United States "drowned towns"

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

mx201er

Registered
Messages
9
Reaction score
3
Location
Butte MT
# of dives
25 - 49
I found this somewhere online and found it very interesting; I will be checking out Rattlesnake lake in WA, and hopefully Clark canyon reservoir in MT this summer.
I did a quick search here and did not see it posted, so hopefully I am not re posting an old topic.
.................................................................................................
Real Drowned Towns

Alabama: the town of Irma, under Lake Martin

Arizona: Alamo Crossing, a mining town now under 100 feet of water in Lake Alamo; town of La Laguna, under Mittry Lake.

Arkansas: Several towns, including Miller, under Greers Ferry Lake on the Little Red River (1959-1962); the town of Custer by Norfork Lake; the town of Fir by Lake Ouachita; the town of Hand by Norfork Lake

California: Hetch Hetchy Valley, a glacial valley in Yosemite National Park in California, was flooded in 1923 by O'Shaughnessy Dam, forming the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir; Jacksonville, near Sonora, under Lake Don Pedro; Melones, near Sonora, under New Melones Lake; Monticello, near Napa, evacuated for Lake Berryessa Reservoir, and Redbud Park inundated by same; Heroult, Kennett, Baird, and Copper City, for Lake Shasta in 1944; the town Lorraine by Thermalito Afterbay; the town of Minersville by Clair Engle Lake; the town of Pleyto by San Antonio Reservoir; the towns of Foster Bar, Bullards Bar, and Garden Valley by Bullards Bar Reservoir; the town of Salmon Falls by Folsom Lake; the towns of South Fork, Bloomer, Bidwell Bar, Bidwell, and Enterprise by Lake Oroville; the town of Mussey Grove by San Vicente Reservoir; the town of Isabella by Isabella Lake; the town of El Capitan by El Capitan Reservoir; the town of Cedar Springs by Silverwood Lake; the town of Auld by Skinner Reservoir; the town of Hullville by Lake Pillsbury; the towns of Lexington and Alma, for the James J. Lenihan Dam and Lexington Reservoir (around 1950), near Los Gatos; the town of Petersburg, under the New Hogan Reservoir; town of Picacho, mostly submerged when Laguna Dam completed 1909.

Colorado: Sopris, for the Trinidad Dam and Reservoir; McPhee for the McPhee Reservoir; the town of Iola by Blue Mesa Reservoir

Connecticut: the village of Barkhamsted Hollow, for Barkhamsted Reservoir on the Farmington River (Saville Dam, 1940)

Florida: the town of Butler due to construction of the Jim Woodruff Reservoir.

Georgia: the towns of Petersburg and Lisbon when Strom Thurmond Lake was created; the town of Oketeyeconne by Walter F. George Reservoir; the town of Hunt by Chatuge Lake.

Idaho: the town of American Falls, for the American Falls Reservoir and Dam (1910s-1920s); the town of Montour, for the Black Canyon Dam.

Indiana: the town of Monument City, flooded in 1965 to create the Salamonie Reservoir.

Kansas: towns under Tuttle Creek Lake on the Big Blue River, near Manhattan (1962; one town was rebuilt elsewhere: Randolph, Kansas)

Maine: the towns of Dead River and Flagstaff, flooded in 1949 when the Flagstaff Dam was built and Flagstaff Lake was created on the Dead River in western Maine.

Maryland: the town of Conowingo when Conowingo Dam was built in 1928; 1809 mill town Triadelphia, inundated in 1931 by Triadelphia Reservoir; the town of Shamburg by Prettyboy Reservoir; the towns of Dulaney Valley and Bosley by Loch Raven Reservoir.

Massachusetts: the towns of Boylston, West Boylston, Clinton and Sterling, for the Wachusett Reservoir (1897-1908); town of Dana, North Dana, Millington, Enfield, Greenwich, and Prescott, on the Swift River for the Quabbin Reservoir

Missouri: the towns of Theodosia and Forsyth when the Bull Shoals Dam and Lake was built on the White River in 1951; the town of Shawnee Bend, inundated by the creation of the Lake of the Ozarks by Bagnell Dam in 1931.

Montana: the town of Nagos, inundated by Lake Koocanusa; towns and homes near Glasgow, Mont., flooded by Fort Peck Dam on the Missouri River (1933-1940), created to provide flood control, hydroelectric power, and 10,000 jobs during the Depression -- it is the largest hydraulically filled dam in the United States and created the fifth largest man-made lake in the U.S., Fort Peck Lake; the town of Armstead (inundated), plus Routes 91 (rebuilt as Interstate 15) and the main line of the Union Pacific RR, for Clark Canyon Dam and Reservoir in Beaverhead County (1961-1964), created for downstream irrigation and flood control; the town of Rexford, Highway 37, the Great Northern Railroad line, for Libby Dam and Lake Koocanusa (1970s).

