Story taken from “A History of Powers Lake – 75th Jublilee 1984”
Tragedy came to the Obert and Sophie Enget home in Lucy Township on Sunday afternoon, Oct. 17, 1954, when four-year-old LaVern Enget disappeared from the Enget farm home. At first the parents started the search, then relatives and neighbors. The darkness settled over the prairies and yet no sign of the little boy. In the city of Powers Lake, the siren blew just as the evening church services were let out and word came to the villagers, “A little boy is lost.” Townspeople drove out through the dark and joined the group already going here and there calling and searching. The sheriff of Burke County, Martin Ryan; Chief of Police, Stuart Breese of Powers Lake, helped conduct the week long search which is the greatest search in the history of the community. Neighbors brought in first food for lunches, then towns people, church groups, clubs, Civic Club, American Legion Auxiliary and the Red Cross did a tremendous job in feeding all the volunteer workers. It is estimated that 60,000 meals were served during the search. The food was served at the farm home to start with and then moved to the George Carlson Implement building on the north edge of Powers Lake.
It is reported 42 light planes, two helicopters, five Canadian tracking dogs with the Mounties, 200 horsemen, and a human chain of at least 4,000 people-women, men and children-formed the search over the prairie, combing the terrain and wading through sloughs. The Haggard National Guard and men from Fortuna Radar Base and Boy Scout Troops were on hand to help and direct the operations during the week of the search. Then at the end of the week snow fell and the search was forced to be called off, with no trace of the lost child. Small search parties went out from time to time during the following year and then came fall again and the-Enget’s barn and hay burned, but immediately concerned people helped get things organized to rebuild the barn.
It was now a year since the little boy, LaVern, had presumably walked away to find his daddy who had gone to get the cattle in the pasture. Dan Halligan, a newsman of Williston and Attorney Bert L. Wilson, Jr. of Bowbells helped organize the “Last Chance” effort to find the boy. Taking part in the last search were firemen and volunteers from Williams and Burke counties.
On Sunday afternoon, Oct. 30, 1955 as the firemen came to burn and pump the sloughs dry before another winter would set in, assistant fire chief of the Grenora Fire Dept. discovered the body of little LaVern lying in a slough about a mile from the farm home. It was one year of searching and now it was over and the boy’s body was found.
Many people from other states and Canada had joined with the North Dakota people in this search. Rev. Sortland of the family church as well as other pastors had led their church groups in prayers for the family, and a funeral service was held at the Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Powers Lake. The remarks of Enget were, “You don’t know how many friends you have or how far away some of them live, until you go through such an experience as we have had.”
Links to Media Coverage of LaVern’s Disappearance:
Discovery of his body:
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