Townsite Artifacts

Posted on 29. Aug, 2010 by Greg Mossfeldt in Minnewanka

Sunday, August 29th, 2010

James Dixon had come to visit with us from Elko, British Columbia and when he is able to journey our way we are sure to enjoy some long bottom times with new discoveries.

This weekend would be no different.

James and I met Greg and Leigh-Ann McCuaig bright and early on Sunday morning at the plaque sight which is the beginning of so many of our adventures.

Greg McCuaig, James Dixon and myself chose the rEvo closed circuit rebreathers as the tool to dive well Leigh-Ann was diving open circuit. Leigh-Ann slung extra cans of gas to accommodate the extended bottom time whilst exploring out at the townsite.

Our Dive Xtras Cuda's are as enjoyable as a magic carpet ride so are always found close by our sides. The CUDA scooters have really opened up our exploration in the far from shore areas. With our compasses and depth gauges also mounted on the scooter we do not hesitate to venture off the path of regularity.

The goal of our excursion was to visit an area of Minnewanka Landing we fondly understand as the Machine Dump. We careened to the site from shore which took us roughly thirty five minutes, once there the spot light was on me as I adjusted the arms for my Aquatica camera and fine tuned the exposure settings.

Once the still recording device was in play our group moved along with Greg, Leigh-Ann and James pointing out interesting artifacts so I was able to capture the object for record. We past two wood burning stoves with intricate turn of the century art work embedded in the metal. We then moved on to a steam engine which we could only imagine it's capabilities and utility at the time. Vehicle axle, fan, wheels, drive belts were all part of this machinery laden outpost.

It was then on to James Luxton's foundations where James checked out the wood burning stoves, coffee pot, bicycle, pots and pans. Then it was off to explore two sets of chimney type bricks which we are still trying to understand the mystery for their existence.

After more than two hours out at the townsite we turned the mouths of our CUDA's back into shore. We couldn't resist a fly past the 1912 Dam to see if any of our pals were leisurely checking out the mainstream details this landmark exposes.

Finally coming back in to our docking station after a rewarding 162 minute dive we were greeted by a different environment than what we started out in. The rain had wet the ground and the temperature was decreased but our group was very content with the adventure we had just partaken.

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