Two weekend searches have happy endings

July 19, 2022

Old Leonia Bridge, not a good crossing even if GPS says there's a bridge there!

Boundary Search and Dive Rescue and Sheriff's personnel were called out twice over the weekend to help people in trouble, and both ended happily for all involved, with a group stranded on the Kootenai River near the Montana state line and a missing huckleberry picker found and brought to safety.

At about 8:29 p.m. Saturday, a group of people were reported trying to flag down a passing train on the Kootenai River near the Old Leonia Bridge. Sheriff's Marine 1 set out up river and Search and Dive Rescue set out from Boulder City, where the group had earlier set out in two vehicles.

According to Sheriff David Kramer, their GPS wrongly indicated a passable road going down from t6he old Boulder City Cemetery, but what they found was instead barely suitable for all terrain vehicles, but by the time they realized this, they were unable to turn around to go back up.

They walked down, but found out the hard way that the old bridge on the Montana side of the state line hasn't been passable for years.

Marine 1 reached them just before dark and brought them to safety.

At about 3:08 p.m. Sunday, July 17, search and dive rescue was called out again to locate a 54-year-old huckleberry picker, a diabetic, who had separated from his party in the area of upper Camp Nine Road and Brush Lake. He was found safe a few hours later and reunited with his party.