MARION LAKE — After nearly a week, the Linn County Sheriff’s Office has called off an around-the-clock search for 75-year-old Sanford Rice, co-owner of the Horton Market in Blachly.
Undersheriff Jim Yon said Wednesday afternoon that 60 to 80 people have searched daily for Rice since last Friday afternoon.
The 5-foot-7, 160-pound Rice reportedly had read a newspaper article about the Marion Lake area and had gone hiking by himself on Thursday.
“He was supposed to open the store Friday morning, but when his wife went to the shop mid-day to begin her shift, she found he wasn’t there and the store had not been opened,” Yon said.
The Lane County Sheriff’s Office was notified and staff there notified Linn County about 1:30 p.m. Friday.
Yon said campers at Marion Lake reported seeing a man they believe was Rice about 7:30 p.m. Thursday.
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“He was by the lake dressed in a T-shirt and shorts, and it was raining hard,” Yon said, but they did not speak with the man.
Since then, the sheriff’s office has coordinated an all-out search.
Rice's vehicle was found in the parking lot at the Marion Lake trailhead, Yon said.
“Our new Search and Rescue recruits were completing their training, and after graduation on Sunday most of them went to Marion Lake and began their search,” Yon said.
Yon said that on Saturday, three airplanes from the Civil Air Patrol searched the area and on Sunday, a helicopter from the Oregon Air National Guard combed the lake area. According to Yon, "They found nothing."
He also said four canines and two cadaver dogs have worked the area.
“We’ve had numerous search and rescue units on the ground,” he said. “People have worked very hard and they are exhausted.”
Yon said the LCSO has had valuable assistance from Eugene Mountain Rescue, Corvallis Mountain Rescue, Mountain Wave Communications, Lane County Sheriff's Office, Marion County Sheriff's Office, Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, Deschutes County Sheriff's Office, Douglas County Sheriff's Office, Oregon Civil Air Patrol, and Oregon Air National Guard.
“Without these groups' assistance, we would not have been able to search the area,” Yon said.
Marion Lake encompasses about 300 acres at 4,134 feet above sea level in the far northeast corner of Linn County.
It is accessible only by trail and is in the Mount Jefferson Wilderness. It is the headwaters of Marion Creek, which is a tributary of the North Santiam River.
Sanford and his wife, Marilyn, have owned the Horton Market since 1972.
In the 1990s, he was active on the local school board and coached a grade-school girls basketball team.
In February 2016, the Blachly-Lane Electric “Ruralite” magazine featured a story about the Rices and their market that has been a fixture in the community since 1936.
Reporter Pam Spettel said of the store, “At Horton Market, successful fishermen are honored with photos of their prized catches on the walls, hanging next to historic memorabilia of the area. Original wood floors lend authentic appeal. Shiny chrome gas pumps — the only ones for miles — beckon backroad travelers.”