BELOIT, Wis. — This year marks the 40th anniversary of the first "Indiana Jones" film and a former Rock County professor has bragging rights for discovering a secret behind the man many historians credit as the indirect model for the adventurer.  

What You Need To Know

  • A Beloit retired professor uncovered a secret behind Roy Chapman Andrews' near-drowning on Rock River

  • Many believe famed explorer Andrews indirectly served as model for "Indiana Jones"

  • Andrews lost best friend and nearly died himself on a spring break trip on the Rock River, but until now, no one knew exactly where the incident happened

  • Carol Mankiewicz used her investigative skills to find the spot

"To me, it was just another kind of puzzle to solve," Carol Mankiewicz said about her unique investigation.

The retired Beloit College geologist and biologist recently uncovered where on the Rock River the famed explorer Roy Chapman Andrews nearly drowned while he attended Beloit College. She said up until now, that part of the story remained a true mystery because no one could pinpoint the particular place. 

"At the time, Roy and others said it had happened on Young's Creek," Mankiewicz said. "Nobody knew where Young's Creek was."

So she set out to find that small unsolved bit of the explorer's early days before he went off to find the first dinosaur eggs in the Gobi Dessert or become the director of the American Museum of Natural History.

The Roy Chapman Andrews Society member used old topological and plat maps to make the missing link. After weeks of work, she learned the exact location was in one hard to reach tributary, that even today can only be reached by canoe.  

Learn more about that boating accident at https://www.beloit.edu/live/news/1713-fridays-with-fred-a-tragedy-on-a-wintry-rock-river. Discover the legacy of Roy Chapman Andrews through the Roy Chapman Andrews Society.

May 18 Editor's note: Previously, the story above referenced the Rock River as the Beloit River. It has been updated.