For more than six hours on Tuesday, John Papak watched his childhood dream come true when heavy machinery hoisted car after car from his favourite fishing spot along the Detroit River.
Papak was one of a growing number of curious people standing in awe at the Sandwich Town waterfront along Russell Street in Windsor while dumped vehicles, some submerged for decades, were lifted to the surface.
“It’s something I’ve been waiting my whole life to watch,” Papak told the Star. “I knew these cars have been here.
“I fished here since I was a kid, and I knew they were down there, but I never thought I’d ever witness it. I can’t stop watching.”
By 5 p.m. Tuesday, 10 decrepit vehicles were nestled on the shore to dry out. Onlookers suspected they included a Dodge Ram, a Jeep Grand Cherokee, a Chrysler Neon, and an ’87 Cadillac. More vehicles were discovered underwater Wednesday morning.
Behind the aquatic cleanup is the owner of private waterfront property with a small inlet — where the vehicles were dumped — between Mill Street and Brock Street, east of Brock Park, said Windsor harbour master Peter Berry.
“The owner of this land has decided it’s time to clean up the slip, so they brought in a contractor,” Berry said. “We’ve known for years that there are cars here, but didn’t know how many. Now, we’re finding out.
“It’s a great thing to have that slip cleaned out. I congratulate the owner for doing this.
“It’s very revealing of many, many years of cars being dumped in this particular area. Hopefully, it reveals what we need to do to protect it in the future.”
On Wednesday morning, Berry told the Star that six more vehicles on the riverbed had been identified, and there could be more below.
“This property has been vacant for almost 50 years,” Berry said. “There’s probably cars on cars, and other cars have settled into the silt.”
That part of the river ranges in depth from 13 to 17 feet (roughly four to five metres), he said. Along the rubble shoreline, it’s three or four feet deep (around one metre).
“It’s a very silted bottom. It’s like toothpaste — it allows everything through it.”
One vehicle would be pushed further into the mud by another, he said. Sediment would fill the vehicles and pull them even further into the silt.
Berry was on hand to monitor for pollution control. Any contaminants from the vehicles — heavy oil or chemicals that could have been stored in the cars leaking out — must be reported and cleaned up, he said.
“Of course, the police are also interested,” Berry said. “Is there contraband? Any drugs? Guns? Is there a body? We are checking every vehicle, the trunks are checked, the inside of the cars are checked, the VINs and the plates are given to police.”
More and more passersby joined the group of onlookers as time passed. One woman carried a wooden dining chair from her home across the street and took a seat on the grassy property, away from the cordoned-off area near the water.
Stephen Hargreaves, chair of the Sandwich Town Business Improvement Association, spotted the action during a stroll of the neighbourhood.
“It’s fascinating to see that there are so many vehicles that have been, for some reason or another, left to the fishes,” Hargreaves said. “It’s exciting to see that this might lead to some future development in this area.
“Right now, I think the attention of our local Sandwich neighbours has been drawn to a weird, interesting scenario — a bunch of very muddy, wet vehicles being dredged from the bottom of the Detroit River.”
In an email to the Star, Steve Salmons, president and CEO of Port Windsor, said the slip cleanup is “in preparation for a residential development and marina.”
Harbour master Berry declined to comment on details of future development on the property.
The 33-acre (13.4-hectare) shoreline property was sold for $2.3 million in January 2023.
At the time, a realtor involved in the sale told the Star the property is zoned for commercial and marine industrial use, but has a provision allowing for residential highrise development of up to 15 storeys.
No development is restricted inside an 80-foot (24-metre) ribbon of green along Mill Street to provide a Detroit River view from the historic Duff-Baby House.
Berry asked that residents avoid disturbing the vehicles and “let police do their thing.” The muddy, wet cars will be left to dry out on a concrete pad.
Automotive dumping, he said, “happens in ports everywhere. But we drink this. We shower in this. We wash our food in this. We give it to our animals, our children.
“It’s important we stop this type of behaviour, because it’s going to affect us in the long term.”
