A diver examines one of the newly exhumed timbers in February 2005. Behind him is the remains of another, still standing upright where it drove into the soft bottom after being unceremoniously tossed from the dredge by a disgruntled Chief Engineer. Photo courtesy of Norrmen Goth.
	In March of 1916, the crew of the ill-fated "Nokomis" was in the second year of pumping mud and debris to deepen Lake Nokomis when its pumping machinery was damaged. After months of wrangling with City government over cost overruns, Park Superintendent Theodore Wirth stopped the project. The Nokomis never did return to water, it's machinery instead salvaged for the war effort. The gutted hull was eventually dragged to Cedar Ave. and 58th St, where it served as the infamous Gold Coast speakeasy until the end of Prohibition. Today, after numerous additions and remodels, you can still see some of the original flooring when dining at the 5-8 Club. Circa 1916, newspaper unknown. Courtesy of E. Halvorsen.

Rumored Viking Longboat Timbers Located in Lake Nokomis
April 1, 2005
Minneapolis, MN

In a tale reminiscent of the Da Vinci Code, a Minnesota man and researchers from Norway have proven true a long-standing rumor surrounding ancient timbers found 90 years ago in Lake Nokomis. In February, divers working through holes in the ice located and filmed the hewn timbers lying under a few feet of silt and debris.

Scientists from the Oslo Institute of Antiquities have positively identified the notched timbers as those of a longboat built in an overlapping type of construction called "klinker" used by Norse shipwrights between 700 and 1400 AD.

The current discovery was the result of research by a professor of Anthropology at the University of Minnesota. Eric Halvorsen grew up listening to tales from his Grandfather, who had, as a young man, labored aboard an electric dredge deepening and widening Lake Nokomis. To a young boy, the stories were great adventure, especially his grandfather's crowning finale, the mention of lost Vikings.

Those stories would have remained just that had an adult Eric not stumbled across his grandfather's journals at a garage sale in Richfield. The elder Halvorsen had written of the dredge becoming disabled after its intake pipe and slurry pump were damaged by some old timbers buried in 20' of silt. He noted how Park Superintendent Theodore Wirth dispatched a special overnight train to bring salvage divers from Chicago. The divers winched three waterlogged timbers onto the dredge. They also talked of seeing the remains of an iron cauldron and several smaller iron pieces still attached to shards of wood. In the journal was a newspaper clipping from that period (right) indicating that the dredge's engineer threw the relics back into the lake, possibly in a fit of anger. It was enough for Halvorsen to initiate a two-year search.

How exactly the boat came to rest in Lake Nokomis remains pure speculation for the moment. However, the discovery adds credence to the authenticity of the controversial Kensington Runestone found embedded in tree roots by a young farmer clearing land near Fergus Falls in 1898. Dated carvings on the stone place an ill-fated party of 20 Goth (Swedish) and Norrmen (Norwegian) explorers in Minnesota in 1362 AD. The party was escaping northward, presumably returning to their base camp on the Minnesota River after ten of the explorers were killed by natives.

It is known that in 1354, Magnus Erikson, King of Norway and Sweden, commissioned one of his knights, Paul Knutson to take the royal knorr (trading vessel) and sail to Greenland to stop a growing rebellion against the Church. They never arrived. Perhaps unwilling to stop and ask directions, they instead entered Hudson Bay and the rest is history.

During the research phase, Halvorsen and the Institute formed a partnership to protect and market their discovery. Film crews, taking advantage of the lake's winter clarity, documented the dives and shot supporting footage in Oslo, Winnipeg, and Douglas County, Minnesota. Several networks and producers are reportedly in negotiations with the partnership to create a documentary from the footage. The producers of cable's As Seen on TV and executives at Auction Online have shown an interest in marketing facsimiles of the artifacts.

The Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board has not commented officially. However, one Commissioner privately confirmed discussions with local scuba businesses to create an underwater diving park at Lake Nokomis. The Park Board's Director of Water, Jan Janaciek, noted how hundreds of years ago, our Chain of Lakes was a nearly unbroken body of water extending from Brooklyn Center to the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers. She mused that it would be nice to honor the explorers' passage with an interactive public space as part of a larger, international scenic byway following the original route. "The 'Viking Rounds' sounds about right," she added.

*Any resemblance in the above story to actual fact may be coincidental and should be disregarded. April Fools!

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