GALLATIN COUNTRY SHERIFF’S OFFICE
THREE FORKS – On September 29th at 1:45 p.m., Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office, Gallatin County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue, Three Forks Ambulance and Three Forks Fire Department responded to the lower Madison River, approximately two miles north of the Cobblestone Fishing Access, for a canoe that had flipped over due to a large cottonwood tree snag in the river channel.
Two fishermen found one man on a gravel bank with minor injuries and the deceased man still in the vessel, caught in the snag. The reporting fishermen were able to get cell service to call dispatch. With the help of deputies and Gallatin County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue, all parties were accounted for and recovered. The cause of death is under investigation by the Gallatin County Coroner’s Office. The deceased man has been identified as Scot E. Smith II of Belgrade.
