00;00;00;00 - 00;00;42;19
Unknown
All right. Hello, everyone, and welcome to the first episode of Maritime Mysteries of the Flathead with Karen Zimmermann and Jeremy Weber from the Bigfork Eagle. How are you doing, Kyra? I'm doing great this morning. How about yourself today? I'm doing pretty good. Nice. All right, so hopefully over the next couple weeks, months, years, however long this project goes, we can let people know what's going on and what we're finding underneath the waves in Flathead Lake and beyond.

00;00;42;22 - 00;00;58;20
Unknown
can you tell me a little bit about this project and how it came to …

00;00;00;00 - 00;00;42;19
Unknown
All right. Hello, everyone, and welcome to the first episode of Maritime Mysteries of the Flathead with Karen Zimmermann and Jeremy Weber from the Bigfork Eagle. How are you doing, Kyra? I'm doing great this morning. How about yourself today? I'm doing pretty good. Nice. All right, so hopefully over the next couple weeks, months, years, however long this project goes, we can let people know what's going on and what we're finding underneath the waves in Flathead Lake and beyond.

00;00;42;22 - 00;00;58;20
Unknown
can you tell me a little bit about this project and how it came to be? What do you guys do exactly? Right on. So, you know, I grew up here in the Flathead and, you know, recreating on Flathead Lake or every summer, and, you know, I was ice fishing in the winter. You know, you always see what's above the water.

00;00;58;21 - 00;01;23;01
Unknown
You know, beautiful mountain vistas and, you know, everything that's above the water. but I have a bit of a different interest. You know, when I'm out there, I'm always trying to explore what's more, and surprisingly, there's actually tons of history that's underneath the waters of Flathead Lake. that hasn't been surveyed very effectively. so at a pretty young age, I got certified in scuba diving.

00;01;23;01 - 00;01;40;22
Unknown
And, exploring underwater world has always been a pretty major passion of mine. Since then. you know, getting certified here in the Flathead, you really don't have much other opportunities to go diving. And, you know, you know, it's like you cannot go over to the Great Lakes or, you know, go out to the Caribbean or the ocean or anything.

00;01;40;22 - 00;02;02;22
Unknown
So we have this amazing resource right here in the Flathead Valley, which is Flathead Lake, the Flathead River system in neighboring watersheds. where there is a lot of history just locked up underneath the water. So diving down and, revealing or showing or documenting what is there, it's just a part of our history that has been overlooked for so long.

00;02;02;24 - 00;02;35;10
Unknown
you know, up until recently, we haven't had the technology that allows us to dive to the bottom of Flathead Lake. you know, now I'm running advanced sonar imaging and ROVs. And, of course, diving technology has advanced so much where we can actually, go down and effectively document these sites. so I guess with my, history and diving, you know, kind of what led up to this project is, you know, with my background and diving and my passion for, you know, science communications, educational resource development.

00;02;35;13 - 00;02;55;01
Unknown
I really kind of gravitated towards, photography, photography and videography, documenting for scientific purposes, put those two passions together, like, hey, let's go ahead and documents. He was underneath Flathead Lake. I know you did some projects, outside of the U.S. and around the area, but how did you end up back on Flathead Lake? That's a good question.

00;02;55;01 - 00;03;23;20
Unknown
So back in 2011, I started traveling for, conservation work. First I went down to New Zealand, did a bunch of work with New Zealand Fish and Game and, had a really amazing opportunity to dive and document, fisheries management so that they can develop a better comprehensive data for or data base for their, freshwater fisheries, documenting how agriculture was impacting their rivers and lakes systems.

00;03;23;22 - 00;03;51;28
Unknown
so to go along with the numerical data or the scientific sensors that they were deploying and collecting environmental information on, I was employed to dive and document what those scientific numbers represented. and it was an amazing, amazing process. They dropped me off in these high tributaries above the irrigation zone. I would drift down just like floating, snorkeling in these rivers, taking pictures of everything that I saw.

