Iowa State University said that the ongoing excavation of Lake LaVerne has uncovered many items while digging into Iowa State history one bucketload at a time: bicycles, bowling balls, golf balls and plenty of vintage pop bottles. Last week, the first big bang of a discovery was pulled onto the lake’s banks – a cannon.
“We believe we found a historic cannon in Lake LaVerne and it could represent a significant part of Ames history,” said Claire Vorthmannfacilities construction manager. “This lake is really important to the university and that makes this work special. Going down one layer at a time is exciting and we look forward to finding more things.”
Vorthmann said it’s possible that more items will be found because the sediment layer they are reaching was not churned the last time the lake was dredged in the 80s.
The history of the cannon is not confirmed, but it may be the touchdown cannon owned by the Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity that was stolen in 1972 and never recovered.
The restoration of the lake is a two-year project with an end goal of expanding its use.