Gilpin man needs truck fished out
GILPIN — Emergency personnel who were called for a pickup truck partially submerged in the Kiski River arrived at the scene to find a fisherman who got the vehicle stuck on his way to his favorite fishing spot.
William Van Tassel of River Road, Gilpin Township, said he got his Dodge Ram pickup truck stuck in the river during the weekend and had planned to get it out yesterday when workers at a mill across the river in Hyde Park spotted it and called 911.
“It’s been down here for a few days,” he said. Van Tassel said he cleared the small access road down an embankment along Route 66 to get to a fishing spot along the river and had taken his Toyota pickup there before.
The truck was stuck in knee-deep water between the shore and a small island in the Kiski River.
“(The Toyota truck) has a shorter wheel base, so I was able to ford that little stream,” Van Tassel said.
The vehicle is not visible from the highway, because of thick growth on the embankment.
Gilpin Township Police Officer G. Paul Simon said he wasn’t sure whether to cite Van Tassel over the incident.
“I’m going to think about it,” he said.
A tow truck from Kochka Towing of Vandergrift pulled the truck from the river.