00;03;52;00 - 00;04;17;16
Unknown
you know, trout, health of the trout, you know, birds, fish, anything that was interacting in those river systems and of course, clarity of the water, how much algal growth was developing. And over the course of a couple of days, I would drift into, like the agricultural areas. And then you can see immediately once, you can it was almost like a pretty well-defined line within farmers word, or the river was being affected by agriculture.

00;04;17;18 - 00;04;40;12
Unknown
the health and conditions of trout and, and bird species really started to degrade. once irrigation really picked up, kind of in their summer months, like, the whole river stretch would essentially dry up below these dams, these irrigation dams. And then just documenting the process of these fish getting isolated from the main tributaries, the water just disappearing in these trout essentially like suffocating.

00;04;40;17 - 00;05;02;29
Unknown
Right, right. You know, yeah, it was a really impactful video survey. when I came back to the United States, I was eager to, just continue those skills and continue to, develop my passion for underwater film work. And, looking out over Flathead Lake. That's just a big, open opportunity. You know, just, it was calling to me, so.

00;05;03;01 - 00;05;28;02
Unknown
Absolutely. So what is it exactly that this project is looking for underneath those waves? So it's it's not common knowledge, but before there are roads built around Flathead Lake, this was in the late 1800s, early 1900s. steamboat traffic was the only way, you know, material could be easily transported from Polson up to Mars ville, up to the old township of Holt and Kalispell and Columbia Falls.

00;05;28;02 - 00;05;48;19
Unknown
Like, the lake was our primary highway at the time. And, there was an immense number of commercial vessels, private vessels, that operated on Flathead Lake from the, you know, late 1800s all the way to the 1920s and 30s. And, a lot of those boats, did, you know, meet some demise or another, a lot of wrecks.

00;05;48;19 - 00;06;08;00
Unknown
Wreckage is at the bottom of Flathead Lake, a lot of materials at the bottom of flooded lake. and yeah, we're just going to see what is actually down there to develop a more comprehensive survey or a comprehensive analysis of what is at the bottom of that watershed. flooded lake, as you know, it's a very popular recreational site.

00;06;08;03 - 00;06;28;19
Unknown
as more people come out to recreate on Flathead Lake. Those archeological sites could be at, risk of being destroyed or altered. And one of the things that I feel is really significant is we could potentially lose this archeological resource, we could lose this part of our history, and not really know that it's there to begin with.

00;06;28;21 - 00;06;51;11
Unknown
another really big concern is if, zebra mussels or quagga mussels or other aquatic invasive species can get introduced. the mussels, especially could significantly alter, wrecks underneath the water. you know, indigenous sites underneath the water as well that have been either deposited there at the time of their making or, you know, with Coeur Dam being put in, these sites have been flooded.

00;06;51;14 - 00;07;19;21
Unknown
So having an archeological record, documenting where, what and how these sites are presently, you know, it's the best way to preserve them for future generations. So do we know if any sites that have already disappeared? Well, again, this this is kind of a new survey, right? Right. a big part of this first couple of, this first year is to document what's there.

00;07;19;23 - 00;07;45;26
Unknown
you know, we do know of a couple of sites that we've dove on back in 2016. diving on them recently, shows that they have been altered since we first documented dove on them. the KMI has had some materials removed from it. you know, every big flood event, you know, or, river washing could potentially deteriorate structure that could be out in the Flathead River system.

00;07;45;28 - 00;08;05;21
Unknown
you know, wrecks that are up in, like, the Middle Fork and, the Flathead River system. There's a pretty good chance that that's getting deteriorated, you know, kind of on an annual basis. You know, you have major flooding events. You have, sedimentation. So wrecks and structures are getting buried by sediment as it comes into the river and lake system.

00;08;05;24 - 00;08;26;05
Unknown
there is a site up in Dickey Lake. again, it hasn't been surveyed very effectively, but it's an old logging camp. Okay. back in the 20s and 30s. they would pull logs on to the ice, and that's where they would have their timber sales. and actually, it's quite interesting because, yeah, a lot of that material has either fell into the ice or sunk.

