TAKING A TEST DIVE: Divers explore Ocmulgee ahead of search for artifacts

May 22, 2005
By Adjoa Adofo
Telegraph Staff Writer

Talks of whale skeletons and sunken steamboats rose from an excited group of local divers and archaeologists gathered at the bank of the Ocmulgee River early Saturday morning.

"I'm ready for an adventure," Jeff Jones, 34, of Macon, said as he pulled on his wet suit.

The Ocmulgee Archaeological Society and the International City Scuba Divers of Warner Robins began their joint quest for historical artifacts - specifically the remains of 1800s-era steamboats - at 8 a.m. between Interstate 16 and the Otis Redding Bridge in Macon.
Saturday's exploratory dive was to introduce divers to the Ocmulgee River. Subsequent dives will be held to search for artifacts.

"This is the initial phase," said Jim Adams of Cochran, a retired National Park Service underwater archaeologist who has been diving since 1975. "It will take a couple years to do all this. We're just getting a feel for the river now."

Divers waited anxiously as the sun broke through the overcast clouds.

"That's what we need because the sun will help visibility," said Barry Hudson, 39, who lives along the river. "We had so much rain (Friday) and the day before. The rain makes the water cloudy."

Still, divers struggled with the river's strong and swift current that threatened to slam them into metal and concrete debris from a demolished bridge.

"I don't know what we are going to accomplish with that kind of current," said Stephen Strickland, 36, of Locust Grove. "To remain in place required a lot of effort."

"I grabbed a tire full of mud and it still pulled me," added Jones, as he tried to catch his breath.

But divers reported good news about the visibility despite the river's reddish, muddy waters.

"I thought it would be worse," said Jones, who has been diving for eight years. "Once you cleared out (of the debris along the bank), it was beautiful."

Stephen Hammack, head of the Ocmulgee Archaeological Society, Adams and Hudson said they are not worried that the swift current will affect their estimates of the age and origin of artifacts they might find.

"If there is just one loose artifact by itself then you're going to have suspicions," Hudson said. "But you have to take the history of the banks and correlate that to the physical evidence from the artifact."

Among the rocks, glass, porcelain and terra cotta shards from a nearby mill, archaeologists believe lies evidence of a time of lively trade of goods along the river in the late 1800s.

"There is history in the water," said Strickland, an underwater bridge inspector who has been diving for seven years. "It's just about hanging on to see it."

Hudson, who has dived in the Ocmulgee for four years, said he found prehistoric artifacts and brick foundations from warehouses in the 1870s a couple of months ago.

"We started finding stuff on the bank and we thought, imagine what's on the bottom," he said.
The project has garnered interest from local amateur divers who have volunteered to contribute their time, boats and gear.

However, a potential roadblock lies in the $2,000 the group needs to raise to pay for underwater archaeology training from National Park Service experts in June, said Bobbie Bunch, head instructor of the International City Scuba Club.

A group of researchers will join Keith Pilgrim, a student at Mercer University, on Saturday at the Washington Memorial Library genealogy room to study historical documents of the area, said Hammack, who is also an archaeologist at Robins Air Force Base.

Hammack asks that anyone with historical maps or records of steamboats of the Macon waterfront in the mid- to late 1800s and early 1900s contact him at 718-3398.