County Seat Newspaper
of Clare County

Steam Shovel Comes Back to Dry Land, Wixom Lake Gives Up History

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With great interest I’ve been following the finding and removal of the Thew Type O Steam Shovel from the bottom of the drained Wixom Lake near the Edenville dam. Not seen in 100 years, the shovel ironically helped create the lake that drained when the dam failed this past spring.

The steam shovel’s new home will be the Midland Antique Engine Association. They are optimistic and enthusiastic about restoring it back to working condition. It’s only one of a handful known to exist.

The YouTube channel of Jordan Mowbray has an interesting video detailing the process to get the steam shovel out of the lakebed. A lot of tedious hand digging and detaching the boiler from the steam shovel and a lot of volunteer hours went to getting the machine released from its former resting place. Heavy equipment that didn’t exist 100 years ago assisted in pulling the machine out. The river and lakebed are a tragically fascinating to site to see.

This treasure can be restored, and its old parts used as patterns to make new ones and the hope is it can be running again. Restoration is the end goal. The wheels were still turning as the steam shovel was hauled out of the dirt. There had been unsuccessful attempts to resurface the steam shovel in years passed but the catastrophic dam failure finally made it possible.

One of the things that comes up all the time, particularly when I speak to school groups, is the lore of trains in our lakes.  Is there a train in Budd Lake? Almost every lake that was active during the logging era has a legend of a train or other sunken treasures.

While there isn’t a train in Budd Lake, there is logging era evidence all around us. I’ve also heard railroad tracks were run across Budd Lake.  We know this isn’t true and that any tracks across or near Budd Lake are just fun stories. We know exactly where the tracks were in relation to the lake (near the Harrison Lumber Co. and power dock area where the Ice Works were located) and that no tracks were laid across the lake.

Many area lakes including those in Dodge City contain many board feet of lumber at the bottom. The mills were busy in the 1880s and 1890s and many boards and logs are in the lakes. 

The Muskegon River also gives up a log-marked old log occasionally.  A log would be stamped at the end with a mark similar to a cattle brand to identify the owner after it was driven down the river to its final destination. The log marks were registered with the county in which the lumber operation did business.

Small treasures are often found around the county on old railroad grades and spurs. Logging spikes, nails and other metal items are exciting common metal detecting finds on the hundreds of miles of spurs and grades throughout Clare County.

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