Hoover Dam’s construction submerged a US town in 1935: 90 years later, Lake Mead’s falling water levels are helping it reemerge

As Lake Mead’s water levels continue to fall, numerous headlines are being made. Among them lies one about the reemergence of one of the country’s ghost towns. St. Thomas, Nevada is visible again on the floor of the lake and visitors can once more walk along its former streets, lined with foundations and remnants of its old buildings. But how did an entire town disappear beneath 60 feet of water?

A Mormon town lost to Hoover Dam

St. Thomas was founded in 1865 by a group of Mormon settlers, who believed they had found a hugely valuable piece of ground near the Muddy River.

According to a report by Diario AS, St. Thomas was founded in 1865 by a group of Mormon settlers. They believed they had found a hugely valuable piece of ground near the Muddy River. The settlers constructed irrigation systems and turned the desert into farmland, which attracted new settlers after many of the original Mormons left a few years later, mainly due to a tax dispute over whether the land was in Nevada or Utah.Initially, original settlers aimed to grow cotton and open a supply route between California and Utah using the Colorado River. The pioneers learned that the heat, pests such as mosquitoes and scorpions, and conflicts with local Indian tribes made the area difficult to live in. After digging irrigation canals, they discovered cotton did not grow well, and many returned to Utah in 1871, according to the Moapa Valley Chamber of Commerce St. Thomas website. A diverse group of new settlers began to populate the town and grow a variety of crops. Mining became a booming business, and St. Thomas became a freight stop on the railroad. By 1918, the town businesses included a grocery store, cafe, and hotel, the Moapa website says.At its peak, around 500 people lived in St. Thomas, despite residents never having electricity or indoor plumbing. It was still a functioning community with a school, post office, stores, church and other businesses.However, in 1928, when the construction of Hoover Dam was approved by the United States Congress, the future of St. Thomas was threatened. President Calvin Coolidge signed the Boulder Canyon Project Act, which authorised construction of the Hoover Dam.The enormous dam would transform the Colorado River by creating Lake Mead, a reservoir designed to store water for the rapidly developing Southwest and which would cover the valley where St. Thomas stood. Residents were compensated and gradually left. Lake Mead began filling in 1935, although St. Thomas’ last resident didn’t leave until June 1938, by which time the water was on the verge of reaching the town. Hugh Lord, the town’s last resident, paddled away from his home when the water reached it. At the lake’s highest water level, the town’s highest building sat 18 m (60 ft) below the lake surface, according to the National Park Service (NPS) St. Thomas website. Its ice cream parlour and school classrooms were now submerged and empty. Only the tips of cottonwood trees peeked out above the waters.“Personally, I am fascinated by the history of the town,” said Christie Vanover, public affairs officer for the National Park Service as per a report by the Water Environment Federation. “Its first residents came to this desolate desert location 150 years ago this year because of a rare water source and its connectivity to the Colorado River. In the end, it was water that forced residents to flee.”

St. Thomas emerges as Lake Mead recedes

Stairs of the school part of St. Thomas

But what the water took, eventually it gave back. In the early 2000s, Lake Mead’s water levels began falling so drastically that St. Thomas emerged again in 2002 after decades underwater. Streets, foundations, building remains and much more became visible, with the layout of the town still recognisable after decades underwater.“This year, Lake Mead reached its lowest elevation since the dam began filling at [327 m] 1074 ft. The last time water was this far away from the town was in 1937 while the lake was still filling,” Vanover said. Years where water levels have hovered around 329 m (1080 ft), comparable to current water levels, include 1956, 1964, 1965, 2010, 2011, 2014 and more. Lake water levels have been tracked by the U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Reclamation and are available on the Lake Mead at Hoover Dam website.Since the lake formed, the second longest time the town was exposed was slightly more than 9 years, from July 1963 to November 1972, Vanover said. Former residents and their family members have taken the opportunities of the town’s reemergences to hold reunions in St. Thomas in 1945, 1963, and 2012.Today, the ruins are accessible to visitors when water levels permit, allowing them to walk the streets of a town that many assumed was gone forever. Lake Mead has reached a new record low of 1,040.5 feet, just 27% of its capacity. This means the hydroelectric power generated by the dam has been significantly compromised due to the drought, which poses a major threat to water supply overall. It also means that the ice cream parlours and cisterns of St. Thomas are now exposed again, this time, it seems, for the long haul.