Looking Back: Search underway for missing sheepherder; and injured man waits four hours on side of road for help
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IDAHO FALLS — EastIdahoNews.com is looking back at what life was like during the week of June 15 to June 21 in east Idaho history.
1900-1925
BURLEY — A prominent farmer in Burley was instantly killed after being kicked in the head by a horse, the South Idaho Press reported on June 20, 1913.
John Farrell, 51, was at the Schodde Ranch when a stallion he was handling kicked him. No further information about the incident was released.
Farrell had been living in Idaho for six years. He was described as being well-known in “lodge and public affairs in this section of the state.”
He left behind his wife and three daughters.
1926-1950
IDAHO FALLS — A popular tree in Idaho Falls was nearly split in two by a lightning bolt, the Idaho Falls Post Register reported on June 15, 1932.
A storm passed through Idaho Falls, causing power outages, uprooting several trees, and causing minor damage throughout the city. Streets were turned into “mills of dust” as winds blew at 52 miles per hour, which was within four miles per hour of the record velocity of the year.
The Post Register said a popular tree on Water Avenue was struck by lightning. The electrical charge was so strong that splinters from the tree were thrown onto the porch of a nearby house.
The storm occurred the day after what was considered the “first hot day” of the year, when the temperature reached 84 degrees.
1951-1975
ARCO — A search was underway for a missing sheepherder, the Idaho Falls Post Register reported on June 18, 1951.
Dewey Lockwood, 50, was reported to have walked out of his isolated sheep camp Saturday night around 9 p.m. and hadn’t been heard from since. He had been employed by the Jock Brockie sheep raisers of Rupert for several years.
The search for the man began after Bob Brockie, who oversaw the grazing of three bands of sheep in the area, notified officers that the man was missing. A camp tender with Lockwood, whose name wasn’t known at the time the article was published, told Brockie that Lockwood was missing.
A cardboard note was reportedly found in the camp that read, “Gone, don’t look.”
“We are checking on places where he might have gone (and) former places where he has hung out before launching another search in the rough terrain of the sheep camp where he was employed,” Butte County Sheriff Worth Jardine stated.
Law enforcement scoured an area 20 miles from Arco from the air and on the ground. John Weigel, Arco city marshal, said Sunday night the search party had gone out Sunday morning and returned that night after failing to find any trace of the man.
Weigel said officers are at a loss as to the reasons for the man’s disappearance.
1976-2000
NEWDALE — A Blackfoot man was reported in “satisfactory condition” after his car plunged into a creek, the Idaho Falls Post Register reported on June 21, 1977.
Dennis Wright, 32, told Madison County authorities he was coming out of Green Canyon on a dirt road around 4 a.m. Saturday, when he apparently missed a curve. He sent his 1967 sedan into a creek about three-quarters of a mile north of a swimming hole.
Authorities said Wright was thrown from the car by the impact of the crash and suffered a broken leg and lacerations.
Wright said he crawled from the creek and waited by the side of the road for help until almost 8 a.m.
A passing motorist saw Wright and transported him part of the way to the hospital. Madison County ambulance took him the rest of the way.