Emerald question

[wingman]

Last weekend on a dive in emerald i noticed what appeared to be a circular millstone on the floor headed upstream just to the left of the do not enter sign. Upon exit my dive buddy brushed many years of silt off the surface of the stone and we observed the date 10/22/86 and the initials J.G. engraved in the stone...any ideas or knowledge as to what this represents or how the stone got there? Bill Huth

[FW]

I wonder if that is 1986, or 1886?

[wingman]

I wonder if that is 1986, or 1886?

Don't know, the stone is small, about 3 feet in diameter and maybe eight inches thick. The rim looks a bit chopped, it looks like a cross section of a large tree. I first thought it might be a tire. The center was solid. My dive buddy thought it might have been a stand for an early do not enter sign.

[OutlawCaver]

There was a fatality downstream around that time. This may be a memorial marker to the victim. Three divers entered downstream section, lead diver placed arrow pointing into Clear Cut passage instead of the actual exit back toward Emerald. Upon return to this point, and some disagreements, other two divers returned on line without arrow, lead diver followed his arrow. After reaching a depth, well in excess of his dive to that point, he realized his error and turned around. He drowned on the correct line but several hundred feet from daylight zone. The other two divers surfaced without incident. Moral to that story: ALL teams members should be watching any directional markers being added during a dive and signal OK as an agreement to it's position. IMHO

[KJM]

The handritten '10/22/86' and 'J.G.' on the cement to me seems too plain for a memorial. I would have expected something with a little more detail.

Is there any way to track down the name and date of the mid 80s fatality mentioned by OutlawCaver?

[teamkarst]

The handritten '10/22/86' and 'J.G.' on the cement to me seems too plain for a memorial. I would have expected something with a little more detail.

Is there any way to track down the name and date of the mid 80s fatality mentioned by OutlawCaver?

12/15/88; Bill Cronin
We placed a rectangular marble plaque in for Bill a couple years later.