by Jeff Egerton
The deputy, realizing the danger of mob violence and how badly he was outnumbered, returned to his patrol car and drove away from the farm. He did not report the incident to his superiors.
By now the auctioneer knew what the locals had planned; the bids were going to be kept low enough so Pearson could keep his farm. He finished the bidding for the mortgage, which sold back to Pearson for two dollars. The livestock was sold to other men, who gave it back to Pearson, for a nickel a head. Everyone left the auction feeling like a ten ton lead weight had been lifted off their shoulders. It wasn’t because Pearson had kept his farm that had them so elated. It was because for the first time in several years, they felt like they had some control, albeit slight, over their destiny. They left the auction feeling like they could stand on their own two feet again without being repeatedly knocked down.
As a show of unity and fellowship, the farmers then took several cans of milk to the nearest towns where they donated it to hungry children. When Curly arrived home and told his brothers about the auctions, they thought he was a miracle worker. His Father admonished, “You better be careful, son. People are getting killed in some of these shenanigans that are taking place.”
Curly told him not to worry, then left for the local tavern for a much needed drink.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Barney and Lem departed Grand Junction at eleven o’clock in the morning bound for Denver. They’d seen the weather report that indicated thunderstorm activity in their route of flight, but Barney thought if the storms became a factor, he had plenty of room to circumnavigate the weather system.
As they passed Glenwood Springs darkening skies filled the distant horizon. Barney told Lem, “Plot me a course that’ll take us north of Mt. Powell and then toward Boulder.”
Lem taped a slip to his yoke with a heading of zero-five-zero degrees.
Barney had been on this heading for ten minutes when he said, “This storm is moving right into our flight path. I’m turning further north.”
When he turned, however, the darkening clouds seemed to follow him. He noticed several lightning strikes, which mean thunderstorm activity—an airliner’s worst enemy. Storms like this could spawn severe turbulence and down drafts that could easily slam the Boeing into a mountain like she was a toy.
He said, “This is getting bad, Lem. The tops are too high to go over the storm; we might have to turn around and head back to Glenwood Springs.”
“I think that’s our best bet. Let me get you a heading.”
Barney started a slow turn and said, “Before you do, go back and tell the passengers that we’re turning around due to the weather. We’ll try to land at Glenwood, but we might have set down in Meeker.”
Barney rolled out on a westerly heading and his worst fears were realized; the storm had closed in behind them. He faced a wall of black clouds streaked with lighting and wind-whipped rain. Lem sat down and Barney said, “We’re right in the middle of this thing and it’s building fast. Plot our position and get a heading to the Colorado River. If I can descend into the river valley, we might be able to get under the clouds.” As Barney said this, he knew he was playing Russian Roulette. Making a blind descent in mountainous territory, while in the middle of a violent thunderstorm was risky at best.
In gale force winds Barney fought the control yoke. Lightning flashed and booming thunder filled the airplane, as streaks of St. Elmo’s fire danced across the instrument panel.
Lem poured over a chart for a minute, then shouted, “We should be right over the river valley. Descend on this heading and we can follow the river into Glenwood Springs.”
Barney started a five hundred foot per minute descent. He tried to weave his way around the clouds to maintain some forward visibility. Despite his best efforts, the turbulence continually threw the plane into the clouds where he saw only the driving rain. His grim realization was, the violence of the storm had transformed he and Lem from pilots—into passengers.
The altimeter unwound through ten thousand feet, as Barney fought to keep the plane on a westerly heading. An incredibly loud crash of thunder reverberated through the plane and Barney felt the rudder go slack under the pedals. He yelled, “Lightning strike, got the rudder!”
A second later, Lem saw an opening in the storm and shouted, “A field, one o’clock!”
Barney caught a glimpse of a beautiful green pasture a couple thousand feet below them, but a violent updraft grabbed the plane and tossed to a south heading. The field, which might have saved their lives, disappeared. The updraft was followed by an intense down draft that stressed the wings to their limit as Barney fought the controls.
The next thing they saw was the side of a mountain rushing at them. Both men cranked the yoke hard to the right, barely avoiding a head on crash into the mountain. Barney thought they had saved the plane, but then heard the grinding sound of a treetop ripping off the landing gear. The plane plunged nose first into the trees. When he felt the jolt, Barney’s last conscious act was to turn off the fuel switch—then, darkness.
Catwalk, Julio and Billy Sue were in the middle of dinner when the phone rang. Julio answered and started asking questions. Catwalk overheard enough to know something bad had happened. Julio confirmed his fears, “Barney and Lem’s flight is overdue in Denver. They departed Grand Junction at eleven this morning, but there was a bad storm system in their route of flight. They haven’t been heard from since.”
Catwalk thought about the extensive mountainous terrain on the route of flight. Other than the open ocean, there was no more daunting place to make an emergency landing. “Did they say how many passengers were on board?”
“Six passengers, three hundred pounds of cargo and two hundred pounds of mail.”
“Call the weather service and see which way that storm was moving. That might give us an indication where Barney had to deviate. Then call Denver and make sure search and rescue has been sent out.”
