The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-01-04
MYSTERIES OF LAKE ERIE.
What Became of Bodies Of Some of
IdahO's Crew.

Buffalo Times.
A group of men standing on the docks
Thursday night were discussing the fierce
windstorm that blew over Lake Erie all
day Thursday, throwing the waves up
against the breakwall, and making it dam
gerous for the smaller craft to attempt a
trip UP the lake.
1T was in such wind as this said one
of the men who took part in the conversa-
ton, that the steamer Idaho started up
the lake on her fatal trip a few years ago."
The sinking of the steamer Idaho and
the loss of nineteen of her crew was one of
the worst disasters that ever happened on
Lake Erie. The Idaho was an old vessel.
Mariners declare that she should not have
started out in such weather that which
was then prevailing, but the captain and
the owners evidently thought she could
stand il, else she never would have gone
out. The Idaho after fierce struggle with
wind and wave succeeded in getting under
Long Point, and she had protection for
some hours. After quite wait the captain
decided to proceed. ard the boat was head
ed up the lake, but the fierce storm proved
too much for her, and after a gallant fight
she sunk. Only two men were left TO tell
the story of the disaster. The captain and
eighteen of his men persisted. The surviv
ors were named La Force and Gill. They
were forced to cling all night in bitter
cold wind to the mast of the idaho, which
projected above the surface of the water,
for the vessel went down in only six
fathoms. They were picked up by an in
coming steamer and brought to Buffalo.
OF the nineteen men who persisted, the
bodies of only four or five of them were
ever found, Notwithstanding the fact that
the boat went down in but forty-eight feet
of water. One of the bodies found was that
of Captain Gillies. 1t was some weeks
after the disaster that his remains were
picked up.
What became of the other bodies? That is
a question that has never been answered.
Vesselmen say the Idaho broke up long be-
fore she sank, so that the bodies could not
have been held prisoners in her. The most
likely theory, and the one that is most gen.
orally accepted, is that the bodies were
swallowed UP by the quicksand in the
neighborhood of the wreck Tending to
confirm this theory is the history of
schooner which was called Fitzgerald, and
which was lost on the shore near where
the Idaho sank nearly score of years ago.
Vesselmen say that when the Fitzgerald
became stranded on the sand she imme-
diately began to disappear. and was
eventually swallowed up by the quicksand
Not thing was left to mark the spot
where she had stranded.
Some vesselmen are inclined to think that
the rest of the bodies of the men who were
lost on the Idaho certainly would have been
found at some time or other If they had not
been drawn down into the quicksand, to be
buried for all time. The failure to find the
missing bodies of the Idahos men is only
another of those strange mysteries of the
| lake.
Another, and one that has interested ves-
| selmen all along the lakes for years, is the
mystery of the whereabouts of the hull, If
| the hull Is left. of the steamer Dean Rich
mond, which sank off Dunkirk or Silver
creek many years ago. Time and time
| again reports have been circulated that
| the wreck Of the Richmond has been found.
| and vesselmen prick up their ears the min
| ute they hear it, for every one took deep
| interest In the whereabouts of the Rich
mond, because 1T was not definitely known
| just where she did sink.
Vesselmen believe that every yestiee of
| the Richmond has long since been washed
| away, and that not even the framework of
| her hull remains. Yet they would not be a
| bit surprised If they heard another report
| that the Richmond had been found