These are photos of some of the artifacts that have been found in Guilford Lake. Bob Small and I have been diving the lake for several years and are always astounded by the things we recover from the lake. Every lake or body of water holds it's own secrets, but a persistant diver can often unlock the secrets of the lake and of the lives which have been lived near the lake.

While diving with Rich Howard one summer morning, we discovered a set of dishes, neatly stacked under the mud and silt at the bottom of the lake. I guess we were in only about 15 to 20 feet of water and the discovery was accidental. How the dishes came to be at the bottom is open to speculation, but given the small area in which they were found, my best guess is that someone was out on the lake, with the intention of having a picnic, when the boat capsized sending the picnic basket to the bottom. Of course this would have been before plastic dishes and tupperware. The truth of the matter will never be known, because the original owner of the dishes is probably long gone.

My friend Bob Small and I have discovered many tools used either for cutting ice blocks from the frozen lake, something which was done every winter before refrigerators were in every home, or used for just cutting holes in the ice by the hearty souls who enjoy the excellent ice fishing Guilford has to offer. I have often thought of the old days around Guilford when life was much harder and the tool I recover slipping from the half frozen fingers of a worker cutting ice blocks. It is for that reason that everything I recover from the lake, is truly a treasure.

While diving several years ago, I found the receiver part of the shotgun pictured here. I never found the barrel. About a year later, Bob Small found the barrel and the sawed off shotgun was assembled. From the condition of the metal the gun had probably been under water for 50 years. From the position where it was found, it is easy to speculate that it had been thrown into the lake from somewhere along route 35. It was disposed of in two pieces and probably the person getting rid of it, felt pretty well assured, that when it splashed into the water, it would never be seen again. That person had not counted on the invention of SCUBA. As to the ownership of the gun and more importantly, its use, again it is open to speculation. In this case however, my speculating takes a sinister turn and I'm not sure I want to know what the shotgun was used for!

From our SCUBA dives, we have witnessed the enormous fish population in Guilford lake, and have been followed by bass, pickerel, sunnies and the occasional bullhead. The diving in Guilford lake is not for the fainthearted. At about twenty feet divers encounter the first thermocline where the water temperature drops about 20 degrees, from its normal 78 degree summer temperature. Continue down and at forty feet, another thermocline and another 10 degree drop. From that point on it is around 48 degrees, summer or winter. At forty feet the light is gone and by fifty feet you can't see your hand in front of your face, but a good dive light will illuminate enough to keep you from getting the willies.

I believe all the treasure of Guilford lake will never be found because life on the lake has gone on for hundreds of years past and hopefully will continue for hundreds of years to come. This lake has taught me that the value of a treasure is not always in its monetary value, but more often is in the value we place upon the treasure. The lake and its contents tell us who we are, tell us about those who came before us and will tell our story to our childrens children.