James Byron Brewer, 40, went missing on Tustumena Lake in August 1975 while crossing the water between Nicoli Creek and Moose Beach with his nine-year-old son Byron and a friend, Stephen Arthur Koch. Brewer, a carpentry teacher at Kenai Central High School who lived in Clam Gulch with his wife Dorris, was known as Jim to family and friends. Reports say the small boat was likely capsized or swamped by turbulent lake waters; most of the boat’s gear was recovered because it had been tied down, but none of the three individuals were ever found.

A search was launched and later abandoned; Brewer and Koch were officially declared dead in early October 1975. The Kenai Central High School 1976 yearbook was dedicated in Brewer’s memory. Few details are certain about what exactly happened on the lake that day. Did anyone in the area at the time see the boat or remember conditions on Tustumena Lake that August?