July 10, 2003
Search ends for kayaker lost in river
A helicopter from Brim Aviation in Ashland joined in a two-day search for a Crescent City physician believed to have
drowned in the south fork of the Salmon River in Siskiyou County.
The Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Department called off the search Wednesday afternoon, about 24 hours after Wayne
Hawthorne, 48, disappeared in a kayak accident.
Sheriff’s department spokeswoman Susan Gravenkamp said a Hornbrook man, Mike Samson, reported the kayak accident
just before 4 p.m. Tuesday. He told deputies that he, Hawthorne, and Hawthorne’s 17-year-old son, Benjamin, were
kayaking on the river about four miles below Cecilville, Calif. Wayne Hawthorne’s kayak flipped just upstream from a
large rock and he and the kayak got lodged under the rock, Samson said.
The two other kayakers tried to get Hawthorne out of the water, but soon lost sight of him, Gravenkamp said. The
sheriff’s department dive team and search-and-rescue unit combed the river with the help of the Brim Aviation
helicopter, but quit at nightfall without finding Hawthorne.
The search resumed Wednesday morning, but searchers determined that river conditions were too dangerous for divers. They
plan to check the area periodically in coming days.
