USS Essex Shipreck
Lake Superior, Duluth
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Maritime
Heritage Minnesota has been conducting condition assessments of North
America's Premier clipper ship builder Donald McKay's USS Essex in Duluth. USS Essex is the only known example of McKay's craftsmanship known to exist and is on the National Register of Historic Places. The wreck is nationally
significant, whose only comparable American Navy counterparts are the
USS Constitution and USS Constellation in terms of construction. The wreck site is often covered by shifting sand and attempts in 2005 to
locate the wreck were futile. MHM set about re-locating the wreck in
September 2007 with the assistance of volunteers Kelly Nehowig and
Steve Hack. Nehowig first located the Essex
wreck in the surf zone and Olson, Merriman, Nehowig, and Hack assessed
her condition. MHM has returned to the site several times to conduct
condition assessments, take photographs, and record video. Compared to
photographs of the site in 1988 and the mid-1990s site plan of the Essex
created for the SHPO, she has suffered from ice damage, vandalism, and
looting over the years. MHM has produced a plan to preserve the USS
Essex and we have digitized the ship's known 62 log books.
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Donald McKay's last ship, the sloop-of-war USS Essex, under sail (Naval Historical Center, digitized by MHM).
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Headwaters Mississippi River
Aitkin County
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Of
the 6 steamboat wreck sites known to exist in the entirety of the
Mississippi River, Minnesota has 3 of them within its borders: Andy Gibson and Swan in Aitkin and the J.S. in Houston County. The Andy Gibson and Swan
are significant to Minnesota's - and America's - maritime history since
they are located hundreds of miles above Minneapolis, the point that
has been commnly accepted as the 'head of navigation' of the 'Upper
Mississippi' River. The true Head of Navigation is the Headwaters
Mississippi River region, where 12 steamboats plied the river between
Aitkin, Sandy Lake, and Grand Rapids from 1870-1921. Between
2008 and 2011, MHM documented approximately 30% of the Andy Gibson Wreck Site. MHM and the SHPO has nominated the wreck to the National Register of Historic Places.
In 2010 MHM conducted a Phase 1 side and down imaging sonar survey of
the Mississippi River in Aitkin County, a distance of 104 miles. Beyond
the Andy Gibson and Swan, MHM located large anomalies where the steamers Walter Taylor, City of Aitkin/George H. Houghton, and Fawn were reported to have sunk. MHM will investigate these anomalies and document the submerged port side of the Andy Gibson starting in July 2012, using funds from a Minnesota Historical and Cultural Grant.
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Andy Gibson moored at a landing on the Headwaters Mississippi River (Itasca County Historical Society).
The steamer Fawn moored near a wanigan on the Headwaters Mississippi River, with Andy Gibson steaming up in the background (Minnesota Historical Society, digitized by MHM).
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Lake Minnetonka
Hennepin and Carver Counties
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Maritime
Heritage Minnesota conducted a Phase 1 side and down imaging
sonar survey of Lower Lake Minnetonka and the Upper Lake's Crystal Bay
in September and November 2011, and the remaining sections of the Upper
Lake in May 2012. MHM has located 3 new shipwrecks in the
lake, joining the 6 already known wrecks. MHM also completed State
of Minnesota archaeological site forms for 5 of the known wrecks so
they now have site numbers. Further, an additional 9 anomalies are
probably wrecks and another 13 anomalies may be wrecks, but
investigations by SCUBA must be conducted to determine the nature of these
anomalies. MHM also designated the Big Island Steamboat Pier, Park, and
Veteran's Camp as an archaeological site, utilizing information gathered
by MHM in 2003, 2007, and 2011. MHM is currently analyzing the May 2012
data to determine the nature of the many anomalies noted, so the number of
probable and possible wrecks may increase.
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MHM recorded this sonar image of the newly-designated St. Albans Bay Wreck in September 2011.
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Minnesota River
Several Counties
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Maritime Heritage Minnesota has conducted a side and down imaging sonar
survey of the Minnesota River from its confluence with the Mississippi
River to past Belle Plaine, with terrestrial surveys taking place in
Shakopee, Chaska, near Jordan, Blakely, and Henderson. Several maritime
sites were recorded and researched, with one maritime archaeological
site designated - the Belle Plain Levee and Bridge Remains. MHM
recorded 2 anomalies that may be watercraft wrecks that require futher
investigation.
See more....
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The Chaska Ferry on the Minnesota River in the 1890s
(Minnesota Historical Society, digitized by MHM).
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