Back in the wild plague year of 2020, I, like many others, was figuring out what to do with myself. With everything shut down, I tried to think of a hobby that would get me out of the house and into (hopefully COVID-19 free) fresh air. Magnet fishing seemed like a good idea.

Magnet fishing is taking a powerful magnet attached to a long, sturdy rope and throwing it into bodies of water to pull out some of the mass of trash dumped by humanity for generations. Bicycles, radiators, license plates, fishing lures, boat parts, pots and pans, etc. Junk fishing seemed fun, so I bought a magnet and gear and… never did go out and do it. I think one of the hang ups was that I was pretty sure I’d find ditched guns in the Milwaukee waterways and was not quite sure about what to do in that situation.

We’ll get back to this, but let’s switch gears for a minute. Recently, I got a copy of the March issue of Milwaukee Magazine. I always enjoy seeing an article of mine that has made it into print, and this issue I wrote a feature on the career of 95-year-old photographer Tom Ferderbar. As I was flipping through the magazine, I was glad to see Matthew J. Prigge’s byline on an article. Matthew has written a great body of work exploring Milwaukee’s interesting and sometimes violent, macabre, and odd history in articles and books like Milwaukee Mayhem: Murder and Mystery in the Cream City’s First Century.

In Milwaukee Magazine, Prigge’s most recent article is titled “Life on the Line,” which delves into the history of Milwaukee’s red light district in the late 1800s and early 1900s, which was called “The Line.” (The article is only available in print for the time being, I will update with a link when it gets posted online).

Prigge reports that the area of The Line was located on River Street (now Edison Street) spread east of the river “from what is now Highland and Wells Streets and as far east as Market Street.” He also writes that a more working class version of The Line ran across the other side of the river “along Wells Street as far west as 6th Street.”

But here is the key line, how this column all ties together. From Prigge’s article:

“Legend had it that when a new house of prostitution, all-night saloon or gambling den would open on The Line, its operator would toss a key into the Milwaukee River. The ritual was a symbol of their intentions in the area- to hold their doors open, to neither be locked in nor locked away.”

Now do you see? It could just be a “legend,” they might have all been eaten by sturgeon or something, but maybe (just maybe) those keys might still be down there. I will try to find them on some magnet fishing expeditions. Will I be successful? Probably not. But as treasure hunters have asked throughout time…
what if I do?

Please Clap Dept.: If you’re looking for unique, interesting events in the Milwaukee area, please check out my bi-weekly column for the Shepherd Express, “Madcap Milwaukee Calendar.” You can find the most recent column here: https://shepherdexpress.com/culture/madcap-milwaukee-calendar

See also: Another Milwaukee hidden treasure is one buried by Byron Preiss, author of The Secret. I wrote an article on this about a year ago for Atlas Obscura: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-secret-byron-preiss-milwaukee
I can always tell when AO recycles this story on social media, by the way, because I get at least a couple messages from people who claim they’ve cracked the code. My message to them is always the same– dig it up and find it, and then let me know first so I can get the scoop on writing about it!