BOY SCOUT TRAGEDY

PROLOGUE: The configuration of Madera Canyon and the trails leading into the upper regions of the Santa Rita Mountains were quite different in the 1950s than what you see today (the 2000s). In order to have a better understanding of the tragedy that evolved in 1958, it is necessary to have an appreciation of the area as it existed then. In Madera Canyon, the current Roundup parking and picnic areas had not yet been built. The Santa Rita Lodge was in existence but the Chuparosa Inn Bed & Breakfast was not. The Madera Canyon Road ended about a mile past the Santa Rita Lodge at a point where there is a traffic circle on the right side of the road. In 1958, that circle was the turnaround point for the road. There was a picnic area with picnic tables at the end of the road.

In 1958, the Baldy Trail was the only trail leading from Madera Canyon to the top of Mount Wrightson (also known as Old Baldy). The Super Trail had not yet been built. The other main trail to Mount Wrightson was the Gardner Canyon Trail that started in Gardner Canyon and intersected the Baldy Trail at Baldy Saddle. The Temporal Trail was also in existence and it branched off from the Baldy Trail at Josephine Saddle and went to Patagonia.

There were two structures on the mountain that played a part in the Boy Scout Tragedy. The first structure was the Fire Lookout Tower that was situated at the very peak of Mount Wrightson (elevation 9,453 feet). The original lookout was built around 1909 and was extremely rudimentary. The Forest Service replaced it around 1920 with another structure. This was a relatively small, austere structure (approximately 8 feet by 8 feet) that was used during the fire season to spot forest fires as they were developing. This structure was equipped with a telephone. The second structure was a cabin that was used by the rangers when they were not on duty at the Fire Lookout Tower. Baldy Cabin was approximately 14 feet by 16 feet and contained a cook stove, beds and a loft. The cabin was located near Baldy Spring, just a short distance from Baldy Saddle along the Gardner Canyon Trail (currently the Super Trail) because of its proximity to a water supply. The cabin burned down in the 1970s and all remnants were removed.

A phone line had been built between the Forest Service’s Madera Admin Site and the Fire Lookout on Mt. Baldy to provide communications. The phone line followed the Baldy Trail in some areas and digressed from it in other areas. Generally, the phone line followed the shortest route and cut across switchbacks to save wire. Phone lines also connected the Madera AS to Patagonia via the Temporal Trail.

TRAGEDY SUMMARY
Saturday, 15 November 1958 - Six Boy Scouts (Life Scout Mike Early - 16, First Class Scout Michael LaNoue - 13, Second Class Scouts Louis Burgess - 16, and Ralph Coltrin Jr. - 12, and Tenderfoot Scouts David Greenberg - 12 and Ronny Sepulveda - 12) were droppped off Saturday morning in Madera Canyon by John Early, Mike’s father.  The boys set up a base camp in the picnic area at the end of the road and stashed most of their equipment there.  They planned to hike to the Lookout Tower on top of Mt. Baldy (Mt Wrightson), sign the log book, and then return to their camp in Madera Canyon to spend the night before being picked back up by Mike Early’s father on Sunday morning and taken to a birthday party in Tucson later that day (David Greenberg had turned 12 on the 15th and Mike Early was to turn 16 on the 16th.   The boys had checked with their Scoutmaster, Steve Zane, and he had advised them not to make the trip at this time of the year.   But it was such a beautiful day (warm and sunny), the boys decided to make the attempt anyway as a birthday celebration.

They started hiking up the side of Mt. Baldy about 10:00 A.M. (During an interview 30 years later, Ralph Coltrin said it was probably closer to 1:30 PM) when they started and climbed steadily until mid afternoon when Ron Sepulveda developed blisters and became exhausted and unnerved by the high altitude.  They were on the Baldy Trail above Josephine Saddle at this time.  He decided to wait by the trail until the others returned.  The rest of the group hiked for about 20 minutes and then Ralph Coltrin decided to drop out and wait.  The other four continued on for about 20 more minutes when they saw the top of Baldy ahead.  At that point, Louis Burgess decided to turn back also out of concern for the two younger boys who had started back down the mountain.  The other three, Early, Greenberg and LaNoue, elected to continue on because they were so near their goal.  LaNoue was dressed the warmest of the three.  He had three or four sweaters along with his jacket while the other two just wore jackets.  Both Early and LaNoue carried waterproof matches and some K-ration malt tablets.

Burgess caught up with Sepulveda and Coltrin and the three made it back to their camp in Madera Canyon just before nightfall. They erected their tents and crawled into their sleeping bags.  It started raining in the Canyon at dusk and around midnight, the rain turned to snow.  It is unknown when it started to snow higher up on the mountain.

