Not Just Exploring for Minerals
The Taxi of Larder Lake
CJP's Search for
The Legend.
The Legend
The LEGEND has multiple versions. The commonality of the stories are that a Taxi went through the ice of Larder Lake, on a winter road to a local mine and that people have been looking for it since it broke through the ice. The location and the mine varied between all the mines in the region and water depths of up to 100 feet. The purpose ranged from bootlegger to a Christmas party delivery. The cargo ranged from gold, booze and payroll with bonuses.
The Problem
Larder Lake has a footprint of over 60 square kilometres and is a deep, dark lake with depths of up to 130 feet. Multiple historic mines can be found around the lake. The story has passed through multiple generations and everyone's story differs.
The Research
With all the stories going around, numerous people and groups have searched for the Taxi. The research pointed toward the Taxi operator being the local Murdoch (Windsor) Taxi, which historically operated out of town Larder Lake. The winter road it was on went from the town of Larder Lake to the Martin Bird Mine. This narrowed the search down to a roughly 5 square kilometre area.
More Stories
With the search starting, more stories emerged from the original sinking. The sinking occurred Christmas 1937 and the Taxi was a 1929 Reo Flying Cloud. The cargo included whisky and live turkeys. The five passengers all managed to escape without injury.
The Discovery
After 35 years of active searching by CJP Exploration, multiple boats were located and dove upon; during the summer of 2023, a favourable image was returned on the side imaging unit.
First View
Being in a technical dive location and 50 feet of water, a rig using a dive light and GoPro drifted around over the target location. The visibility is good, but there is little penetration with the light. But the target was determined to be a vehicle.
Taxi
Now that it was determined to be a vehicle, the question of it being the taxi was still to be fully determined. A new rig was built using underwater flood lights. Another drift was done over the vehicle. This confirmed that this was a car of the right vintage. All that is left is to dive to verify that it is the Legendary Taxi.
What's Next
CJP is actively trying to protect the site so that this artifact can remain on the bottom of Larder Lake. The exact location has not been released to the public until there is a dive to verify that it is the Taxi, that there are no human remains and that the cargo will not cause the destruction of this artifact by treasure hunters.
Unfinished Story
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CJP Exploration is proud to be a partner in this story.
The summer of 2024 will be an exciting part of the Legend. Stay tuned for updates.