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Allouez man dies after rescue from Brockway Mountain
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Charles Allan Bell, Jr., pictured here with his daughter, Cheyenne Autumn, in Allouez Park, lost his life after a fall from the top of Brockway Mountain near Copper Harbor on
October 5, 2000. Family members called Chuck Bell ’Äúthe Pied Piper’Äù because of his love of children. (Photo courtesy Bell family.) |
EAGLE RIVER ’Äì Despite a team effort of several local emergency service agencies, a 35-year-old Allouez man failed to survive a fall from Brockway Mountain early Thursday morning, October 5. After falling
approximately 200 feet, he struck a tree that stopped him. However, the injuries he sustained may have caused his death.
Charles Allan Bell, Jr., was reportedly pronounced dead on arrival at Keweenaw
Memorial Medical Center in Laurium, but no official hospital statement had been issued as of Friday afternoon. Keweenaw County Sheriff Ron Lahti said Friday the accident was still under investigation.
’ÄúHe had left friends in Copper Harbor at 2:10 a.m. in the morning (Thursday), stating he was going up on the mountain to see the Northern
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At about 2 a.m. on Thursday morning, October 5, Bell told friends in Copper Harbor he was going up on Brockway to view the
Northern Lights. This photo of the Northern Lights over Lake Superior appeared on the Pasty Cam that same day. (Photo
courtesy Pasty Central.) |
Lights,’Äù Lahti said.
Les Tolonen, 35, owner of the Keweenaw Agate Shop in Copper Harbor, was a good friend of Bell’Äôs and was with him Wednesday evening. However, he said he had
gone to bed long before Bell went up Brockway.
’ÄúChuck liked it up there. He went up there often,’Äù Tolonen said. ’ÄúHe loved the Keweenaw more than
anything. He loved to be out collecting rocks ’Äì he was a rockhound.’Äù
Bell also made handmade items from materials he collected, Tolonen noted.
’ÄúHe made handmade knives, tables, lamps out of antlers,’Äù Tolonen said.
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Charles Bell, Jr., was an artist who loved the wilderness and created such items as this knife with an antler handle, which he made from materials he found
in the woods. (Photo courtesy Bell family.) |
’ÄúHe was very talented ’Ķ He sold some, he gave a lot away. He just liked making the stuff.’Äù
Family members said Bell felt most at home in the wilderness and his love of
the woods was evident in his artistic creations.
Inmates from Camp Kitwen in Painesdale, who had been brushing the roadside in the area, heard Bell’Äôs moans and cries for
help, just before 1:30 p.m., Lahti said. Their supervisor, a Michigan Department of Corrections employee, used his radio to call the Negaunee Dispatch of the Michigan State Police, who radioed the Keweenaw
County Sheriff’Äôs Office. Lahti said his office immediately requested further assistance from Mercy Ambulance, Grant Township First Responders, the Eagle Harbor Fire Department and the
Calumet Township Fire and Rescue Department ’Äì all of whom responded promptly. The Michigan State Police, Calumet Post, also participated.
’ÄúThere was quite an effort by several agencies to rescue him,’Äù Lahti noted.
Barb Foley, Grant Township first responder, said the Camp Kitwen
inmates joined in the rescue effort.
’ÄúNone of us had rappelling equipment with us, so the only way to get to
him was to go west around the cliff and back to the victim,’Äù Foley said. ’ÄúWe made a big, giant C loop ’Ķdown the Eagle Harbor side of the mountain, west
around the cliff and then headed east again to the victim ’Ķ It was like walking
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 This file photo shows a typical rocky, steep slope at the top of
Brockway Mountain. Rappellers and first responders descended such a slope to rescue the late Charles Bell, who was still alive when they brought him to the top. (Photo copyright and courtesy
Eric Munch, Calumet photographer.)
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sideways on a hill covered by ball bearings.’Äù
Foley noted Jake Anderson, Eagle Harbor Fire Department assistant chief, was the first to reach Bell.
Anderson said he led the rescuers down a trail he knew from his experience deer hunting in the area.
’ÄúYou walk to the west, and
there’Äôs a trail, and you can work your way down,’Äù Anderson said. ’ÄúIt’Äôs pretty treacherous. It’Äôs all loose rock where you could lose your footing. If you start
slipping you have to grab a tree limb or anything to keep from sliding down further.’Äù
Anderson noted the work-release prisoners had gone up to see the fall colors on their lunch break.
’ÄúThey had gotten out of the van and heard the guy moaning for help,’Äù he said. ’ÄúThey could see him ’Ķ at the base of a tree. A tree about two and a half
inches in diameter was keeping him from sliding. It was holding him. He was kind of bent (forward) in a U-shape around it.’Äù
Anderson said he asked the victim his name to see if he was conscious. Bell told Anderson his name and was able to talk to him.
’ÄúHe wanted me to move him,’Äù Anderson said. ’ÄúI said, ’ÄòChuck, I can’Äôt move you until the first responders get down the hill with a backboard’Äô ’Ķ I knew he was in tough shape.’Äù
Anderson noted not all firefighters are trained as first responders, although they are trained in First Aid and CPR (Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation). He
estimated he was with Bell for at least a half hour until the Calumet Township rappelling team arrived with a backboard and brought it down the cliff.
’ÄúI helped them get him on the backboard, but not back up the cliff,’Äù Anderson said. He noted the Camp Kitwen prisoners were very helpful in the rescue effort.
’ÄúI think they need a pat on the back for all their assistance in finding the guy. Three of us got to him at about the same time,’Äù he said. ’ÄúThat’Äôs all we can do is
try. We give it our best shot and do the best we can.’Äù
Don Bausano, first assistant chief of the Calumet Township Fire and Rescue
Department, said two of his rappellers, Paul Mohar and Ed Sever, brought the backboard down to the victim, secured him on it with the help of first
responders and took him back up the cliff to the Mercy Ambulance, which had already arrived since it had left before the Calumet Township department received a call.
