Underwater Treasure

Years went by, and the steamboats of Lake Minnetonka began to fade from memory. A few people remained fascinated with the old steamers and the important role they played in the lake's history - among them, a diver named Jerry Provost.

Provost had been searching for years without success for the streetcar boats that were scuttled in 1926. In the summer of 1979, he decided to try again. This time he succeeded! He found the sunken relic 60 feet below the surface, half buried in mud. It's cypress hull seemed to be in good shape.

The discovery had been made . . . Now what?

Provost approached Bill Niccum, the owner of a dredging company, and asked him for help in raising the scuttled steamer. Niccum agreed to provide a large barge from which to mount the effort. In August of 1980, the recovery operation began.

For a while, everything went according to plan. Divers removed hundreds of pounds of debris from the hull and attached eight air bags - each capable of lifting 2,000 pounds. The recovery team inflated the air bags and waited for the hull to rise . . . but nothing happened. The boat wouldn't budge. It was stuck in the mud.

For several days, the team struggled to break the suction that was holding the boat to the bottom. Divers repositioned the air bags . . . nothing. Niccum brought out a barge-mounted crane to help with the lifting . . . still nothing. Then Niccum brought out another crane - and another. Finally with the air bags inflated and all three cranes lifting at the same time, the hull broke free from the mucky bottom and slowly rose to the surface. Cheers went up from the small armada of boats that surrounded the recovery area. The sound of blowing horns accompanied the recovered streetcar boat as the tugs pulled it to shore.

Using the dredging company's rail and dolly system, the boat was pulled from the lake and blocked up on shore. As it began to dry out, the name gradually appeared on the bow.     It was the Minnehaha!