I told my wife about the hunt for Blue October and the idea of rescuing this piece of river lore. She wondered who really owns it and are there salvage rights for something in a lake/river, not international waters. Good question. I'm hoping you save it but you may need to find out who owns it and buy it off them for a buck. If the feds figure out that it has contaminated the entire water supply of the Western US and want the owner to pay for a Billion dollar "haz-mat" spill then the clandestine method may be best.
Has anyone thought that the original owner might still be under it?