Escaped 4-H Steer Swims Columbia, Rescued After perilous Pursuit through train tunnel

Nameless Black Angus nicknamed Michael Phelps, Houdini

17-year-old Josie Dickey, a Columbia High School Senior, seen here with her 4-H steer. Her most recent animal took an amazing 6-day odyssey that included miles of running from authorities and swimming across the Columbia River from Courtney Road in Washington to near Mosier, Ore.

By Joshuah Albert and Tom Peterson

All Photos and videos courtesy Megan Dickey

The Dalles, Ore., Jan. 3, 2025 — A 17-year-old Washington girl’s “Newly Halter-Broke” 4-H steer led family, friends and police on an interstate chase during the last week that culminated in a quick rescue on the train tracks near Hood River, Oregon on New Year’s Day.

The steer escaped on Dec. 27 after parents JR and Megan Dickey and their daughter Josie brought the 4-H steer home from the breeder after waiting for months. They released it into their enclosed pasture on Dickey Farms in east Bingen. 

“We got him unloaded and not a minute later he jumped a six-foot fence,” Megan said of the 770-pound steer this afternoon, Jan. 3. “And then he went through another barbed wire fence, climbed up our rock pit and down onto Highway 14.”

The Dickey’s called for assistance as they feared the 7-month old Black Angus could cause an accident on the highway. A Klickitat County Sheriff’s Deputy and a snow plow operator helped the family try to wrangle the steer. 

“He ran all the way to Courtney Road,” Megan said, noting it was several miles east of their home.

At that point, the Sheriff’s Deputy and the snow plow operator helped the family try to corral the animal into a Sheriff’s Office trailer. 

“That steer decided to go across the railroad tracks, and it jumped in the Columbia River,” she said. “We stood there and watched him swim halfway to Mosier. He was struggling and bobbing and going down and then coming back up… the current is really heavy there.”

You can just barely see the steer struggling against the current in this video taken by Megan Dickey.

Megan said they were crestfallen as they watched and worried for the animal as darkness fell, and they lost sight of it. The Angus is her daughter’s senior 4-H project. She had purchased it with her own “hard-earned money” and had worked with the breeder to get the exact traits she wanted for this steer.

Megan said they stayed on the banks of the Columbia that night with spotlights hoping to see the animal come ashore.

It never came.  

On Saturday, Jan. 28, Megan said they held out hope that the Angus had swam the mile across the Columbia to the Oregon side. They used a boat to survey Chicken Charlie Island just west of Mosier and the north and south banks of the Columbia. 

Nothing. 

“We lost hope,” Megan said. “I told myself he was living happily on that Island.”

For three days, the family heard nothing.

But then a Facebook post popped up on New Year’s Day. It stated a cow was running across Interstate 84 in Oregon. 

“On Wednesday, anglers spotted the animal on the Oregon side of the river near Interstate 84 and Mosier,” according to an Oregon State Police Report by trooper Michael Holloran. “Good Samaritans corralled the steer and helped prevent traffic accidents as it roamed along the freeway. However, the steer managed to jump the median and cross to the eastbound side of I-84.”

Holloran joined the pursuit as the animal ran westbound along the eastbound shoulder for more than a mile, lumbering through a railroad tunnel.  

The Steer walked through this Railroad tunnel on I-84

Meanwhile the Dickeys and about 7 friends had made it to the same location and heard him as he walked along the railroad tracks. Their biggest fear was spooking the Angus and sending it out into highway traffic causing a vehicle collision. 

Authorities put up an electronic sign on the highway notifying drivers there was a cow on the road. 

“A few of our friends showed up and we tried to rope him but he kept on charging us,” Megan said. “All of our adrenaline was moving to get him off the tracks, it was a matter of timing as a train was coming.” 

Megan said the steer approached her near the train tracks near a slew just east of Koburg Beach State Park.

“He came up on me and was charging me and he was so exhausted at that point he collapsed,” she said.  “He was so exhausted from the swimming and running.”

The steer lay next to the tracks and would surely be hit by the oncoming train if not moved immediately. 

“They were unable to get the train stopped at that point; they could only slow it down,” she said. 

Megan said they were able to tie the steer up and then she and 9 others physically lifted the 770-pound steer and placed it into a horse trailer.

Megan and Oregon State Police expressed gratitude to the Hood River Police Department for their assistance and roping skills, as well as to Union Pacific Railroad for halting train traffic during the rescue.

“My daughter is very happy,” Megan said this afternoon.. “She’s got peace of mind now that he is back.”

Has the steer recovered?

“He’s ornery," she said. “Back to his old self.”