Items Scuba-Diving YouTubers Found in a 100-Foot Stretch of Willamette Riverbed

This month, Jared Leisek went hunting for a used car, at the bottom of the Willamette River.

(Jared Leisek)
By Elise Herron

This month, Jared Leisek went hunting for a used car, at the bottom of the Willamette River.

Leisek, a Bend, Ore., scuba diver, travels around the state conducting treasure hunts in bodies of water and posting videos of the excursions on his YouTube channel, Adventures With Purpose.

(Jared Leisek)

Earlier this month, Leisek plunged into the Willamette in search of a Nissan he'd found by accident during a February dive near the Sellwood Bridge.

After pulling the car out of the river June 1, Leisek found an ID card for the original owner. He got in touch and learned it was stolen in 1997 from a Portland apartment complex.

"The car has been underwater for 22 years," Leisek says. "The owner was hoping the car would turn up within a couple of days, but it never did."

It wasn't the only car Leisek and a crew of four other divers found near the Sellwood Bridge. In the same dive, they found a Honda and a 1970s Jaguar. A local towing company hauled the Nissan away after it was brought to shore.

The divers then moved north, to a 100-foot stretch of the Willamette along Tom McCall Waterfront Park near Southwest Taylor Street. "We only focused on larger items as a quick pass," Leisek says. "With a more thorough search, we'll find wallets, pursues, phones and other valuables."

Here's a list of what Leisek and his friends found June 2 during a 20-minute dive in the Willamette.

5 bicycles

11 e-scooters (Bird and Lime rentals)

17 skateboards

1 diamond earring

1 shopping cart

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