Hi all, recently when the Mississippi River was lowered in Minneapolis, I found a flash drive in the sand. It contained some photos and video from a Boundary Waters trip in September of 2010. Specifically at Lake Saganaga. I'd like to get the files back to the owner just in case it was their only copy, but I'm at a loss for how to find them. All I've been able to tell is that the younger guy is named Joshua, and the older guy (his dad?) may have retired from the University of Minnesota around 2010. I have a picture of their cars, but the "freemium" license plate websites don't seem to go back 10 years.

(I apologize if this is off-topic or inappropriate, I have been to the Boundary Waters once, but I'm normally more of a lazy Mississippi River kayaker).

Here are a couple of the pictures. There are a lot more (including some pretty good bird photos!), but these are what show the people.

Sure hope you find them!

That's really cool of you to try to find them.

The canoe is unique enough that theres a chance someone will recognize it.

So did you find this flash drive in the dried out area - like it had been submerged? I walked the river when it was down too, and thought it was remarkable, but didn't figure anything like a flash drive would work.

That’s waters edge cabin from Voyageur canoe outfitters. I’ll reach out to Matt and Cass and see if it rings a bell!!!

Bmuck1: "That’s waters edge cabin from Voyageur canoe outfitters. I’ll reach out to Matt and Cass and see if it rings a bell!!!"

Yeah, I was going to say if you could figure out where they stayed you're a hell of a lot closer. (of if you have a cop friend that will run the plates for you and cheat)

To answer some questions, yes the flash drive was in the sand below normal river level, so it had been underwater. I'm not sure if it had been underwater the full 10 years or what. I had to take it all apart and soak the circuit board in vinegar, then brush it gently to remove the corrosion and sand.

Thanks Bmuck1, great idea! They seem to have been there in September of 2010.

I have a video of exploring the river bed and my attempts to revive the flash drive here. I also stuck some additional photos and video from the drive into my video: https://youtu.be/7AtDEmvxwNI

Looking at the background in the first pic, it should be pretty easy for some of yall who are more well traveled to narrow down the lake.

Looks like a motor in the middle and a burn area on the right.

I’m sure the original poster has it right when he says its Saganaga.

In a couple of the videos from the drive they mention lake Saganaga and Saganaga Falls on the border. I stuck a clip into my video (linked above) in case anyone recognizes the voice.

I was going to try some deeper digging with a forensic app to see if there were any recoverable deleted files, but I think I burned out the chip. It no longer responds when I plug it in. Honestly I feel lucky to get what I could off it!

Just a thought. Could any information be pulled from their canoe sticker? Maybe the DNR would have info from their canoe registration? Hard to say if they'd give that info out for a flash drive.