Six Pleasure-Seekers Leap From a Burning Launch Into the Lewis River
A Friday-night outing turned into an hour in neck-deep water before lumbermen built a raft and brought everyone back alive.
Woodland — After having been forced to leap overboard from a blazing gasoline launch into the chilly waters of the North Fork of the Lewis River, clinging to overhanging trees in water up to their necks for nearly an hour, and finally being rescued by lumbermen, who constructed a raft and went to their aid, six young people who left here on a pleasure trip Friday night were brought back safe and sound at 5 o'clock Saturday morning but little the worse for their experience.
“clinging to overhanging trees in water up to their necks for nearly an hour”
A night on the water turned into a rescue drama on the North Fork Lewis River, a reminder that rural waterways have always been both recreation and risk. Modern emergency responders still rely on quick-thinking bystanders and improvised rescue gear when a boat catches fire or people are stranded in cold water.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.