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HERRIMAN — Police and engineers with heavy equipment saved a loaded semitrailer from potential disaster Monday at the top of Butterfield Canyon.

Police say the truck driver was headed to drop off fence parts at the mouth of the canyon for the Bureau of Land Management's wild horse and burro program.

Apparently, his GPS told him to keep going.

"Ultimately got to the point where he just couldn't turn around," Unified Police Lt. Justin Hoyal said.

He called for help about 1 p.m., Hoyal said.

"He got near the top of the canyon where he came within inches of his semitruck being right on the edge of going off a couple hundred foot drop-off," he said.

Rescue crews offloaded two-thirds of the cargo. Salt Lake County took up a front-end loader to lift the trailer around the hairpin turns. Crews then assisted the semi to the top, where the driver was able to turn around and start heading down the canyon.

"The roads become very windy and very, very narrow," Hoyal said. "It's hard for a car to turn around, let alone a semi."

Six hours after he first got stuck, the driver was able to unload the fence materials at the mouth of the canyon.

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