Foley said Don Horton of Copper Harbor assisted in getting the backboard to the victim as other first responders and firefighters acted as a support team
for the rappellers, who must wear a harness to climb up and down the cliff with rope.
’ÄúDon Keith of the Eagle Harbor Fire Department supervised the lifting of the
victim by ropes back up the side of the cliff,’Äù Foley said. ’ÄúJake Anderson was supervising at the bottom ’Ķ(Bell) was alive when we got him to the top of the cliff.’Äù
Bausano said the Calumet Township unit had to make a quick decision based on time and distance.
’ÄúWe got the call about 1:35 p.m,’Äù Bausano said. ’ÄúWe got there very shortly after 2. It probably took about 35 minutes to get down there.’Äù
Bausano said the Coast Guard offered helicopter assistance since they had a helicopter crew in Marquette for training.
’ÄúWe had a lot of different options,’Äù Bausano said, ’Äúbut we were looking at the time involved. We could get him back up (using rappellers and first
responders) before the helicopter could get there.’Äù
Mercy Ambulance owner Gerald Primeau said the Negaunee dispatch called
them at 1:31 p.m. and the Keweenaw County Sheriff’Äôs Office called at 1:32 p.m. Rick Koski, paramedic, and Krista Carlson, emergency medical technician
(EMT), arrived at the scene with the ambulance about 35 minutes from the time they received the calls, Primeau noted. He said Copper Harbor is 35 miles from the Laurium ambulance station.
’ÄúWhenever we have a call from up there we contact first responders,’Äù he said.
Primeau said first responders were on the scene when the ambulance arrived.
He estimated the rescue team worked about an hour and a half to get the victim to the top of the cliff.
’ÄúIt’Äôs just very rough terrain to work in,’Äù Primeau explained. ’ÄúIt’Äôs very difficult to get someone out of there.’Äù
One of the Mercy employees said the help rendered by the prisoners was impressive, Primeau noted.
’ÄúEverybody’Äôs a link in the chain,’Äù he said. ’ÄúOnce we get there we pick up
where they left off ’ĶThey were doing life support (CPR) when they got him to the ambulance.’Äù
Rick Olson, Keweenaw County undersheriff, accompanied the ambulance
personnel working on the patient. Mohar, of the Calumet Township department, drove the ambulance so that Koski, Carlson and Olson could continue the life support work.
Although unable to confirm exactly when Bell died, Primeau said ambulance personnel must keep up the life support effort’Äîwhich includes a combination of
CPR, defibrillation and pharmacology’Äî’Äúuntil a physician says stop.’Äù
Primeau, who trains first responders, said the training includes CPR,
stop-bleeding and patient evaluation. A first responder is a basic First Aid-type of person to hold down the scene until the ambulance gets there, he said.
Lahti said people have fallen from Brockway in the past. The last one was a young man who suffered foot and leg injuries from a fall on July 4, 1995.
’ÄúHe was fortunate to survive,’Äù Lahti said.
Bell is survived by his daughter, Cheyenne Autumn Bell; his parents, Charles
Allan Bell, Sr., and Susan Bell of Allouez; and three sisters’ÄîVicki Bankemper of Gurnee, Ill.; Laura Miller of Antioch, Ill.; and Bonnie Baker of Winthrop Harbor, Ill.
Charles Allan Bell, Sr., said his son lived on the edge and died in the environment he loved.
’ÄúHe was a free spirit. Nothing scared him,’Äù Charles Bell, Sr., said. ’ÄúWe
want to thank all the rescue workers who risked their lives to bring him up. They had to go a long way down to get him.’Äù
Visitation for Charles Allan Bell, Jr., will be from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Peterson Funeral Home in Calumet. A funeral service will be held at 2 p.m.
Monday in the funeral home. Burial will be in the Pine Grove Cemetery in Eagle Harbor.
’Äì Michele Anderson
October 7, 2000
Editor’Äôs Postscript: According to Jeff Selesky, communications supervisor with the Michigan State Police Negaunee Regional Dispatch, the Negaunee
post received a report of the accident from Clyde Wescoat, owner of the Sky Top Inn gift shop on top of Brockway, at 1:29 p.m. on Thursday, October 5. A
second call, which Selesky believes came from the prison work crew, came in at the same time. Negaunee then started the chain of emergency service
contacts by calling the Grant Township first responders, Mercy Ambulance and the Keweenaw County Sheriff’Äôs Office.
Don Keith of the Eagle Harbor Township Fire Department said two of the
rescuers, Grant Township first responder Mary Ann Quackenbush and Eagle Harbor Township Fire Department Assistant Chief Jake Anderson deserve
special recognition for protecting Charles Bell from loose rock that was falling during the rescue.
’ÄúMiss Quackenbush and Gerald (Jake) Anderson shielded this young man’Äôs
body with their own,’Äù Keith said. ’ÄúThey literally risked their lives for him ’Ķ I saw Jake get hit in the back with a rock, and one narrowly missed Miss Quackenbush.’Äù
Keith noted the Eagle Harbor Township Fire Department used their power winch to assist lifting Chuck Bell to the top.
’ÄúThere were so many people that did everything humanly possible,’Äù Keith said.
The Camp Kitwen supervisor who reported the accident was Charles
Sidnam, Keith added. He said he planned to request the Eagle Harbor Township Board, on which he is a trustee, to send a letter to Camp Kitwen
’Äúrecognizing the efforts of the young men under Mr. Sidnam’Äôs supervision.’Äù
’Äì Michele Anderson
October 9, 2000
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