Billy Sue asked, “What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to get Don Blake to fly my trips for the next few days. Then I’m taking a Jenny to look for them.”
Julio said, “I’ll go with you.”
“O.K. I’ll pack our cold weather gear and a couple days food. Billy Sue, you can stay as long as you want to. When you leave just lock the doors.”
“Good luck, guys.”
Barney regained consciousness an hour after the crash. When he saw the way Lem’s head was bent, he was certain that he’d died from a broken neck. He unbuckled, climbed out of his seat and checked Lem’s pulse; there was none. He then noticed plane was laying at an angle with the nose and right side down.
He looked to the rear and saw four passengers that also appeared to be dead. Two people, however, looked up when they heard him moving. He said, “Are you hurt bad?”
A man said, “My leg is busted, but my wife is OK, just some bruises.”
“It looks like everyone else died in the crash.” Barney then crawled across the seats, checking the pulse on the remaining passengers. Finding nothing but corpses, he said, “We’re the only survivors.”
Barney looked out a window. The mountain sloped sharply downward, but trees were supporting the aircraft and keeping it from tumbling downhill. He said, “We’ll have to spend the night in the plane. I’m going to the rear to collect blankets and emergency water, then I’ll make a splint for your leg.”
The wife said, “I’ll find something for the splint.”
“Use whatever you need. This plane ain’t much good for anything now.” Barney then thought about which plane he was flying. He cursed under his breath when he realized the plane he’d crashed was the Samantha Jean.
Catwalk and Julio flew to Albuquerque to talk to weather forecasters. Information on the storm was sketchy, but they learned that it had moved through the mountains on a northerly track. Unfortunately, they had no way of correlating the movement of the storm to Barney’s flight. If he departed before the storm, he would have deviate
d north. Had he departed after the storm, however, he might have flown south around the storm.
Catwalk looked at the chart and said, “I’m betting he went north. Deviating south would have taken him toward the higher peaks, and Barney always preached that mountains and airplanes don’t mix well.”
Julio said, “I agree, but that still leaves a whole chunk of country to search.”
Catwalk said, “Put on your cold weather gear and fill two thermoses with coffee. We’ll fly the Jenny to Denver tonight. In the morning we’ll back track his flight path.”
“Got’cha.”
Barney carried the dead bodies outside and covered them with a parachute. He looked around the plane to see if there was a chance of it sliding down the mountain. He was relieved to see that it was supported by several large trees. He then looked at the surrounding terrain to determine if they could hike out. He decided if they were going to leave the crash site they’d have to go straight down the mountain, which would be difficult for him and the woman; it would impossible to carry her husband out.
Back in the plane he helped the couple, whose names he learned were Art and Helen Gates, get comfortable for the night. Art’s leg was in a splint and Helen’s cuts had been treated, so now all they had to do was stay warm. Barney went back to the cockpit and made several more Mayday calls, but he suspected there was no one within the range of his radios. He then joined the couple in back and bundled up to wait out the night.
Art said, “Do you think anyone is looking for us?”
“I’m sure someone is, but they probably don’t know where to look. We were pretty far off course due to that storm. I might try to start a signal fire in the morning. Smoke can be seen from a long way off and might get someone’s attention.”
Helen said, “Do you know if we’re close to a town?”
“I don’t think so. I plotted our position, but I doubt it’s correct because the storm blew us around so much. Near as I can figure, we’re about twenty miles from Kremmling.”
A silence fell over them as each person considered their fate, and their chances of survival.
When Catwalk landed at Denver, he couldn’t remember being so cold, but he was glad they made the flight. The Rocky Mountain employees were waiting for them with fresh coffee and a hot meal. He and Julio ate, then laid out their plans for the morning. The Denver station manager asked him, “Are you going to wait until you hear from search and rescue?”
Catwalk said, “No. We’re going to back track his proposed route of flight and fly a grid pattern in the area where the storm was the worst. Have you checked with the forest service to see if any fires have been reported?”
“We did. There are two fires not far from Aspen that are believed to be from lightning strikes. Forest rangers are enroute to check them out.”
“Good. Julio, can you think of anything else we can do?”
“Just get some sleep, and pray.”
Barney spent most of the night thinking about his next course of action. His instincts told him to start walking to see if he could find a town or ranch. Taking off blindly, however, could be a mistake. He had no idea of which direction to go and if he became lost, the chances of anyone finding a single person would be worse than spotting an airplane wreckage. Since they had food, water and shelter, he decided to stay put.
At first light he went out to find a nearby area where he could start a signal fire. He’d walked down the mountain a quarter mile when he came to a clearing. He then used his binoculars to search the landscape to see if he could spot any activity, or smoke from a chimney. He saw nothing.
Back at the plane, he told Helen, “I found a clearing where I can start a fire. I’ll fix our morning C rations, then drain some fuel and start a fire. While I was down there I looked for signs of civilization. There’s nothing out there but trees.”
“Well, I’m confident they’ll find us. Do you have anything for pain? He hasn’t said anything, but I think Art’s in quite a bit of pain”
“I’ll get some morphine from my first aid kit.”
