[rob love]

The story would be worthy of it's own thread, and one day I might do just that.

There was a hunting lodge here in Manitoba that had between 6 and a dozen carriers. There are photos somewhere of Clark Gable riding in one during a hunting expedition.
By the mid 60s, the erosion on the shore of the Marsh (lake) was threatening the main lodge, so a number of the carriers were parked on the shore (approx 10 feet from the lodge) and buried, to re-enforce the shoreline. Later, rocks were added and the edge treed, so the carriers were now under the lawn of the lodge.

Rumours had been going around the club for years about these, and locals would tell of picking up the brass anti aircraft sockets from the ground. As stories will get bigger, the carriers turned into tanks, and the numbers reached 100.

Dave Dunlop and Gordon Falk chased down the stories, and with a metal detector, found the location of 2 of the carriers. The lodge was now a research station for the University of Manitoba. They dug down a bit and found the control panel in a reasonable state of preservation.

Sometime around 1999, 4 or 6 of us showed up to start to dig a couple out. If memory seves, the diggers included Rob Fast, Gordon Falk, myself, and some others. Our intent was just to dig down and slavage things like armour, and whatever else presented itself. To our surprise, once we reached the fenders, they had not rusted through. We dug deeper to the floors, and even they were solid. Hinges on things like the grenade boxes even still worked, and certain rubber pieces and wooden pieces which would not have survived above ground, still remained on these carriers.

We were not prepared to pull out these 2 carriers, so we went ahead and removed the armour from them. As we dug the second one, we could see the fenders from a third. That one would wait until another year.

We filled the hole in with rubble, topped it with top soil, and sodded the area. It loked better than when we started.

Another year came, and Derk Derin and myself went out to dig the third one out. Of course, there was another set of fender poking it, so we removed 2 that year. Derk has since restored his, and the second one is the one that Dave now has.

And of course there was another set of fenders poking at it. Once again, we filled the hole in with rubble, topped it with top soil, and sodded the area.

The second dig was the subject of newspaper stories. It was not long after that the university was approached by claim jumpers wanting the next one(s). Fortunately for us, the university station director was an honourable man, and refused requests by others for them. The next year, we went and dug out another one,which is now in the posession of Gordon Falk.

Rumours persist of more there, but the metal detectors (I was using one of the old no4C mine detectors) were not indicating it.

I have several photos of the digs, as do Gord, Derk, and others. There have also been others who allude to have been part of this dig, some of whom were hundreds, if not 1000s of miles away from it at the time. Gord can correct me if I am wrong on some of the facts, and some of the names I may have forgotten.

All 5 carriers were mk1, and most were fairly early, with the early style aircleaner, and things like horn brackets and crowbar brackets. In the case of the 1 Gordon Falk got, the transmission and rear end would still turn. Engines were, as to be expected, well siezed.

The fact that tyhe carriers were buried in sand/clay, and frozen for the better part of the year, certainly helped in their preservation.