The Kate Kelly’s port and starboard bow separated at the stempost and lie adjacent to one another off the lower hull’s port side. The windlass lies atop the port bow fragment. Forward of the port bow, a large tangle of wire rigging lies partially buried in the lakebed. The starboard bow fragment lies just aft of the port bow. There is no evidence of the bowsprit or figurehead . Remnants of the wire bobstays and their anchors remain attached to the stempost, as well as remnants of the forestays fastened to the outer hull planking.

Winch drum and gear from the donkey engine. (Photo: Tamara Thomsen)

Several pieces of the Kate Kelly’s deck gear lie in a debris field around the forward hull sections. A double-acting, cast iron bilge pump lies in the sand 30 feet forward of the lower hull section. Between the lower hull section and the port side bow is the donkey engine's winching drum. A lumber port cover lies 15 feet off the stern of the main wreckage.

A disarticulated hull section lies 17 feet off the lower hull’s port quarter, perpendicular to the lower hull. Another large hull section lies 250 feet off the main hull’s port quarter.

To learn more about the history of Kate Kelly and related archeological findings, read "Wheat Chaff and Coal Dust," by Keith N. Meverden, Tamara L. Thomsen and John O. Jensen, 2006, Wisconsin Historical Society.