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A 76-year-old scuba diver often fishes trash out of Fallen Leaf Lake. In June, he found a device he couldn’t identify. A bomb squad later evacuated a museum for it.
EL DORADO COUNTY, Calif. — In his quest to clear trash from Fallen Leaf Lake, a 76-year-old scuba diver recovered a device this summer that led to a Tahoe-area bomb squad call.
Michael Clough often dives in Fallen Leaf, just over a mile south of Lake Tahoe. He cleans up garbage; he’s pulled out 49 tires and multiple bags of trash, he said.
Now retired, he dove in the Marine Corps where he spent 23 years as an infantryman.
“I have lots of time on my hands, so I like to contribute something to society,” Clough said.
Finding the device
Clough picked up what appeared to be a bean can while diving in June around Sawmill Cove, he said.
“It was corroded and there were threads on it at one time,” Clough said. “I thought it could be mercury. They used it up here in the mines a lot.”
He couldn’t put mercury in trash or recycling. So, he held onto it for a few months.
Clough said he asked around about what it could be. He found it with four other cylindrical items that turned out to be batteries for propelling boats around the turn of the century.
The can-like device didn’t look like any explosive he’d ever seen in the military, he said. However, he eventually brought it to the Lake Tahoe Historical Museum, and some internet research began indicating it was a land mine.
Unsure of what it was, the museum called police.
South Lake Tahoe Police Department officers responded around 3 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 16 and requested help from the Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection District bomb squad, according to SLTPD spokesman Lt. Scott Crivelli.
What was it?
Police said the bomb technician, who retired from explosive disposal teams with the military and Los Angeles Police Department, X-rayed the device.
He believed it was an inert replica of a World War II-era German mine used to train troops on searching for the real thing in combat, Crivelli said.
Some reports refer to that kind of mine as a “Bouncing Betty,” because when tripped they would launch a few feet from the ground then explode — usually around waist height.
Crivelli said the bomb technician concluded what the device may be through training and experience.
The museum’s two staff members were required to evacuate for about three hours while law enforcement handled the call.
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