00;08;26;08 - 00;08;50;11
Unknown
And, you know, people are going out there and removing, oh, here's a cool pickax or oh, here's a cool saw. And they're not really realizing the historical significance of that site. anything that's been, I guess, lost quote unquote lost or abandoned for or just for 50 years or more. That's, it gets integrated into the, Antiquities Act.

00;08;50;13 - 00;09;09;14
Unknown
So, you know, newspaper ten from 50 years ago, it was literature back then, but now it's part of a historical context interest. So it's a good part of this project is educating the public like, hey, you know, history is being made every day. And, yeah, that old Lee craft boat from the 50s, you know, guess what?

00;09;09;15 - 00;09;29;22
Unknown
Now it's now it's considered a historic site, and it's part of our culture and part of our history. And, it's important to document that to have available for future generations. So how do you know where to look and what to look for? So there are a there's a very good team that I'm working with. we've got, Kyle Stetler and Ed Gill and water.

00;09;29;22 - 00;09;52;11
Unknown
They're amazing historians. They've done a significant amount of research, on the history of Big Fork and, you know, the flathead, flathead as a whole. so you'll look for articles, they'll reference a shipwreck here and their trains getting derailed in the Flathead. So it's amazing that there is a lot of history that's already out there, but not pinning it down to a particular site.

00;09;52;13 - 00;10;23;29
Unknown
you know, just talking with the public. You know, we have a very amazing community who are, you know, they've been in the Valley for generations. So they'll tell us stories of, you know, their father or their grandfather who was on one of these boats as they sank or, have a personal story or a family history associated with this, this history, you know, these wrecks, these boats, these trains, a lot of logging history and talking with folks or actually interviewing people who have personal experience.

00;10;24;01 - 00;10;43;11
Unknown
is a very it's a very cool piece of our history that we can still create. And oftentimes they'll drop some pretty interesting nuggets as to where these wrecks lay today. So what kind of technology, what kind of equipment are you using to explore these sites? Oh right on. So this is this is where I'm most excited about this stuff.

00;10;43;13 - 00;11;16;08
Unknown
so the first tool that we're using, as far as hard equipment, is the, side scan sonar. local community member donated this amazing industrial grade, grade side scan imaging, sonar system that's towed behind the boat. It looks like a big torpedo. And, that can send out echolocation waves. Right? Echo echoes sailing through the water and will return a beautiful image of what's on the bottom and the amount of detail that this, you know, this piece of equipment can produce as fascinating.

00;11;16;11 - 00;11;42;25
Unknown
So with a boat, we're towing transect lines. We have a preset map of where we want to follow, and we're towing the tow fish behind us. And that's returning what images or what's on the bottom. So that's our first line of investigation is, excuse me, deploying that tool, fish marking targets with the GPS. once we have, a cool set of targets that we want to go actually dive on.

00;11;42;27 - 00;12;04;23
Unknown
we'll take the boat to where those waypoints are. Deploy. ROV so ROV is a remote operated vehicle. It's essentially an underwater drone. it's equipped with cameras and thrusters so it can navigate around, manipulator arms. One of my ROVs has a cool little gripper. So if we do see anything, you drop your car keys or whatever we can reach can recover it really easily.

00;12;04;26 - 00;12;36;25
Unknown
and the ROV is our first line to go and investigate these sites. So to verify, is that a boat or is that just a really cool, conveniently stack of logs sitting at bottom right. So we'll kick the ROV over. we'll pinpoint where the site is with the GPS that's established on the ROV and depending on the depth, if it's within drivable limits, we'll send divers over and that's where we'll collect a detailed photo scan or a three dimensional rendering or a copy of this wreck.

00;12;36;28 - 00;13;12;24
Unknown
and if it is too deep, I have another ROV, which is specific for, high resolution imaging, and then that can be deployed to collect the photogrammetry rendering, if it's deeper than 100ft or so. So what do you do with all of this information. So it is being cataloged into a database. So the back the Bigfork History project, they're the ones who are going to be putting together the database and putting together an educational resource to share with other museums and other history, historic organizations around the state.

