can be reached at 758-4407 or by email at swilson@dailyinterlake.com.