Sunday, 16 November 1958 - Sometime after midnight, the three boys (Burgess, Coltrin and Sepulveda) tried to start a fire to ward off the cold but couldn’t find any wood because of the snow. Somehow Sepulveda lost his shoes in the darkness. The snow buried them and the boys were unable to find them in the morning.  Burgess decided to go down to the Santa Rita Lodge for help.  While en route, he met Early’s father who was on his way up the canyon to meet the boys.  The two returned to the boy’s camp and escorted Sepulveda and Coltrin back to the Lodge.  Sepulveda ran the mile to the Lodge in his bare feet. Bruce LaNoue, Michael’s father, became concerned when he awoke to find heavy snow in Tucson (a record breaking 6.5 inches according to the newspaper) and drove to Madera Canyon to check on the boys. He put on chains and loaded heavy rocks in the bed of his truck for traction and managed to make it to the Santa Rita Lodge.  By this time, the heavy snow had closed the road into the canyon and trapped everyone there.  A ham radio operator, Val Hanson, lived in the canyon about a mile from the lodge and he broadcast the first alert about the missing boys from the radio in his cabin about 11:00 A.M.  The message was heard by Orville Blair. Orville notified Dale Adams who put into operation the Catalina Emergency Net, an alert system for members of the Catalina Radio Club.  Hanson’s next broadcast was from a portable radio in his car and was heard by radio operators throughout the U.S.  They, in turn, called local authorities by radio and long distance phone calls.

Sheriff’s Deputies made the first attempt to reach the Lodge Sunday afternoon.  They used in succession a pick-up truck with chains; a 4-wheel drive jeep with chains and a road grader but all became stuck.  The deputies managed to hike within four miles of the lodge before being forced back. 

Monday, 17 November 1958 - Deputies hiked into the lodge and the road was finally opened by 10:00 A.M.  There were some initial jurisdictional problems since the search area was located in Santa Cruz County but responsibility for overall coordination of the search was relinquished to Pima County with Sheriff Sgt. Guy Hill being placed in charge of rescue operations.  Search and rescue operations quickly commenced.  Four separate search parties were formed and started combing the mountainside.  One of their first objectives was the Ranger cabin at Baldy Spring in hopes that the scouts had been able to make it there and wait out the storm. The cabin was equipped with food, beds, a stove and firewood.  A team of searchers (MSgt Ted Gillett from Davis-Monthan on skis, Sheriff’s Sgt B.C. Rickey, Deputy Bill Tarshia and volunteers John McGregor and Don Lindon on snowshoes) broke trail through 3-foot drifts for over five hours before fatigue called a halt at about the 8,000-foot level (the elevation at the cabin was approximately 8700 feet).  Next, Forest Ranger Jack Anderson and three members of the Pinal County Sheriff’s Posse (Tom Rankin and Emmet and Cliff Foster), struggling through five-foot drifts, made it to the cabin on horseback only to find it empty.  There was no sign that the boys had made it that far. 

About 150 people were participating in the search with about another 150 people providing support.  Also, a helicopter and a C-45 from Davis-Monthan AFB and numerous civilian light aircraft participated in an aerial search of the area. The helicopter, piloted by Capt. Robert Johnson, rescued two airman from Davis-Monthan who had been marooned in the canyon but had not yet been reported missing.   Bruce LaNoue returned home to get provisions and equipment and then returned to the canyon.  He set up camp on Josephine Saddle and remained there for the next 18 days participating in the search for the three boys.  He even had the family dog join in the search for three days hoping the dog would find his master.

Temperatures were dropping to around 0°F at night and only raising to about 32°F during the day

Tuesday, 18 November 1958 - The search continued without any success.

Wednesday, 19 November 1958 - The search was expanded when 300 men of the 16th Signal Battalion, Fort Huachuca, led by Lt. Col J.R. Serena joined in the search.

Thursday, 20 November 1958 - Russ Cone, his partner Tom Cox, and Russ’s two bloodhounds joined in the search and reported that the dogs had smelled “something”.  Russ and his dogs had flown in from Fresno California to assist in the search.

Friday, 21 November 1958 - Another 300 men from Fort Huachuca (the 72nd Signal Battalion led by Lt. Col William C. Golladay) joined in the search and combed the western side of the mountain and concentrated their search on the area where the dogs had picked up a scent.   Several Sheriff’s Deputies, numerous Patagonia ranchers headed by Mike Knagge and 35 Airmen from Davis-Monthan led by Lt. Col George Schafer searched the top of the mountain. 

Sunday 23 November 1958 - Searchers found the makings of a small fire about 400 yards short of the Ranger Cabin.  It looked as if someone had tried to start a fire using Kleenex similar to that carried by Greenberg.  The Kleenex was only brown around the edges.  Sunday evening the bulk of the search was called off by Sheriff Clark and three deputies (Sergeants Guy Hill, Frank Wootan and B.C, Richey) were left at the Santa Rita Lodge to oversee the continuing search as the snows melted.

Monday, 24 November thru Wednesday, 3 December - Sgt Hill and his two deputies, assisted by Mike Knagge, continued to coordinate the remaining volunteer searchers.   John Early joined the searchers on November 24th and David Greenberg, a diabetic, arrived on December 3rd. The fathers of all three of the missing boys were now in the mountains.  Santa Cruz Deputy Jack Sullivan continued his county’s efforts concentrating on the Eastern approaches to the mountains.

