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Boreal Community Media

Heavy rain and low cloud cover hamper search for two men who went over waterfall in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness

May 22, 2024 09:34AM ● By Content Editor

By Laura Durenberger-Grunow - Boreal Community Media - May 22, 2024



***Find the most recent update from May 23 here***


The search continues for two men who went over Curtain Falls in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness while fishing last weekend. Extensive rain and low cloud cover hindered the search on Tuesday. Jesse Melvin Haugen, 41, of Cambridge, and Reis Melvin Grams, 40, of Lino Lakes were fishing in a canoe with another group, when one had an issue and the other went to try and assist. Both canoes went over the falls. Two people, Kyle Thomas Sellers, 47, from Ham Lake, and Erik Michael Grams, 43, from Ham Lake, also went over the falls in their canoe but were found and rescued. Sellers was airlifted to a hospital in Duluth with serious but non-life-threatening injuries. A fifth person, Jared Jay Lohse, 33, from Cambridge, MN, was with one of the groups but not involved in the incident. Multiple sources report that the group was anchored at the top of the falls, and were familiar with the area. 

According to a Facebook Post from the St. Louis County Rescue Squad from yesterday afternoon, "We are still in 24-hour operation, though active sorties are greatly curtailed due to weather. Two teams worked the overnight until chased undercover by rain and winds. They will remain spiked out in camp and hunkered down until this whopper storm passes. Our weather models predict water volume over Curtain Falls will double, raising levels in the river basin 11 to 23 inches." Nate Skelton, St. Louis County Sheriff’s Commander, said in an interview with Minnesota Public Radio that "The falls progress down about 30 feet … It’s not a straight drop but they move down between Crooked Lake and Iron Lake and they trickle down with a lot of fast-moving water.”

Photo: Curtain Falls, St. Louis County Rescue Squad Facebook Page. 


An Emergency Closure was issued by the Superior National Forest starting on Monday at 12:01  am until Wednesday at 12:01 am. The Facebook Post stated that the Rescue Squad was planning to let the Emergency Closure expire without issuing another one, as long as "Paddlers don't interfere with aircraft operations (which happened before the closure went up), and people stay away from the active search area".

The Rescue Squad has asked that if people are in the area and see planes, drones, remote operating vehicles, or any other search and rescue equipment, to provide plenty of space for them to operate.