Montana Teen Uses Cowboy Skills To Save Drowning Rafters

A 14-year-old Montana rancher-in-training claims God placed him exactly where he needed to be at that moment after using cowboy skills honed over months of practice to lasso and pull a drowning man from the Yellowstone River following a rafting accident. Jory Thomas was camping with his family near Greycliff on July 5 when cries for help echoed through the air. "We all heard, 'Help, help,'" Thomas told KTVQ. "There's two or three people floating down the river, one hanging on to the cooler, and he wasn't saying anything." A raft and paddleboard had slammed into a bridge pillar, tossing four people into the water. Three made it to shore, but one man kept drifting downstream while clinging to a cooler. Thomas said there was no time to wait. "This current was pretty fast then, and he was moving pretty quickly," he noted. "Only thing I could focus on was helping him get out of the water because I didn't want to see anyone go in front of me." He emptied his pockets, crossed a waist-deep side channel, and ran along the bank. Then he grabbed a 12-foot lariat he had brought from home, something his grandmother told the station he'd never packed for a camping trip before. "My first instinct, I thought, was try and rope him and drag him out before he gets too far down the river," Thomas said. "Luckily, I caught him first try." He pulled the man toward shore through chest-deep water until first responders arrived. The teenager admitted he had only started taking roping seriously this year while helping with cattle on the family ranch, telling the station that his skills were improving the more he roped livestock. Thomas said he believes his faith guided him to act. "God was basically putting me in the place of all this," he said. "God was just telling me all of this at the time and saying, 'Go get him, you got it, and I believe in you.'" He later reflected that he never expected the same skills learned on the ranch would save a person's life. "I just thought I could help with cattle," Thomas said. "Not really helping humans and stuff like that. But I'm glad I was here to help." The Sweet Grass County Sheriff's Office later honored Thomas with a Certificate of Achievement. Sheriff Alan Ronneberg and Undersheriff Ron Swanson recognized the teen for rescuing the man near Pelican Fishing Access. "Well done, Jory!" the sheriff's office wrote in a social media post.