After the meager breakfast, Barney collected enough fuel for a fire. He then walked back to the clearing. His next step was to find some dry wood. He was carrying his second load of wood back to the clearing when he heard what he thought was a car engine in the distance. He dropped the wood, grabbed his binoculars and hurried back to the area.
He stood at the edge of a drop off and scanned the mountain side. He heard and saw nothing. He scanned again hoping to see some sort of human activity, but again saw only the mountainous landscape.
As Barney turned to leave the rain soaked ground gave way under his feet. He turned to grab anything that might stop his fall, but only clawed at the dirt, while he slid downward. Gaining speed, Barney slid down the steep incline until he came to a cliff. Unable to stop, he went over the cliff and landed on his upper back thirty feet below.
The fall knocked the wind out of him, but that wasn’t the worst of his problems. When he regained his breath, Barney made a horrifying discovery—he could not move any part of his body below his neck. He yelled for help, knowing it was futile. He was too far from the airplane; no one would hear his desperate call. He then wondered if he’d even get out of the Godforsaken spot, or if this was where he’d die?
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Catwalk and Julio took off half an hour before sunrise to search the area east of Glenwood Springs. Cat started by flying a north to south grid with twenty minute legs. Each time they refueled he’d fly a grid farther east. By noon they had logged five hours air time, but hadn’t seen a thing that resembled the remains of the Boeing.
After an hour Helen began to worry about Barney. She lived in Grand Junction and knew the hills were full of bear and large cats. She also realized that attacks on humans were not uncommon. Art had dozed off so Helen climbed out of the wreckage to look for Barney. She remembered him telling her that he had found a clearing a quarter mile down the mountain side. She started down.
Barney yelled for help every few minutes. He could see enough of the terrain around him to tell he was on a shelf in the side of a mountain. No one was going to run across him by accident. If he was going to be found, he needed to let someone know where he was.
Helen found the clearing and his two cans of fuel. She then saw the logs he’d carried over for the fire. She yelled, “Barneyyy!”
He heard her and returned the cry, “Down here, Helen.”
She heard his voice but couldn’t tell where it was coming from. She walked toward it and heard, “Helen, I’ve fallen down on a shelf and I can’t move. Can you hear me?”
“Yes, Barney, I can hear you.”
“Don’t try to get to me, because you might fall. Clear out an area and start the signal fire. Once it gets going good, put some moss or wet logs on it to make it smoke.”
“O.K., Barney. Is there any way I can get down to you?”
“I don’t think so and this ground is not stable. Get the fire going and we’ll have to hope someone sees it.”
Helen went back to the clearing and built the fire. She then returned to check on Art, who was still asleep. She worried about Barney because he said he couldn’t move, which meant he’d have to spend the night with no protection from the elements, or the predatory animals.
Catwalk and Julio flew all afternoon, but saw nothing. Every couple hours, they coordinated with Rocky Mountain Rescue to insure that they didn’t duplicate their search efforts. They were on their last grid before returning for fuel when Julio yelled, “Cat, I see smoke. Three o’clock, halfway up that hill in the distance.”
Catwalk banked right and searched for the smoke. “Where is it, Julio? I don’t see it.”
“Hold this heading; it’s at twelve thirty.”
Catwalk spied the thin wisp of smoke and said, “I’ve got it!. Mark it on a chart. It looks too small to be a forest fire.”
“Yeah, but there sure as hell ain’t no where around there to land.”
/> “We’ll have to land down below the hill and hike up to the fire.”
“First, we have to refuel.”
Catwalk looked at the fuel gauge. He muttered, “Damn it. By the time we get back, it’ll be dark.” There was no denying that fuel was their first consideration. He yelled to Julio, “I’m going to make a low pass over the fire. If it’s a signal fire and they see us, they’ll know help is on the way.”
Catwalk maneuvered the Jenny to make his pass as close to the fire as he could. Helen didn’t see him because she was in the Boeing with Art. Barney, however, heard the Jenny when it was several miles away. As the sound grew louder, he craned his neck toward it. When he saw the familiar Jenny, he yelled, “God almighty damn! We’re down here; you’ve found us!”
He then looked at the skies. Twilight was just setting and the Jenny couldn’t land anywhere close. That meant the rescuers would have to land elsewhere, then climb up to them and that could take hours. He wondered, would they try tonight, or would he spend the night here, unable to move and exposed to the elements and the creatures. He heard Helen’s voice. “Barney, can you hear me?”
“I can hear you, Helen. Did you see the airplane?”
“No, I was in the plane with Art. I came out to put another log on the fire.”
“One of my planes flew over so someone knows where we are, but I don’t think they’ll get to us tonight. They should be here in the morning.”
“I brought some blankets. I’m going to try to climb down to you so I can cover you up.”
Barney thought, a couple blankets would help him make it through the night, but he was worried about her trying to get to him. He yelled, “Don’t try it, Helen. I don’t want you to fall. You have to keep the fire going.”
Helen knew he was right, but hated the thought of him spending the night down there with no protection. Finally, she decided she had to get to him. She said, “Barney, I’m coming down there while there’s still some daylight.”