 He and his father returned and removed moss, marl, and slime exposing a blackened dugout canoe made of a tulip tree measuring 21 feet (6.4 m) and between 3–4 feet (91–121 cm) wide.Age and exposure had rotted away most of the sides.It was thought that it belonged to Miami Indians or fur traders, or by very early settlers and that the canoe had been abandoned on the old shore of the lake prior to raising of the lake by the dam built in 1834.