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Divers find car submerged over 80 years ago
Water they going to do with the big find?
Author: Matthew Guy
Car found in body of water Photo by Alan Keller via CBC
A dive team uncovered a vehicle believed to have sunk some 85 years ago
It was found about 55 metres below the surface
The body of water is in Banff National Park
Most of us have lost an item or two in our lives. Where did we put those blasted car keys again? How about the TV remote? And why can't we find that jug of milk in the fridge? But misplacing a car? At the bottom of a 55-metre lake over eight decades ago? That takes some commitment.
Actually, the hapless owner of what is believed to be an 1928 Hudson Essex may not have been fully at fault for the car's watery grave. Back in the early '40s, the construction of a dam is said to have all but caused the submersion of a summer village, dooming anything left behind by locals at the time. Since then, the area has become a popular spot for divers to hone their craft whilst searching for cool things.
And a near century-old vehicle definitely counts as a cool thing. Reporters from the CBC in Calgary held court with Alan Keller, a member of the dive team which found it, learning how the scuba community came together to try and pinpoint the car's location.
"We didn't see it right away because we weren't that lucky. We had to do a little bit of searching," explained Keller. He described how he and his buddies used a 'spoke pattern' search technique, eventually zeroing in on the car. On that day, the discovery only took about seven minutes; it it's worth noting that plenty of prep and research went into that day's dive.
According to materials, the Essex was originally considered an affordable vehicle designed for families and over a million were sold, so not unlike a modern RAV4 if one wanted to make a ridiculous allegory. A product of Essex Cars for a spell, the machine was eventually produced by the Hudson Motor Company, hence its official name by the time this 1928 example was produced.
It is estimated the car sits about 55 metres below the surface of Lake Minnewanka, a body of water that is speculated to have begun filling up, thanks to dams built in 1895 and 1912 only to be completely topped off by the 1940 damming project mentioned above.
Now, where are my keys?
Divers find car submerged over 80 years ago | Driving
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