On May 16, 2011 at 7:45 PM, I State Game Warden received a phone call from State Game Warden in regards to a boat wreck on the Smith River.  Warden explained that two people in a boat on the Smith River wrecked and only one individual surfaced.  Warden and I agreed to meet at the Heaven and Earth ranch.  As I was responding I received a call from Captain who stated the following:
•     Accident occurred on the Smith River about 4 miles upstream from the Heaven and Earth Ranch.  
•     Two individuals were in the boat.
•     Meagher County was already responding 
•     Cascade County Search and rescue was on standby
•     Possibility of helicopter in the air.
•     Warden and Warden were to get interviews done on victims and witnesses.  
Warden and I reached the Heaven and Earth Ranch.  Meagher County undersheriff and Search and Rescue members followed us onto the Heaven and Earth lodge where the victim and witnesses were.  The Meagher County undersheriff interviewed the operator of boat 1.  I listened to the conversation and documented the following:
•     Operator 1 and victim, husband and wife, were floating in a drift boat.
•     Witness 3 and 4, a married couple joining the float with Operator 1 and victim were 200 yards ahead in a rubber raft.
•     Operator 1 was hitting the swells because his wife enjoyed the white water rapids.
•    Operator of vessel 1 stated that there was a large rock and white water to the left of it as they were drifting in that direction.
•     The drift boat hit a large rock and log and turned the boat sideways.
•     Operator of vessel 1 had no life vest on.  
•     The victim did have a life vest on.  
•     The victim yelled at her husband, Operator of vessel 1, to get a life vest on.
•     Operator of vessel 1 stated he did not know how to swim.
•     The victim was yelling at her husband to put a life jacket on.
•     The victim was in the Smith River.
•     The victim yelled to her husband that she could have her life vest and she attempted to take her life vest off to give to her husband.
•     The operator of vessel 1 yelled back that he had one.
•     The operator of vessel1 put on a life vest as he was stranded on a large rock next to the boat wreck.
•    The victim is yelling and getting carried away downstream. 
•      The victim is floating backwards down river.  She is bobbing underwater and surfaces twice according to the operator of vessel 1.
•     The operator of vessel 1 guesses that there was a bend in the River 400 yards downstream.  And the River takes a corner.
Downstream from the boat wreck is witness 3 and 4.  They hear screaming and start to paddle their rubber raft around.  Witness 3 and 4 begin to see debris from the wreck floating by.  They hear screaming.  They do not see the victim float or swim by them.  Upstream the operator of vessel 1 is stranded on a large rock where the boat wreck had occurred.  The operator of vessel 1 is there for about an hour.  The operator of vessel 1 then removes his boots, throws them to shore, and decides to doggy paddle to shore.  The operator of vessel 1 has a lighter in his pocket and builds himself a fire.  The operator of vessel 1is there for another hour until another party floating downstream rescued him.   Witness 1 and 2 rescued the operator of vessel1 and brought him to the Heaven and Earth Ranch where Warden, Meagher Undersheriff, Meagher County search and rescue, and I arrived for interviews.  Meagher County dispatch advised us that helicopter turned around because it was too dark.  Warden explained to Undersheriff that Homeland security had a helicopter with infrared and night vision.  Homeland security was called and a helicopter arrived...
White Sulfur Springs          