>La Grande Observer | Union and Wallowa Counties' News Leader

ENTERPRISE — Two fatal motor vehicle crashes close together in time but 50 miles apart had emergency personnel busy and left three people dead in Wallowa County Wednesday.

One man was from Enterprise. The two men killed in the other accident were both from western Oregon.

At 4 p.m. a report was received of a single-vehicle rollover on Crow Creek Road some 23 miles northeast of Enterprise.

The location is 15 miles north of Zumwalt Road and about two miles east of Charlois Road.

A 1995 C1500 Chevrolet half-ton pickup driven by W. Philip Hilton Jr., 71, was traveling northbound when it crossed the road, left the roadway and rolled into Crow Creek on the driver’s side.

Hilton was ejected. He was found partially in the creek and pronounced dead at the scene, said Wallowa County Sheriff Fred Steen.

The Enterprise Fire Department and ambulance and Wallowa County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to the scene.

At 5:36 p.m. a report was received of a vehicle crash on Hat Point Road four miles east of the town of Imnaha.

A pickup with two brothers inside left the road and rolled down a steep hillside coming to rest 1,500 feet below.

Both men were ejected. Charles E. Beisely, 56, of St. Helens, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Edward R. Beisley, 68, of Scappoose, was life-flighted out by helicopter but became critical on board and the flight was diverted to Enterprise. He was taken to Wallowa Memorial

Hospital where he later succumbed to his injuries, Steen said.

The men were hunting. They had a camp set up on property that one owned near Cayuse Flat, Steen said.

The Enterprise ambulance, the Joseph Fire Department, sheriff’s deputies and the Wallowa County Search and Rescue responded to the scene.

The crashes are under investigation by the sheriff’s office, which is being assisted by the Oregon State Police Reconstruction Unit.