Thursday, 4 December 1958 - Mike Knagge had 50 Fort Huachuca soldiers from the 16th Signal Battalion searching the area around the Temporal Canyon Trail.   Mike was assigning the soldiers in small groups to work the various draws.  Pvt. John McKenna and Pvt. Kelley Kinser had just starting searching in their assigned area when one of them looked over the edge of a ridge and sighted a body.  It was 10:20 A.M. when Knagge fired two shots into the air as the first of three signals to indicate that the boys had been found. 

The searchers found the remains of a small fire around which the boys had apparently huddled during their battle against blinding snow and freezing temperatures. A still-operative flashlight was found near the fire and an unburned hatchet was found in its center as if the boys had attempted to keep the fire going by trying to burn the handle. The site of the fire was about 100 yards from Temporal Trail and about 250 feet from the telephone line the boys were believed to have been following.  The fire site was located on a tiny ledge leading into the head of Josephine Canyon about 3/4 of a mile from Josephine Saddle.  Above the ledge was the angled face of a rockslide and below was a fifty-foot drop-off.   David Greenberg was found about 10 yards from the fire site.  Mike Early was found about 25 yards down slope and Michael LaNoue was found about 50 yards down slope from the ledge. One of Early’s legs had been broken.  The fathers of the three boys were all at Josephine Saddle when Knagge and the soldiers arrived there.

At 5:05 P.M., Mike Knagge and ten Ft. Huachuca soldiers walked out of the mountains with the bodies of the three boys.  The youngsters were found on the 19th day and what was scheduled to be the last day of a hunt that at one time involved an estimated 700 men.  The area where the boys were found had been searched by 40 to 50 men on previous days but always before, the bodies had been hidden by at least two feet of snow.  Just the day before, two searchers had eaten their lunch on a point just above the site.

Mike Knagge tried to piece together a scenario of what might have happened that fateful night based on what had been found during the 19-day search.  He felt that the boys had made it at least as far as to within 400 yards of the Ranger Cabin where they attempted to build a fire.  Not having any success in getting a fire started, they started back down.  It looked as if they tried to follow the telephone line but eventually lost it.  They must have realized their predicament and with snow limiting their vision to no more than four feet, they decided to stop.  Their spot on the ledge was apparently determined by this decision.  Knagge said he believed the boys arrived at the ledge sometime Saturday and succeeded in getting a fire started.  LaNoue and Early had apparently fallen asleep and had tumbled over the edge of the ledge.  Knagge believed the boys froze to death Sunday evening when temperatures in the area skidded to around five below zero. 

The three boys are buried not far from each other in Holy Hope Cemetery in Tucson.

EPILOGUE:  Lou Burgess, one of the surviving scouts, provided further insight into the incident in July 2005 after reading this web page, Lou did not feel that the boys had been following the phone line as it descended down the wash above the Temporal Trail because the terrain in that area was rather rough going.  He felt that they mistakenly took the Temporal Trail from a point near Josephine Saddle.  Lou said that back in 1958, there was a short cut through the trees about 20 feet or so before the actual junction of the Baldy Trail with the Madera Canyon Trail.  He said that it always 'felt right' to treat the short cut as another switchback when coming down from the top. Lou indicated that several different times he had ended up on the Temporal Trail and had to 'regroup and get his bearings’ and turn around to make it back to Madera Canyon. He felt that this was more likely what had happened to the boys rather than them following the phone line toward Patagonia.

Lou also had the following to say about the location where the boys were found:  "The location where they were found was just below a place where the Temporal Canyon trail made a rather sharp turn to the left.  There was a ridge that sloped rather gently at first down the mountain and after a short distance there was a drop of maybe 10 to 15 feet.  For the first 20 feet or so there was no vegetation in an area about five feet in width.  Again, the few times I had been on the trail during the search I had the feeling that one should go straight rather than take a left turn but there was no indication that anyone had disturbed the snow at that location.  I had heard that the young man that found them had fallen and slid down the mountain only to look up and see one of the lads."

In July 2010, Linda Strader provided information pertaining to the configuration of the Fire Lookout and the cabin at Baldy Spring.

ARTICLE SOURCES: The above was summarized in July 2000 by Tom Johnson from newspaper articles appearing in the Arizona Daily Star on 18 November 1958 and 5 December 1958.  The summary of the tragedy by Bonnie Henry in the 9 November 1988 Arizona Daily Star was also reviewed and elements added as applicable.  In those instances where there were disparities between the 1958 and 1988 news articles, the 1958 articles were considered to be more representative of actual events since the 1988 articles relied heavily on the memories of some of the participants. The article was subsequently updated in 2005 from comments provided by Lou Burgess and again in 2010 from information provided by William Gillespie, US Forest Service and by Linda Strader.

Additional Material: GVHC Library File 38