Search continues for man believed drowned in the South Fork

By CHRIS PETERSON
Hungry Horse News

posted Thursday July 21, 2005

    A 21-year-old Kalispell man is presumed drowned in the South Fork of the Flathead River after he tried to swim in the Devil's Elbow section of the river Sunday evening.

    Gabriel Brown was with his father and his girlfriend when he decided to go for a swim. He took off his shirt but left his jeans on. He apparently got out into the current and couldn't get back to shore before he went around a rock formation that forms the "elbow" in the river.

    His friends didn't see him again. The mishap happened about 6 p.m.

    The Devil's Elbow is about a mile below the Hungry Horse Dam and is a popular fishing spot. It is named that because the river makes a sharp turn around large rock formations.

    The resulting currents are deep, swift and circular. With the current as fast as it is right now, it would be a difficult place to swim in, said North Valley Search and Rescue Diver Mike Chapin.

    Chapin was in the same water Monday morning on the search and he noted the current was very strong.

    "I can see where he can get into trouble very easily," he said.

    A search began in earnest about 9:30 p.m. Sunday for Brown and went until 2:30 a.m. Monday morning.

    Searchers included North Valley Search and Rescue boats, divers, and search dogs, Hungry Horse firemen, the Flathead County Sheriff's Department and its dive team and the ALERT helicopter.

    ALERT used night vision capabilities to look for Brown, as did searchers on the ground, but to no avail.

    The search continued all day Monday and expanded further down into the mainstream of the Flathead River, but his body wasn't found.

    North Valley crews search until all avenues are exhausted.

    The river was running about 4,300 cubic feet per second when the accident happened and the water temperature was about 56 degrees Fahrenheit, which is very cold, even for seasoned swimmers.

    Chapin said the depth of the water at the Devil's Elbow was about 50 feet, with strong swirling currents that were difficult, even with fins, to swim in.

     The water level in the river was first lowered and then raised in an attempt to flush the body out of any holding areas.

    As of Tuesday, the river was flowing at about 7,080 cubic feet per second.

    As of presstime, there were still no signs of Brown's body.