Hungry Horse news., 1954-09-17
Shelby Paper Tells Of Rescue

The weeklong search for Charles
Wrighter, Jr., "a, Shelby, that end
ed with the finding of his body in
Big River Sept. 6 appears to have
been one of the most extensive
rescue operations in Montana his
tory.
Best telling of the story was by
the Shelby Promoter, and the fol-
lowing is the Shelby papers final
account of the search. All Flathead
accounts missed color and detail of
this mountain rescue operations.
One of the largest and most in
tensive searches for a lost person
in the recent history of Montana
ended Monday afternoon when
the drowned body of Charles
Wrighter, Jr., was finally located
in a remote deep hole in Big
River.
1t was an early supposition that
the youth, who had been fishing
on the stream, had drowned and
for the first few days the search
had been pinpointed to water ad-
jacent to. where he had disap-
peared, but when dozens of
searchers had walked along the
banks and even swan the cold |
waters to no avail, the scope wild
ened to all trails and canyons,
with one party reaching out for
% miles.
The story of the hunt is one of
selfless daring by many of the
harder souls who risked life and
limb in the hope of finding
Wrighter alive. Others, who hadn't
walked any farther than from
their front doors to their cars all
summer, m an f ully shouldered
packs and endured gruelling pun
ishment as they climbed for miles
through the remote mountain fast
ness of the Big River area.
Several were injured, Joe AL
stad of Kevin fell onto a rocky {
ledge and hit his head, and later {
upon returning to camp, lapSed
into unconsciousneSS. He was re-
vived with no serious effects.
Raymond Meeks suffered a
badly sprained ankle and had to l
De carried out several miles. An I
other youth "froze" on a high pre- S
,arious ledge and had to be roped r
pack to safety. Others actually fell v
rom exhaustion. Many had to turn [
pack.
At the height of the search last n
Sunday, rs persons were organized p
md hunting in groups, and doz- v
ms of others were scattered II
round throughout the area, in
,airs or alone seeking to unfathom "
he mysterious disappearance. n
FLATHEAD GROUPS AID Isl
The advantage of organization n
nd training was aptly shown by v
he splendid work of two Kalis- Jt
ell groups, namely the Flathead et
earch and Rescue association,
eaded by Dick Walsh and the m
Mounted Rescue Saddle al
lub, which was organized by Luc- S.
lie Abel and Jack and Ken Miller. | tc
Within two hours after these re
roups had been notified that their w
elp was needed they were en- fl
oute to Java with two dozen
orses and members. They set up
le main search camp by Bear bC
reek, complete with food, bed dl
ing and supplies, and with the aid L,
maps supplied by forest rang er
rs they combed the area for m
ays, ranging as far southwest as
, miles, with one party ending M
D at Hungry Horse lake. or
They even brought along Navy w
ver with full diving equip fl:
ent in case he was needed and ar
veral rubber boats. One of the at
en-, Jack Miller, had six sons as by
sting in the search. A Is year tn
d girl from Kalispell, Dixie re
bell, served all during the hunt tn
camp cook, and did a bang-up
b according to the scores of wi
cary men whom she received 1
ith hearty, well cooked food. 70
EVERYONE CONCERNED co
Mrs. Fred Mcleod of Shelby tn
addened the hearts of about of
,ty men headquartering in the bo
mp Monday when she arrived sal
Ith an entire boiler full of home els
ade chill. tol
Stanley Watkins of Shelby used pa
u y q a q u N . = n = . 7