00;13;12;27 - 00;13;38;00
Unknown
So my job is to collect the information, so that we'll have it on record. And then the Bigfork history project in the back will make that available to different organizations. So what sites have you found so far? So since 2016, when I was involved with another archeological dive program, we located two sites based off of that project.

00;13;38;03 - 00;14;02;12
Unknown
And last year we did a really detailed, comprehensive survey of the, O'Brien lumber mill or the summertime time mill plant. lot of material. A lot of structure was submerged, when the Coeur Dam was put in, and also a lot of structure was either bulldozed into the lake after, you know, fire events or, you know, other events, they they just bulldoze up.

00;14;02;12 - 00;14;24;00
Unknown
Well, here's a bunch of material. Here's the remnants of, the original lumber mill. They just bulldoze it in this riprap or essentially like water break. And then when Coeur Dam was put in, it flooded that all up. So it's all underwater to this day. so we've got the lumber mill site. we're focusing on a few other sites.

00;14;24;02 - 00;14;42;18
Unknown
this year we're going to be looking at, Demers ville, the old township of DeMar as well. before Kalispell sits where it is today. the town of Demers ville was right. probably about what is it, six miles. 6 or 8 miles south of here along the Flathead River. And, you know, it was built right along the river.

00;14;42;18 - 00;15;04;24
Unknown
So we've got, landing sites, ferry landing sites, docks, all associated with that original township that are just in disarray. They were just left abandoned once Kalispell moved to its present location. So that's a site that we're excited to dive on. We know where it is. We just don't know what's underneath the water. same thing with, painted Rocks.

00;15;04;24 - 00;15;33;08
Unknown
That's another site that we're really excited to document. everything above the water has been really, well, you know, surveyed, you know, archeologists and, surveyors have mapped everything above the water quite well, but there could be a wealth of cultural information that's underneath the water that hasn't yet been documented. So I would say for this year, we're targeting sites where there's a strong historical evidence that something's there.

00;15;33;10 - 00;15;59;02
Unknown
And, we're continuing. We're just deploying our, equipment to verify what is there and, make that available. we're diving on woods Bay. We did a scan on woods Bay last weekend. the sonar revealed some pretty interesting structures at the bottom of the lake. one sonar image returned. It was very evident that it was a boat, but it's hard to determine exactly how old it is or what from what era.

00;15;59;04 - 00;16;19;23
Unknown
So our next step is to deploy the ROV on it to verify what kind of boat it is, how old it is. So are there any sites, that you know of or that you've heard rumors of that you're excited about getting to? Is this project moving forward? Ooh, absolutely. Well, what's really amazing about this project is there's so much community involvement and so much community interest.

00;16;19;25 - 00;16;44;18
Unknown
So now that we're picking up steam and folks are aware of what we're doing, I'm getting contacted by folks as far as Bozeman, another fellow up in Canada. You know, there's there's a lot of interest, in advancing this project. And people are sharing their personal stories and, you know, sharing kind of like family rumors. Hey, there's a gold dredge up here next to X Creek.

00;16;44;24 - 00;17;04;08
Unknown
You know, you know, out in woods Bay. You know, that's one of the reasons that we were targeting there was, a local resident of woods Bay was telling us about a boat that their family was on. Their parents were on this boat. so they have a lot of cultural or just, like, personal connection to these wrecks in our waterways.

00;17;04;10 - 00;17;32;01
Unknown
And they're like, yeah, let's, let's, let's find them. Let's check these out. Glacier National Park has pretty interesting sights that we're excited to dive into. obviously working with the park is a little extra red tape that we're navigating, but, one of the amazing things about this project is that there is so much out there and there is so much to uncover, and it seems like every day, at and water and Kyle Stetler, as they're doing their research, are coming up with some cool stories for us to pursue.

00;17;32;04 - 00;17;56;00
Unknown
But, that's just part of what we're doing is following these threads, following these mysteries, and seeing where they end up. So what projects do you have coming up this summer that you're excited about? let's see, we've got we've got our current archeological project, you know, finishing our survey sites on Flathead Lake. or at least through this year, we have about six sites that we're focusing on.

