Gary Lefevbre finds history at the bottom of Lake Champlain

PLATTSBURGH | The dark, cold depths of Lake Champlain archive centuries of human mishap, battle scars and sometimes tragedy. A trained technical diver and lifelong lake explorer, Gary Lefevbre has uncovered many tales archived under water. Old timbers and metal are protected from decay by cold water and darkness. A trained eye can identify relics of the past. But a recent find near Whallon's Bay left the underwater expert somewhat baffled. "Looks like an early 1900's flatbed truck was being assisted by a chained vehicle when they both went through the ice in 50-60 feet of water in Whallons Bay, just north of Split Rock point," he captioned in some photos shared on his social media sites. "A real head-scratcher as to what happened, but what a piece of history," An answer emerged from the depths of time, like the ghost of a bad day nearly 100 years ago. "A guy in Willsboro, Skip Yokum, said he was in Essex one time and met Ivan James, who told a story about what happened to his father and the truck. It turns out the truck was owned by Orrie James, a farmer and a jack-of-all-trades who used to work for the Noble family. He was a mechanic, and had just bought a brand new one-ton truck," Lefevbre told The Sun in a recent interview. "They were out on the ice pulling shanties off during a January thaw, and they dropped a tire through the ice. So Orrie went back and got his doodlebug." A doodlebug was a kind of homemade tractor widely popular during the Great Depression, Lefevbre explained. The vehicles were built from of a Ford Model A, Model T or other truck chassis and fit with tractor tires for farm work. "His uncle got in the doodlebug and started to pull, but the truck went through the ice and then pulled the doodlebug down with it," Lefevbre said. "Both of those guys got out, but they lost the truck and the doodlebug. Nobody knew exactly where that truck and the doodle bug went down." Yokum remembered the story when he saw images of Lefevbre's discovery: "They had a Model A doodle bug with a set of chains, and figured it would be an easy deal to pull it out," he wrote. "Well, it wasn't shell ice...The current in that area was relatively strong. They backed up, hooked the chain, jerked it a couple times, and with a loud moan, he said the ice around the two trucks began to slowly sink." The men scurried away in time to watch both vehicles go into the lake, the penultimate "sinking feeling." Lefevbre dates the event to around 1932. "The lake is about 55 feet deep there, right in front of Albee Lane and Noble's property. It's an amazing story." ................................. MAJOR DISCOVERIES Owner and captain of the research Vessel R/V Amazon at Mallett's Bay, Lefevbre has found, documented and created 3D models of scores of long-lost wrecks, pleasure craft, old workboats, sleds and scuttled vessels. Images configured in 3D help inform scientific discussion and sometimes raise questions never asked. In 2020, he located the paddlewheels of the steamboat Phoenix, which caught fire off Colchester Shoal in September 1819, taking six souls as it burned and sank. His detailed underwater imaging in 2024 of remnants of a Cousins Properties Jet Commander aircraft that went down in January 1971 helped bring closure to family members of the lost pilots and passengers. Lefevbre's technical expertise with remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) now supports crew, training and underwater archaeology research for the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, the Nautical Archaeology Program at Texas A&M University and the U.S. Navy, among other research organizations. Lefevbre's penchant for uncovering Lake Champlain's hidden stories began over 50 years ago. KELLY'S BOATHOUSE Lefevbre grew up in Malletts Bay and said one of his first jobs was working for Earl Kelly at Kelly's Boathouse. "He was a diver, I was 10 years old. They went out looking for the steamboat Phoenix off Colchester Reef and found the anchor. I remember when they showed this big anchor to Ralph Nading Hill, who determined it had belonged to the Phoenix. He gave it to the Shelburne Museum. "Kelly got me into it," Lefevbre said, remembering his early mentor. "It was a dream come true for a kid, working on the docks. You got to see all the boats coming and going. Then he got us into snorkeling and diving. He taught us to go out there with the old docks, we'd paddle out and jump over the side then walk on the bottom holding a rock." Lefevbre has dived thousands of sites in Lake Champlain. There are railroad cars in the lake, he said. "They're flatbed truck cars that were on a schooner called the Daniel Webster that was taking the cars to Plattsburgh. It got caught in a sudden storm and they ditched the railcars to save the vessel. "They're on the bottom in about 140 feet of water. I remember laying on my back and looking underneath there," Lefevbre said. "They're just flat cars, they're wooden. The wheels are bolted to the bottom of them and they're perfectly intact." The scuttle happened at some point in the mid-1800s, Lefevbre said. "Ditching cargo in a gale was not uncommon then." .................... R/V AMAZON Referring to Lake Champlain as an underwater museum, Lefevbre said he started out by setting a Go-Pro camera in a waterproof case to get images while diving. As technology advanced, he built a boat to accommodate high-tech exploration. He and his wife Ellen Hamlin Lefevbre now crisscross Lake Champlain on the R/V Amazon, a 27-foot aluminum Tritoon designed expressly for sonar diving and research. Lefevbre designed the equipment array himself. Asked why he named it the Amazon, he chuckled. "Well, when you build a boat this big, Amazon is delivering at your door every day. It was either Amazon or the R/V Ace Hardware or R/V Lowes. "I built the first version of the vessel in 2011 and 2012, then partially dismantled that and built the Amazon in 2014. It's designed for technical diving and to be portable for moving to different areas around the lake." He and Ellen put their vessel in Lake Champlain around the end of April, he said. "And any day that's decent, we're out. Every year we learn about more stuff that's missing." MISSING WRECKS One item Lefebvre is searching for is a stagecoach that went through the ice in 1892 while traveling on the frozen lake between Burlington and Port Kent. That area encompasses the widest part of the lake, he said. "It was on one of the last winter trips of the year, but went through the ice. They saved the horses and passengers, but lost the stage and the luggage. The passengers were F.F. Brandish, of Burlington, and Eugene Steer, of Peru. Two farmers nearby helped get them out. "We have found a lot of things, but the lake is big." And it's been a primary travel corridor for thousands of years. Another lost wreck dates to Revolutionary War records. "Art Cohn from the Maritime Museum got ahold of me many years ago to talk about a British gunboat lost in the Battle of Valcour. It was a Hessian gunboat with German sailors working on the British line. It was going from Savage Rock to Peru when a powder keg blew up. Two Hessians were killed and the boat caught fire and sank. The channel right there is 60 feet deep," Lefevbre said. "Nobody knows where it is." But if it is there, it's hiding in a special kind of time capsule. The bottom of Lake Champlain has a unique way of preserving historic artifacts and only gives up its ghosts when conditions are right. "It's bit of a mystery. The geologists don't have a good answer for the lake's ability to preserve wrecks. "It's odd when you see these wrecks, you'll see a red solo cup or other modern debris on it that comes in a swirl of water current. The currents also blow the silt away and cut into the clay, sometimes digging ridges that resemble a wreck." Those underwater currents, thermoclines, in Lake Champlain play a big role in how and when the deep discloses its secrets. "The things that are out there...it's endless," Lefevbre said. ...................... FIND OUT MORE: Gary Lefevbre shares ongoing exploration and imaging of Lake Champlain online on a YouTube site. He uses SketchFab to produce 3D models of wreck sites. In addition to nautical research, Lefevbre provides historical context on items found and he also monitors current conditions on Lake Champlain, which is in the process of becoming locked in ice. Online lake exploration: youtube.com/@garyle802/videos sketchfab.com/Gary.Lefebvre1/models You can find some of Lefebvre's work on Facebook: facebook.com/gary.lefebvre.5

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Gary Lefevbre finds history at the bottom of Lake Champlain

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