Just A Car Guy: A 1900s steam shovel that helped create the embankment of the Edenville dam, which created Wixom Lake, was left in place and was under water for nearly a century, has now been uncovered by the dam bursting. 45 years ago, two brothers found it when fishing, and now get to see it without the water

Tuesday, May 26, 2020

A 1900s steam shovel that helped create the embankment of the Edenville dam, which created Wixom Lake, was left in place and was under water for nearly a century, has now been uncovered by the dam bursting. 45 years ago, two brothers found it when fishing, and now get to see it without the water

The steam shovel is a 1901 Thew

Mike Oberloier was 11 on an August day in 1975 and in a boat on Wixom Lake along with his older brother and dad searching for a steam-powered shovel that was said to be submerged at the bottom. The steam shovel in the early 1920s helped create the embankment of the Edenville dam, which created Wixom Lake.

They were able to snag what they thought was the shovel's cable. Divers went down into the about 25-deep waters but weren't able to see anything in the disrupted, murky water.

On Thursday, 45 years later, the Oblerloier brothers, Mike and Bill, stood on the muddy bottom of a nearly waterless Wixom Lake in front of the broken shovel, covered in zebra mussels, revealed after nearly 100 years, fulfilling a mission started by their late father, Bill "Moose" Oberloier.

It is a bright spot for a family, who realize it happened because of the collapse of the Edenville dam and embankment that emptied the lake of its water and sent devastating floodwaters downstream.

Mikes' dad was planning to start a salvage company, named it Simps and kept a detailed log book

Mike Oberloier's dad was so highly interested in finding and salvaging the shovel, that he had the family sign it over to him. "We're still looking for the paperwork," Mike said. He was planning to start a salvage company, named it Simps and kept a detailed log book.

He was told the shovel owner owed the bank money on the machine and when its mission was completed, purposely left it at the lake.

"He left to go hunting, knowing they were filling the lake," Mike Oberloier said.

He had a good idea where it was, Mike said of the shovel, and an even better plan for how to get it out of the water once it was found, which involved a a barge and beams. "He had it all figured out."

After the 1975 attempt to locate the submerged shovel, Mike's dad got sidetracked and his mission was never completed.