Astonishing drought unveils lost towns that have sat under Lake Mead for decades

Home Top

show ad

The Wild West is back: Record drought unveils lost cowboy town that had been submerged under Nevada's Lake Mead since 1935
'The CIA abandoned me in the Afghan desert for being gay': Ex-Navy SEAL says he was bullied by cruel agents who changed his call sign to 'Gay Gay'
How fit are YOU? Take the test that will determine your real physical health (and it's as easy as touching your toes)
Wrongly arrested Ferguson prisoner wins appeal to sue cops who beat him and then charged him for BLEEDING on them
Dress the plate, use props and NEVER fully cook your meal: Experts reveal the 12 tricks that will make your foodie photos look like professional shots
EXCLUSIVE: It's a family affair - prison worker who helped Shawshank two's dramatic escape had grandfather who was inmate at same jail
Does this suitcase belong to an MH370 passenger? Battered luggage is found on Indian Ocean island beach where plane wreckage washed up - as investigators say it is 'almost certainly' part of the missing jet
So what really happened to MH370? The SEVEN leading theories of what happened to the missing jet as investigators come tantalisingly close to answers
Swirling currents, cyclonic weather and an air-filled fuselage: How a piece of debris from flight MH370 could have turned up a year later and 6,000km away from where the plane was thought to have crashed
Accountant behind India's deadliest terror attack which killed 257 in Mumbai in 1993 is hanged after losing last minute mercy plea
Hope, despair and an agonising wait for news: Relatives of MH370 passengers tell of their emotional turmoil after discovery of plane debris on Indian Ocean island
Map prepared by oceanographers one year ago eerily predicted debris from MH370 would arrive in Madagascar... as investigators work to identify whether debris is from missing aircraft
Is fizzy water making you fat? From acid reflux to tooth damage, the surprising ways it could be harming your health revealed
Kale: The toxic truth! How our obsession with the leafy greens could lead to bloated bellies, thyroid problems and even KIDNEY STONES
Retired baseball star Jose Canseco will spend a week living as a woman in support of Caitlyn Jenner
Amazon sign British Top Gear stars Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond for new show - with the first episodes to be streamed next year
Pictured: The moment Gisele Bündchen donned a burqa to secretly visit Paris plastic surgeon 'for $11,000 eye and breast operation'
EXCLUSIVE: Three members of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity at UVA who claim they were targeted in false Rolling Stone 'rape' article file defamation lawsuit
Rolling Stone's managing editor Will Dana to depart just months after discredited University of Virginia gang rape story was retracted
Fifth black woman in a month found dead in jail: New York mother accused of stealing crab legs died in cell while husband was waiting upstairs for her court appearance
Campus cop who shot unarmed black man dead is charged with murder - after chilling bodycam video exposed his lies about traffic stop
Agonizing last hours of an exhausted and horrifically maimed lion king and one man's deadly vanity that led to its trophy killing
'Are you trying to send a mob?' Mia Farrow accused of irresponsible behavior after posting address of dentist who killed Cecil the lion to Twitter
Hunter who killed Cecil the lion faces threat of prosecution: Dentist may have broken laws on bribery and poaching, says congresswoman as protests at his Minnesota practice escalate

Lake Mead was once home to St Thomas, an historic town in the valley near the Grand Canyon
But in 1936 the government built a dam and filled the reservoir with water to provide for the region
Due to droughts, the lake has been rapidly drying up - great for historians but worrying for locals

By Mia De Graaf For Dailymail.com

Published: 22:50 EST, 29 July 2015 | Updated: 06:09 EST, 30 July 2015

117

View
comments

It has been submerged in water for more than 80 years.

But now, following this summer's record drought, Lake Mead has almost completely dried up, revealing entire towns that disappeared decades ago.

And tourists are flooding in.

Scroll down for video

Revealed: The stone ruins of St Thomas, an abandoned Old West town, have been unveiled inside Lake Mead thanks to the drought

Before: In 1970 (pictured) the reservoir was filled with water which visitors would sail across

In 2014: This recent shot of Lake Mead shows a much more shallow reservoir than usual. Water used to be feet from the top of this structure

In 2007: Just eight years ago, water filled out much more of the reservoir, which was built to provide water to the region

In 1950: Shortly after the dam was built, water filled the valley to the brim. It continued to increase in water levels until 1983 - its peak

The reservoir - America's largest - is home to St Thomas, an Old West town which was lost in 1938 when the government built a dam to create a lake.

Many residents of the historic town in Colorado, near the Grand Canyon, refused to leave until the very last minute when water consumed their homes.

Now, however, people can revisit the stone ruins and even walk across parts of the lake bed, which has lost 60 per cent of its contents.

'You have new beaches, new coves, new things you can explore,' Marina owner Bruce Nelson told CBS News.

He was one of many to applaud the natural drying up - despite the bleak prospects for a dry region lacking in water.

Diving teams are excited by the idea that more people can access submerged historic sites now that it is shallower.

And historians are reminiscing about the history that was lost.

Lake Mead National Recreation Area public affairs officer Christie Vanover told CBS: 'Things got a little wild out here. There were some horse thieves. There were some cattle rustlers.'

Drone footage shows extent of the drought at Lake Mead

Now: Tourists are flocking to the region to see the region which went from desert land to water bed and back to desert land in 80 years

The marks on the side of the valley clearly show how drastically water levels have fallen over time (pictured in 2014)

Tech Diving Unlimited director Joel Silverstein told the station: 'The B-29s were very important during World War II. They carried all the different bombs and a lot of people flew in them. And they were the most popular and most used plane in World War II.'

The valley reached its highest water levels in 1983 and has been shallowing ever since due to droughts.

Most of its water content comes from melted snow which trickles down from Colorado and Wyoming.

But for the first time last year, following a steady decrease in water levels, the federal government officially reduced the amount of water that flows into Lake Mead from the northern Lake Powell.

Though this means joy for historians - who are flocking in their droves to visit St Thomas - it is bad news for cities such as Las Vegas and Los Angeles.

Nevada's Lake Mead hit an all-time low last year

Residents of St Thomas, Nevada. Luke Syphus (left), Harry Gentry (right), Osborne Gentry (boy), Laura Gentry (looking through fence)

The Gentry Hotel in St Thomas Nevada, in early 20th century - a few decades before it was covered with water

Bridge over the Virgin River near St Thomas, Nevada, which acted as a crossing for cattle. Within years, only boats could cross

At the start: This is a 1935 picture taken months after the dam was built, as it was only just starting to fill up with water

Vision: This is how the government envisioned the reservoir to be. However, it has been steadily decreasing ever since

Once a vision of water sports (and a scene in Viva Las Vegas, pictured), it is set to become a dried up site, officials admit

Lake Mead is a crucial source of water for the surrounding areas, and has been ever since the government designed the reservoir.

Last year, the New York Times reported that seven in 10 Nevadans rely on Lake Mead to supply their water.

Envisioning a crisis, the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) has spent $817 million on a new tunnel below Lake Mead to catch more water, the paper reported.

In a bleak summary of the region's outlook, a senior SNWA official John Entminger told the Times: 'The era of big water transfers is either over, or it's rapidly coming to an end. It sure looks like in the 21st century, we're all going to have to use less water.'