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Minnetonka souvenir booklet show the main house as well as other prominent features of <br /> the Big Island estate as a point of interest for summer tourists. In addition to the cisterns, <br /> building foundations can be readily outlined, as well as other features related to the estate's <br /> extensive landscaping elements. The Searle's boathouse is still largely intact, and is a <br /> prominent feature of the island's north shore. However, the most visually prominent feature <br /> of the Searle estate is the man-made channel that divides Big Island into two distinct <br /> portions, separating Searle's property from that of his neighbors to the west. The channel <br /> was dug by hand sometime after 1898. <br /> Despite his initial success in America, Olaf Searle died in relative poverty in 1926. This <br /> tragic end was largely the result of economic recession at the turn of the 20th century, <br /> coupled with the Searle family's personal struggles with alcoholism. Searle's Big Island <br /> estate was destroyed by fire sometime after 1913, and the land has remained largely <br /> undisturbed to the present, in part due to its recent designation as a wildlife sanctuary. <br />