lake martin 10/4/06

[hatman0_13]

over the past few years i have heard many stories about the homes that were flooded when lake martin was completed. everything from how the towns of Irma & Susanna are still standing in the cold waters of the lake as ghostly reminders of what the area was like before the lakes existence to how all the buildings are gone and the previous is just an old wives tale. either way, the stories were more than enough to get the curiosity of this old cat up. so i've got a couple of buddies who have heard the stories too and together we've done some research comparing modern lake maps against those from the past when the lake was still new. especially the locations of buildings and what their nearest modern day landmarks would be. now we understand that these buildings have been submerged for 80 years or so and that alot can change in that time frame but we are dreamers of a sort so we still hold on to hope. the other day we decided to try one of the sites that was pretty easy to identify by boat and was supposed to be in relatively shallow water. we anchored out and splashed and swam out from the boat @ 300 yards enjoying 20-25' of vis. most of the way. at this point we decided to do a search pattern covering the whole area back to the boat for 150 yards on both sides of our original vector moving back towards the boat @ 30' with each direction change. it was all quite exciting. especially when we found the fish basket that was obviously discarded very long ago ( at least 2-3 weeks ). then there came the point where we swam into a group of @ 200-300 fresh water jelly fish ( that truly was a special treat as we had not seen so many together before ). while we did not find any standing structure we did find 2 groups of stones situated in a small area like the map suggested the buildings would be ( somewhat of a let down after you build yourself up for a great discovery that you are so ready to rub in the faces of your other dive buddies that couldn't get away from work ). maybe these stone groupings were what's left of those buildings and maybe they weren't. who knows. all i can say is that i will keep looking until i find somthing or i don't, enjoying every bit of the search and every sip of the post dive mexican beers that follow ( sure hope they keep brewing because it looks like this may take a while ).:bandit_2:

 

[Rick Murchison]

Irma's definitely on this winter's agenda.
Rick

 

[hatman0_13]

so there are some still standing then?

 

[Tom Smedley]

There may or may not be structures on the bottom of Lake Martin. The site of Irma is presently about 95 feet. It is clearly marked on fishing maps of the lake. To really determine if there is anything there without going to investigate one would have to invest in some of the latest fish finders with side-scan technology.

Irma was located on Kowaliga Creek and was the site of the crossroads where folks carried cotton to the gins in Eclectic. It is purported to have had a brick post office built on the same plan as the one in Kellyton and Nixburg. These post offices are rumored to have been designed under a contract for post offices and service stations by Frank Lloyd Wright. On the road south between Kowaliga and Eclectic there remains one of the service stations built under this program.

At this depth in the Lake the water temperature and acidity would remain such that wood boring worms would not live. Therefore it is feasable that there would be some remaining structures. I have heard stories that someone's girl friend's sister's husband's cousin's wife's uncle's sister-in-law's grandfather shot catfish out of a barn at 90 feet.

I am told that the best month to deep dive the lake is in February when the water temperature is the same from the surface to the bottom. Remember though that they did not cut the timber from these deep areas but they topped the trees and tied the tops in windrows with steel cables. This adds more difficulty in finding anything.

Rick and I have the equipment, knowlege, and desire to try and find Irma but we lack a boat. If we could pool our resources then maybe - just maybe we can prove or disprove the long standing urban legend.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Man, sounds like a fun dive with lots more fun dives to come