On june 27, 2010 at 1:30 pm, wco was called to a canoe accident that had occurred on the belle fourche river in butte county, south dakota. The initial call was from a passing motorist that spotted a little girl (p1) wearing only a life jacket on the side of the road, next to the bridge on sd highway 212 that goes over the belle fourche river. The motorist stopped to ask the girl what was wrong and she told the motorist she was in a canoe that had tipped over by the dam. The motorist called 911 and reported the following to butte county dispatch. The caller relayed the information from the little girl that her dad (o/o1), his dad's friend (p2) and her sister (p3) were all still in the water and she did not know where they were. P1 also said the o/o1 and p2 were not wearing life jackets.
  
Wco responded to the scene with other law enforcement and emergency personnel to begin the search and rescue / recovery of the other people. Information at this point was that p3 was wearing a life jacket while o/o1 and p2 were not. The information was also uncertain as to the time frame of how long the people had been in the water. P1 said she walked a long time as well as waited by the water's edge waiting for her dad to come back for a while.
 
Law enforcement had the diversion dam's metal water gates closed to allow the water in that portion of the river to flow out. The water dropped about 8 to 10 feet in a matter of a couple hours. Two life jackets were recovered from the churning water at the base of the chutes. Two oars were also recovered in the same location. It was determined through the bureau of reclamation data that the water was flowing at a rate of 600 cubic feet per minute on that sunday afternoon. 
  
Wco located two halves of the canoe about 1/4 to 1/2 of a mile from the diversion dam to the east. The break was in the middle of the canoe with both halves being about equal length. There was one pfd tangled in a mess of rope that was attached to the bow of the canoe. The report from p1 was that p3 was wearing a jacket while they were in the canoe. While wco was pulling the canoe halves out of the river, the airplane spotted the body of o/o1 about 1/4 mile from where the canoe halves were at. 

Wco began to walk that direction in the water when he located the body of p2. After these two bodies were recovered from the river, the airplane located the body of p3 a little further down the river. P3 was found without a pfd on her. P3's body was recovered and all were taken the funeral home of the black hills in belle fourche, sd. 

On june 29, 2010 wco spoke with p1. P1 walked wco through the events of what may have happened. P1 began by saying they had just gone under the bridge that went over the road and came around the bend when she remembers the dam. P1 can remember going over the "waterfall" which would be the three chutes of the diversion dam. P1 then talks about the canoe getting hung up against the concrete walls of the chutes and that is when she remembers it breaking in half. P1 also talks about p3 spinning in circles after going through the chutes. This might explain how p3 may have come out of the pfd she was wearing before the canoe tipped. P1 talks about how she never saw p2 after he went into the water. P1 also talks about how o/o1 came out of the water and told her to stay there until he came back. P1 said she only saw o/o1 and p3 for a short time and then they were gone. P1 then talks about walking along the water's edge back to where she saw the last bridge.

BELLE FOURCHE                 