On Oct. 16, 1941, Sheriff Mead traveled to the Stake Springs and Yellow Creek area to renew the search efforts for Clyde Dillon of Hutchinson, Kansas. The reward was now up to $500. Note that a brand new 1941 Chevy Coupe could be purchased for $800. One of the Dillon brothers had flown in a small plane from Wichita, Kansas, and another plane was brought in from Grand Junction to help with the search. There were now 70 C.C.C boys and 50 or more cattlemen from the Piceance-Yellow Creek areas. A request to Washington D.C. by Senator Alva B. Adams brought in more C.C.C. boys, now totaling 90. Mrs. Clyde [Flo] Dillon and her daughter, Betsy remained close by in Rifle while the search continued.
The family increased the reward to $2,500. The size of the reward caught the eye of Fred Fleming, editor of Colorado the Top of the Nation Sportsman’s Review. The publication was produced weekly by KLZ Broadcasting (a Denver television station) Clyde was described as 5’9”, 140 pounds, dark curly hair, age 45. Prospective searchers were referred to Bill Barnes of Rifle, Kay Hughes of Yellow Creek, or Sheriff Mead’s office at Meeker for additional information on the search area to be covered.
After five weeks of intensive searching, Clyde’s body was found Nov. 9, 1941, by Mrs. Joe [Dorothy] Hazelbaker in a clump of serviceberry bushes. She was one of five locals including Joe Hazelbaker, Bud Hazelbaker, his wife [who I believe was Hosea B. Hazelbaker and Loretta May Hazelbaker] and Stella Mead, the sheriff’s wife, who decided to retrace an area already searched two and a half miles from the abandoned car. The sheriff and county coroner, Edna Colescott, were notified of the location. Brother Ray Dillon requested that the body be left until he could view it. Ray arrived by private plane and landed at Stake Springs.
The body was found lying face down with one arm outstretched as if trying to catch himself after a fall. His glasses were broken and there was no sign of struggle. Ray Dillon arranged for the body to be shipped back to Kansas and the reward of $2,500 to be split among the five searchers who found the body. In December, Ray E. Dillon wrote a letter of thanks to the RBC Commissioners expressing a desire to build a shelter house on Yellow Creek in memory of his brother, Clyde. The request was forwarded to the Grazing Service which had jurisdiction for the public domain in that area. I could not find an explanation of why a shelter was never built. My best guess is that no government agency wanted responsibility for maintaining a building. Instead, a sizeable memorial was paid for by Mrs. Clyde Dillon and erected sometime in 1942.
In the Spring of 1942, Clyde’s wife Flo returned to Cathedral Bluffs and placed a hubcap from Clyde’s car on the top of a pole at the location where Clyde’s body was found. She inscribed in the concrete base, “We will always love you Clyde, -Flo.” I did find an article in the Steamboat Pilot (Aug. 13, 1942) describing the new marker built at the upper campsite. The original monument had an ammunition box on the backside of the stone. It contained a ledger for visitors to sign. Sometimes people would leave a memento inside the box. Matches and other survival items have been left. The Dillon family still collects the contents from time to time. As time wore on, the box rusted out. In 2011, three local men placed a new metal box off to the side. Mike Grady, Jim Green, and Torrance Hughes welded and set up this new container. Torrance is the son of Kay Hughes who played a big part in the exhaustive search in 1941. Even after 82 years, the monument reminds hunters of an unforgiving terrain that still needs respect today.
Sources: Meeker Herald, Steamboat Pilot, UP stories, website www.Ksdillons.com
By Ed Peck