Long-time Livingston Guide dies in rafting accident
The body of Chester Marion (73), long-time guide for Dan Bailey's of Livingston MT was recovered Thursday night after a Boulder River rafting accident earlier that day, and the search continues Friday as a second person remained missing.
Chester was highly regarded in the guide community and well known for his tying ability as well. He is the creator of the Marion Sculpin used to catch big brown trout on the big western waters.
The wife of the second missing man made it safely to shore but her husband's body had not yet been recovered according to Friday's Livingston Enterprise.
Sweet Grass County Sheriff Dan Thonrud said "Everybody was wearing chest waders and no flotation devices. The two males were last seen in river below the raft," he added.
The raft hit a cottonwood tree that had fallen across a channel of the Boulder River and flipped, tossing the two man and the woman into the fast-moving water.
The woman, who is from Prince Frederick, MD., and her husband own a residence in Pray.
The Sheriff's Office launched a boat Thursday to begin looking for the two missing men. An airplane was also called in to assist in the search, and local search and rescue personnel began combing the Boulder River's banks in hopes of locating the two men. The body was spotted on a gravel bar about two miles downstream from the Otter Creek access by a pilot in a plane that was part of the search.
The search will continue from the accident site downstream to Reed Point, about 30 miles.
(excerpt from the Livingston Enterprise)
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