Legend in a Lake

I was working at my grandmothers the past few days trimming hedges and cutting back plants (very peaceful by the way...) Well anyway, my grandmom and i don't get to see each other very often and she's a very interesting person to talk to. We got onto the topic of bottles and digging along with the local history of the area I was in.

Apparently, in the mid to late 1800s there was a huge Marl pit near her house that had a railroad that took this ore to local factories. Marl is found in fresh water areas and has the consistency of Peat. It comes out of the ground either light green, or dark-rust colored red. The ore was used in manufacturing processes ranging from glass making to weapons and munitions. It was pretty abundant around here (my road's name is "Marlton" [Marl-ton?]) and it was found all over these areas. Even where I dig there's remains of pits dug for this ore.

From the story she told me, during this time there was a train that was carrying a load of Marl near where she lived. There was a bridge across a pond/deep river through the woods across the street from her house. During a storm, the river washed the bridge out and the train fell into the river and sunk. Instead of salvaging the locomotive, they left it there and built a bridge somewhere else along the route.

She said that to this day the locomotive is still sitting at the bottom of the river. I was wondering if that's even possible? If it's at the bottom of a pond or river in water that deep would it be possible it even be discernible as a locomotive? I just found it interesting that someone even conjured up a story like that. What's the general consensus of my urban legend?

She said that to this day the locomotive is still sitting at the bottom of the river. I was wondering if that's even possible? If it's at the bottom of a pond or river in water that deep would it be possible it even be discernible as a locomotive? I just found it interesting that someone even conjured up a story like that. What's the general consensus of my urban legend?

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Yo Kenneth,

There's ways to find this out, but first, are'ya calling your grandmother an Urban Legend? It's a great story for sure.

Here's a recent view of the remains of the USS Arizona in a far more corrosive environment.

From the SS Thistlegorm. Now in Truk Lagoon.

supposedly theres a 18-wheeler in a river here,not as impressive as a train ,but ya still dont find it every day[sm=lol.gif][sm=tongue.gif]

I'm not sure whether to call it an urban legend, possibly true story or just plain smoke... My grandmother isn't an urban legend for sure [] The story on the other hand just may be...It would be cool to find an underwater camera to see under some of the ponds and rivers around here. Sure would be bazaar to find something like that buried under the water...

Interesting store. In a low oxygen environment steel holds up quite well. It sure would make an interesting dive. Didn't them old trains have a bell much like the one on a ships?

Yeah most of the time they were brass because of the sound properties with the metal. I wish I could locate this lake. Perhaps next time I see her I'll ask her a few more questions if she knows any specifics. I could probably find the lake if I had a general idea of where it was.

There is supposed to be an old logging train sunk behind my house. Apparently, back in the swamp, they parked the train in the spring. You couldn't travel through the swamp til the ground froze. Well apparently one sank before winter....

Looked in some old Logging Railroad books. The Mitchell and McClure and another logging company, in fact, went behind my house. The disposition of all the trains was listed in the back of the book....ie Scrapped, Museum, Sold, etc. However, one is: Disposition Unknown. Sooooo.....I believe it's in the "back yard". I have been out there with my Metal Detector, found tons of spikes, and a piece of rail. Also, some small part of a train was found, something like a cotter pin.

Still intrigues me to this day! -Julie

A little history:

With the arrival in Duluth of such major firms as Mitchell, McClure & Company and Merrill & Ring, some significant changes developed. The bulk of Duluth's shipments were no longer sent to the western markets by rail. They were shipped down the Lakes in steambarges with tows to Chicago, Buffalo, and Tonawanda, New York. The in-glorious little steambarges ("lumber hookers") often towing three or four lumber-laden barges across the treacherous lakes at six to eight miles an hour, were ripe for disaster from storms, fogs, or collisions.

In 1894, fifteen lumber mills were in operation in Duluth with 3,700 employees. Seventeen mills operated in Superior, employing 4,000 individuals. Duluth's cut that year exceeded 220,000,000 feet of lumber, and Minnesota ranked third in the nation for lumber production. By the late 1890s, most of the pine lumber along Lake Superior's south shore had already been harvested. The industry turned its' attention to the north shore. There, the logging was more difficult due to the height of the land, the deep gorges, and the frequent rapids and waterfalls. Firms operating on the north shore built railroads into the woods to get their logs down to the Lake. Then the logs were rafted down to the mills in Duluth. Before long, the north shore was criss-crossed with railroad lines.

Mitchell & McClure began rafting out of Castle Danger in 1890. The Schroeder Lumber Company of Ashland started shipping rafts from Cross River in 1892. Alger, Smith & Company built their headquarters at Knife River in 1898, extending their rail lines almost 100 miles into the woods. They rafted logs from Knife River and Pigeon River to Duluth until 1919. Merrill & Ring organized the Split Rock Lumber Company in 1899 to raft logs from the Split Rock River to Duluth. The estate of Thomas Nestor shipped huge rafts from Gooseberry River to Ashland, Wisconsin, and Baraga, Michigan, from 1900 until 1909. Many logs were brought to the mills entirely by rail, since the Duluth, Missabe & Northern and the Duluth & Iron Range railroads had direct links with much of northern Minnesota's woods. In 1902, 150 carloads of logs rolled into Duluth daily on the Duluth & Iron Range alone.

-Julie

That's crazy to think that one sunk in your own back yard! It could be worth digging a test hole or two to see if you hit anything....unnatural. But I mean, even if you do have a locomotive sitting under your backyard...where do you go from there? Just leave it there or dig it up?

I may have located the lake the locomotive was in after looking at some maps. I think the Marl pit is located just a few hundred feet from the pond so it may be possible. I don't know how deep the pond is or if a railroad even spanned it. It would be pretty neat to explore the area sometime to see what is there; even bring a metal detector along too.

Well, it would take more than a test hole or two[]...lotta acres of swamp out back, where the train went thru -Julie