After decades-long search, northern Ontario man finds vintage vehicle in Larder Lake

A tale about a taxicab hauling gold and sinking through the ice on Larder Lake, Ont., in December 1937 has captivated a man from that town for decades.

In fact, Jason Ploeger has been looking for the sunken treasure since he was a teenager. He finally found it this summer.

Jason Ploeger of Larder Lake, Ont., has been looking for a taxicab that sunk in that lake in 1937. (Supplied)

Larder Lake, a short drive southeast of Kirkland Lake, is large. On one side of it is the town and on the other was a gold mine that operated in the 1930s, called Martin Bird Mine.

No longer in operation, the mine was only accessible by water during summer and an ice road in the winter.

Ploeger said he was 10 years old when he first heard stories about a taxicab on its way to or from the mine on Dec. 19, 1937, when it fell through the ice.

When he was a teenager, he decided to search for it.

"Yeah, I'd say about 35 years … since I've been in high school," said Ploeger.

"You hear the stories and as a kid, it's all about treasure, and this and that and then looking for it changed the reasoning behind it. It wasn’t so much the treasure -- it was the story behind it."

One day this past summer, Ploeger was participating in a fishing tournament when, much to his surprise, he finally found the sunken cab.

Jason Ploeger of Larder Lake, Ontario has been looking for a taxicab that sunk in that lake in 1937. (Supplied)

"I was just trolling along, and I watched my fish finder, as always and the down imager went straight over top of it and … there was no doubt in my mind what it was," he said.

Ploeger and some fellow divers returned to the location and dove down about 50 feet in dark water before locating the 1929 REO Flying Cloud.

"The wheels are still there," he said.

"The body is starting to rot itself out (and) the fabric roof is gone, but it's generally in good condition, considering it's been down on the bottom for 87 years."

"The passenger door is open as it sits on the bottom," Ploeger added.

"You can see the dash, you can see the steering column, you can see the gearshift is still there. All of the seats have sort of disintegrated."

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While no gold or money was found inside the vehicle, he said there were several bottles of liquor still intact inside the car.

"The bottle that I tasted was still good alcohol," said Ploeger.

"One that exploded on my boat, that there would have been a very smooth rye."

Ploeger donated one of the bottles to the Friends of Larder and they auctioned it Saturday night as part of a fundraising initiative for the town -- the bottle sold for $4,500.

One of the unopened bottles of whiskey that Jason Ploeger recovered from a taxi that sunk in Larder Lake in December 1937 on display at the Friends of Larder's BBQ & Auction on September 28, 2024. (Friends of Larder/Facebook)

Ploeger also told CTV News that he has no plans to remove the car from the lake.