Dead Center. Frank J. Daniels
Trail.”
“Just a minute.” There was a pause. “What’s your name, sir?”
“George Wright, W-R-I-G-H-T.”
“Are you in Montrose or Delta County?”
“I don’t know. Probably Delta.”
“Okay. We have quite a few Divide Roads. Is this twenty-five Mesa Road?”
“It’s up on top of the Uncompahgre.”
“That would be twenty-five Mesa Road, I’m thinking... probably…There’s a couple of Divide Roads up there.”
Wright’s face grew red at the operator’s confusion, but he kept at it. “Okay. Do you know where the Cold Springs ranger station is?”
“Coal Springs ranger station?”
“Okay. We’re past that. Go down to the Dominguez Trail; turn on that left; go up to the Brushy Ridge Trail, and…”
“The Brushy Ridge Trail?”
“Yes.”
“Boy, I’m not sure if you’re in Delta or Montrose County. There was a guy who was shot up there?”
“Yes.”
“When did this happen, sir?”
“I don’t know.” Wright said. “I’m just up here and a guy came driving up here in a Bronco and said down in his camp there’s someone…a guy…was shot through the chest.”
“Like suicide?”
“We don’t know. The guy said there was two spent rounds beside the man who’s shot and his wife’s there and she’s going crazy.”
“Okay. Where did you go from? Did you go from Delta or did you go from Montrose?”
“We came from Grand Junction.”
“And to get up on the Divide Road, did you go from...?”
“141,” Wright replied with a heavy sigh.
“141. Did you go up between Delta and Grand Junction and go up Debeque Canyon?”
“Yes.”
“Off Highway 50 you went up Debeque Canyon. Okay, sir, I’m going to get my map out. Uh, but what’s the number you’re calling from?”
“I’m on my cell phone, 208-555-7242.”
“Okay, I think I’m getting another call on this shooting. Hold on just a minute. Okay, so he is dead then?”
“I don’t know for sure. I’m talking to a guy here who says he’s a policeman from Texas. Says he was down there at the camp with the lady. We were hunting up above. He is just trying to find some help.”
“Sir, gosh. The other dispatcher’s getting a call on it. She’s getting more directions.”
“Well, I’m gonna sign off then,” Wright said thinking he’d finally gotten through to her.
“No,” the dispatcher’s voice rose. “I’d like to keep you on the line, because I need to get the information from you.”
Wright had had enough. “Well, let me let you talk to the guy that was down there.”
The Delta County operator’s sigh was heavier than Wright’s had been. “Okay. That would be great.”
A discouraged George Wright handed the phone to Captain Branchwater. It is hard to describe how to get to a place in the middle of nowhere. Just trying to determine what county the shot man was in was a substantial hurdle. The call would have been potentially tragic, but for the fact that it seemed clear Bruce would not have benefited from more timely medical assistance.
While it is probably unfair to expect the dispatcher in Delta County to be familiar with every dirt road in Mesa County, it is easy to see how Mr. Wright soon wished he had not become involved in this situation. Part of the problem was the dispatcher suggesting that Wright had driven up Debeque Canyon when he actually came up Unaweep Canyon, a far different part of the county. Brent Branchwater now attempted to communicate their location and get some help.
“Hello, ma’am,” Branchwater said in his thick East Texas accent.
“Just a minute.” Pause. “Okay.”
“My name is Brent Branchwater. These people were camped behind us. And I was cleaning a deer when I heard a woman screaming. I went to see what was happening and the woman came running up telling me her husband was shot.”
“Do you have a name of the victim or the wife?”
“I’m in her truck. I’m in her Bronco.”
“Can you give me the license off that vehicle, sir?”
“Edward George Victor 0-8-2, Colorado. Is there somebody on the way up? I could meet them down on Divide Road at the Dominguez Trail.”
“Sir, right now we’re kinda trying to find out what jurisdiction you’re in…if you’re in Mesa County or if you’re in Delta County. The other guy we talked to went up Debeque Canyon to get there. So it kinda sounds like you must be in Mesa County. Okay, so she come runnin’ up and she said he was dead?”
“I heard her screamin’ down there and she came runnin’ up hollerin’ ‘Help, help.’ I met her about halfway there. She took me back down to where he was at.”
“Okay, you’re by the Coal Springs ranger station, is that right?”
“Yes, Ma’am. Just past there. Is the Ranger Station manned all the time?”
“I don’t have that information. The female, do you have a name for her?”
“I think she said her name is Denise. I just talked to her briefly this morning. Would it help if I ....”
“Just a minute.”
“Would it help if I met someone at the Divide Road? I’m not that close to it. I probably need to drive five or six miles to get to it.”
“Sir, I’m going to run the vehicle. And is the lady still there?”
“She’s with the body right now.”
“When did this happen? Do you know?”
“Sometime around daylight as far as I know.”
“Daylight this morning?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“So he is dead and we don’t need to worry about getting an ambulance?” The operator seemed unsure of the situation.
“As far as I can tell. I could feel no pulse. His face was blue and all I could see was a couple of contractions of his jaw.”
“Okay, and the plates are Edward George Victor 0-8-2?”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
“Okay, Dodson?”
“I don’t know their name.”
“Okay, okay. Right now, what we’re trying to do is find out where you’re located at. Can you tell me exactly how you got there?”
“We came in from Delta on 50 toward Grand Junction. We turned south on 141 at Whitewater. We came down 141 in Unaweep Canyon and turned on Divide Road forest service access. And that bisects the Uncompahgre Plateau.”
“So do you happen to know if you’re in Mesa County or Delta County?”
“No, ma’am.”
The sound of crinkling paper came through the cell phone earpiece. The Delta County 911 operator was obviously flipping through a book of maps trying to find the hunters’ location. Several minutes passed.
“Okay,