Browse Map

Explore away

Explore Map Collection

Check out our basemaps

Print a Map Plus

Generate a high-quality PDF

Field Guide

Discover local flora, fauna, geology, and more

Local Flora & Fauna

Learn the ecology of your area

Local Geology

Learn the geologic formation at your feet

Get Started or Sign In

Welcome

Continue with Apple

Already have an account? Sign In

Measure

Topo

Ecoregions

Public Lands

...

BASEMAPS

Default Weather

Temperature

Smoke

...

WEATHER

EC Waters Shipwreck

Shipwreck on Yellowstone Lake in Yellowstone NP, Rocky Mountains on Stevenson Island near Lake Village, WY

Sensitive Place

Shipwrecks are sensitive in nature and deserve the utmost respect. Please help preserve the area for future generations.

Print Map

Generate High-Quality PDF

The remains of steamer EC Waters are on the eastern shoreline of Stevenson Island. Eli Collins Waters, the owner, named the vessel after himself. Waters assembled his ship at Yellowstone Lake in 1905, where he planned to ferry tourists between the Lake Hotel and West Thumb with a stop at his commercial wildlife zoo at Dot Island. However, federal officials never licensed the new vessel and Waters’ original vessel, the Zillah they deemed unsafe in 1907.That same year, they barred Eli Waters from entering the park.

The large steamboat EC Waters remained moored off Stevenson Island until 1921, when a storm drove the vessel ashore. Eventually, they removed the steam boilers and repurposed them to heat the Lake Hotel for almost 50 years. In 1930, officials purposely burned the wooden ship, where the charred and rusted remnants remain. (Root 2023; USGS 2018; Whittlesey 2008, 24-27)

The remnants of E.C. Waters on Stevenson Island at sunset, A. Falgoust (NPS) photographs (2) below:

E.C. Waters shipwreck on Stevenson Island:

Sources

Root, Chris. “A Steamboat in Yellowstone: The E.C. Waters Story.” Denver Public Library, April 11, 2023. https://history.denverlibrary.org/news/western-history/steamboat-yellowstone-ec-waters-story.

USGS. “The Misadventures of E.C. Waters – the Man and the Boat!,” November 12, 2018. https://www.usgs.gov/observatories/yvo/news/misadventures-ec-waters-man-and-boat.

Whittlesey, Lee H. “Byways, Boats and Buildings: Yellowstone Lake in History, Part 3.” Points West, Buffalo Bill Center of the West, 2008. https://centerofthewest.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Points-West_2008.06.pdf.

Taxonomy

Archaeological Site

Ruin

Shipwreck

Classified As

Shipwreck

Waterbody

Yellowstone Lake

Lake

EC Waters Shipwreck