Located 2.6 miles north of the Rawley Point Lighthouse, in Lake Michigan, the wreck site of the schooner Pathfinder (MN-0397) lies imbedded in a bed of quicksand in 12 to 15 feet of water. Although her rigging and deck machinery were salvaged, her lower hull remains intact and well preserved as, until the spring of 2014, she was largely covered by sand. The schooner Pathfinder carried various bulk cargoes on the upper Great Lakes for the duration of her career.

Launched in 1869 and lost in 1886, the Pathfinder, measuring nearly 200 feet in length, is a very early example of wooden schooner construction of this size. The Pathfinder, typical of this vessel type and length, carried three masts. Sites such as the Pathfinder present a rare opportunity to study and learn about historic wooden vessel construction, and how these ships were used in the grain and iron ore trades. Though schooners are a vessel type common in Lake Michigan, the Pathfinder represents a very early example of wooden vessel construction of this size. While the later goliath wooden schooners of James Davidson and other shipbuilders relied on varying construction techniques to achieve lengths near 200 feet and over, the Pathfinder’s keelson structure remains a unique component to her construction, not widely represented in the Great Lakes. The Pathfinder's keelson structure is unique in that most vessels of similar size do not contain two rider keelsons on top of the keelson. No other documented schooners in Wisconsin waters have this type of keelson structure construction.

In November 1886, the Pathfinder became stranded in a bed of quicksand north of Rawley Point, just off the town of Two Creeks. The Pathfinder wreck site has yielded significant information on early wooden schooner construction and has great potential to yield further archaeological information in future years. Her wreck site was forgotten after a brief salvage in 1886, and was only recently uncovered from the sands in the spring of 2014, she remains lightly visited.

State and federal laws protect this shipwreck. Divers may not remove artifacts or structure when visiting this shipwreck site. Removing, defacing, displacing or destroying artifacts or sites is a crime. More information on Wisconsin's historic shipwrecks may be found by visiting www.wisconsinshipwrecks.org.