Lloyd B. Cunningham has logged more than 320 dives in West Lake Okoboji exploring the bottom, making photographs and recovering antique bottles, anchors, and ice harvesting tools.
In 1948, a 1935 Ford truck driven Ralph Gregerson was being used to harvest ice on West Okoboji when it slipped into the water and sank into Smith’s Bay. Don Gregerson ,Spirit Lake. Iowa, and son of the driver says that the truck didn’t settle into the bottom. Its air-filled tires and wooden box left it buoyant enough to move along the bottom for years.
Recent divers have collected the tools that rested on the truck’s bed. They are in the Iowa Maritime Museum. There you can also see a photograph of the truck as it looked before it sank into the lake.