11APRIL2012 at Ft. Thompson, SD - Despite not sleeping well I was up at sunrise. Immediately I made several written appeals for help, those to be placed on the windshield of vehicles with a motorboat in tow. I dropped one at a nearby convenient store and gas station then put one on a rig parked at the motel. Several telephone calls to both tribal police departments, the Corps of Engineers and the Fish and Wildlife Service resulted in Shelton Fletcher of the Fish and Wildlife Service picking me up and boating me along the south shore where we quickly located the canoe sitting peacefully near mile 989. Missing only one paddle and one life preserver, it looked good. By 1030 we were back at the swimming beach and Shelton was on his way for his other duties of the day. Shelton's cousin is Ryan Clark of Clark's Plumbing in Helena ... the plumber that I employ the most.
After noon I went back to the dam, affixed the portage wheels and rolled the canoe past the spillway and to the Old Fort Thompson Boat Ramp. Bob Karlen (Corps of Engineers) came by and together we chose a well hidden yet close location to leave the canoe for tonight. It will be fairly easy to retrieve it and wheel it about 100 yards to the ramp tomorrow. Mud lines on trees near the boat ramp display a 2011 water level about 8 feet deep. Add the vertical distance down the ramp to the present water level and last years flood was about 15 to 20 feet above the present. Bob says that had I come to the dam last year the Corps of Engineers would have stopped me from further canoeing ... or from canoeing further.
Today I saw a whitetail deer. The canoe moved two miles from river mile 989 to 987.