For nearly a century, a steam shovel sat on the bottom of Wixom Lake in Midland county.
But, after the dam failed and the lake drained this spring it allowed one family to recover it.
The steam shovel got stuck underwater in 1925.
Fifty years later, Mike Oberloier, 11 years old at the time, went out with his father looking for as he describes it - the “loch ness monster” of Wixom lake.
“it was like the Loch Ness monster everyone knew it was there but nobody had ever seen it,” he said.
Oberloier’s father eventually lost interest but after the dam collapsed this spring and the lake drained Mike decided to go out and see the shovel for himself.
“Brother and I went down to look at it and we were just mostly going to get a picture by it because my dad started a log book for the one day he did look at it and we were just going to get a picture and say that’s the end of that chapter,” he said. “Well, I kinda got intrigued.”
After receiving approval from the state and Boyce Hydro, Oberloier has removed the steam shovel from the lake.
Now he said he hopes to fix up the shovel and get it digging again.
“So that was the other reason I wanted to get it out. It’s a part of history,” he said. “It’s one of two known in existence.”
Oberloier said his hope is to repair the shovel over the next five years.