Shipwrecks & History at the Bottom of Wyoming’s Yellowstone Lake

Did you know that there remains shipwrecks and history at the bottom of Wyoming's Yellowstone Lake? Some of it is gone now, but pictures document the colorful history of the park above water and below.

The National Park Service provides a vast gallery with pictures and history of what has happened over the decades in Yellowstone National Park. One collection caught my attention involving a shipwreck that used to be buried under the waters of Yellowstone Lake.

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What's the story of the E.C. Waters which used to be shipwrecked under Yellowstone Lake? The history with this ship and the guy that created it are rich as documented by Atlas Obscura. As they tell it, E.C. Waters was one of the entrepreneurs who tried to take advantage of the early popularity of Yellowstone National Park in the early 1900's. The E.C. Waters ship could transport as many as 500 people around Yellowstone Lake during its heyday. That heyday didn't last long. Within 2 years, he had worn out his welcome in the park.

For almost 2 decades, E.C.'s ship sat near Stevenson Island. The Park Service made attempts to "pretty up" the remains of the ship, but nothing worked. It wasn't until 1996 when the pictures were taken by the National Park Service to capture the history of it all. The story says the anchor, capstan and porthole have been removed from the lake, but there are still bones buried there...in ship terms anyway.

If you are fortunate to visit Yellowstone National Park and drive by that picturesque lake, you can know that E.C.'s shipwreck, rental boats and even wagon wheels still exist under those waters. It's another part of the wild history of Yellowstone which sadly is still submerged.