00;17;56;02 - 00;18;28;13
Unknown
just here in the Flathead drainage. woods Bay is pretty cool. We've got that boat on the sonar. We're. I'm pretty excited to check out. painted rocks and rocks again is going to be really interesting to document what's down there. I think the reveal site is going to be fascinating just because, again, there hasn't been a very good survey done, and I have dove around those old pilings and there is some neat stuff under there that I'm just really excited to document and share and, you know, kind of bring to the surface, so to speak, pun totally intended.

00;18;28;15 - 00;18;50;26
Unknown
let's see, I would say one of the things that I'm most excited about this project is having an opportunity to get completed or having an opportunity to bring it to light. you know, we're interviewing a lot of folks, getting a lot of really amazing stories out of the public. We're following a lot of really amazing leads.

00;18;50;29 - 00;19;11;20
Unknown
let's see, without getting into too much detail, because, again, we haven't conducted these surveys yet. it makes it a little bit tricky to, comment on a forum like this because somebody can beat us to it and alter the site before we have a chance to document on it. So pardon the public, everybody. We just got to keep the little DL.

00;19;11;20 - 00;19;34;06
Unknown
It's treasure that we're talking about here, right? Historical treasure historical to hey isn't is isn't history our our treasure that we have right. How much does a project like this cost? So all the equipment, is quite specialized, so it is pretty expensive. you know, I do own the ROVs. I do own my own scuba gear and my own underwater camera equipment.

00;19;34;06 - 00;19;55;20
Unknown
So those those are, you know, those are covered. but there is a lot of cost associated with maintaining them. so, you know, last fall, I had a pretty scary flood event with one of my ROVs. One of the seals started leaking. So as I'm dropping down to about 200ft, all of a sudden I start getting these alerts on my surface computer.

00;19;55;23 - 00;20;20;27
Unknown
oh. Like we got a flood. S.O.S., S.O.S. Mike. Oh, man. So, you know, a waterproof object suddenly becomes not water. There you go. Right. in 50 years time, it'll be a historical relic. So you can dive on it. You can dive on it to get. There you go. It's called planting evidence now. so, and anyway, that was, about 2000 bucks to get everything replaced and repaired and operational for this upcoming season.

00;20;21;00 - 00;20;42;24
Unknown
so, yeah, like what we're doing, it's it's not cheap. We have an incredible amount of volunteer support. So that's helping, you know, keep costs manageable. typically, I like to run a crew of about four on a boat. You know, one captain. Me operating the sonar or the ROV. somebody documenting and sharing or documenting all the information that we collect.

00;20;42;26 - 00;21;06;09
Unknown
and then a fourth member to assist, you know, when and where it's available. So those are a lot of people to be involved with the project. you know, really grateful for them. The members that have volunteered to, contribute their time has been amazing. this year we raised about $26,000, and that's enough to effectively but effectively conduct an initial survey on these sites.

00;21;06;10 - 00;21;31;23
Unknown
Right. You know, more funding is going to enable us to do, more detailed surveys, get more images, you know, collect a larger, a larger photographic rendering of each site that we are documenting. So this year, to cover about five sites, we have a $26,000 budget. Okay. So by no means is that enough, but it's enough to get us started.

00;21;31;25 - 00;21;53;11
Unknown
Yeah. So we're always looking for support from the community. You know, this is an amazing project and there's a lot of community interest. So we are continually looking for support. you know, if you have the opportunity or the interest to, offer any financial support, please reach out to the back office. they are managing the finances for this particular project.

00;21;53;13 - 00;22;20;24
Unknown
If, anyone out there is interested in supporting, please check out the Bigfork Arts and Cultural Center. you can find them at back Big Fork, Dawg. And, yeah, anything that you guys can contribute is really appreciated and help moving this project forward. All right, everyone, I think that's going to be it for our first episode here, but hopefully we'll have a lot more of these coming up over the next few weeks, months and years as we learn more about the mysteries that are underneath the Flathead and beyond.

00;22;20;27 - 00;22;27;23
Unknown
See you next time. Thank you.