Nevada: St. Thomas, under Lake Mead when the art deco Boulder Dam (aka Hoover Dam) was built on the Colorado River in 1931-1936, but due to drought conditions has been visible again since the late 1990s.

New Mexico: town of Paraje, submerged by Elephant Butte Lake when Elephant Butte Dam built, 1912-1916

New York: Neversink and Bittersweet, New York, now under the Neversink Reservoir; the towns of Olive, West Shokan, Brodhead Bridge, Brown's Station, Boiceville, West Hurley, Glenford and Ashton (in the Catskills) to create Ashokan Reservoir; the towns of Beerston, Cannonsville, Rock Rift, Rock Royal and Granton, for Cannonsville Reservoir; the towns of Arena, Pepacton, Shavertown and Union Grove, for Pepacton Reservoir; the towns of Eureka, Montela and Lackawack, for Rondout Reservoir (1937-1954); the town of Gilboa for Schoharie Reservoir in the Catskills (1919-1927); the town of Southeast, on the Croton River (Sodom Dam), to create East Branch Reservoir, Middle Branch Reservoir, Bog Brook Reservoir and Diverting Reservoir (info and photos here); Concord, partially flooded in 1930 when the Conklingville dam created the Sacandaga Reservoir (now Great Sacandaga Lake).

North Carolina: the towns of Judson and Fontana, to create Fontana Lake; the town of Tuscola, inundated by the creation of Lake Junaluska and Lake Junaluska Dam.

North Dakota: Sanish (Old Sanish), Elbowoods, Lucky Mound, Shell Creek, Nishu, Charging Eagle, Beaver Creek, Red Butte, Independence, and Van Hook (some towns are part of Fort Berthold Indian Reservation), flooded for Lake Sakakawea in 1953 (see photo of foundations visible above lake); town of Moe, under the Garrison Reservoir (1950s).

Ohio: the town of Elk Lick by William H. Harsha Lake

Oregon: the town of Arlington, in Gilliam County, relocated uphill from its original location to make way for the John Day Dam, constructed on the Columbia River (1958-1968) and creating Lake Umatilla, along with the towns of Boardman and Umatilla, also relocated for the dam.

Pennsylvania: the town of Corydon, and tribal lands and gravesites, flooded in the 1965 for Kinzua Dam and Allegheny Reservoir and in the 1990s partially uncovered due to low water levels; the town of Pritchard by Lake Cowanesque; town (Wilsonville?) under Lake Wallenpaupack (1924-1926)

Rhode Island: the towns of Kent, Richmond, Ashland, South Scituate, Saundersville, Rockland and Ponaganset, and mills at Clayville, Elmdale, Harrisdale and Glenrock, plus almost 1,500 graves (relocated), for the Scituate Reservoir (1915-1926).

South Carolina: the towns in the Saluda Valley, under Lake Murray (Saluda Dam, 1920s); the towns of Andersonville and Price by Hartwell Lake

South Dakota: Bear Gulch II, submerged beneath the waters of Pactola Lake

Tennessee: the town of Butler, in 1948 by the TVA for Watauga Dam and Reservoir; towns under Norris Lake, created by the TVA's Norris Dam (1933-1936), for hydroelectric and flood control structure, on the Clinch River; the town of Willow Grove, for Dale Hollow Reservoir (1942)

Texas: Guerrero Viejo, a colonial town from the 1750s -- which includes Nuestra Senora del Refugio, a historic Spanish mission -- when the U.S. and Mexico dammed the Rio Grande to create Falcon Lake Reservoir in 1953; the town of Old Zapata, inundated by the Falcon Dam Reservoir; the town of Calliham, for the Choke Canyon Dam and Reservoir (1982) on the Frio River (flowing to the Nueces River); the town of Addicks near Houston for the Addicks Dam Reservoir (mid 1940s); the panhandle town of Saints Roost, under water in the Greenbelt Reservoir; town of Swartwout, inundated by Livingston Dam/Reservoir on the Trinity River; houses, farmsteads, orchards, and farms, submerged by Lake Travis with the Mansfield Dam (originally called the Marshall Ford Dam), on the Colorado River, built in 1937-1941.

Utah: Connellsville, under Electric Lake; the old mining town of Hite, under Lake Powell; the town of Rockport, under the Rockport Reservoir (1950s).

Virginia: the town of Greenwood, inundated by Lake Moomaw

Washington: 3,000 people (including Indian tribes) in the towns of Kettle Falls, Peach, Keller, Lincoln, Inchelium, Gerome, Marcus, Gifford, Boyds, Fort Covile, and Daisy evacuated for Lake Roosevelt, formed by the Grand Coulee Dam (1933-1941) on the Columbia River, which was built for the purpose of irrigation; the town of Moncton, submerged by Rattlesnake Lake and Masonry Dam on the Cedar River Watershed (1912-1915) to provide drinking water for Seattle; the town of Roosevelt, relocated for the building of the John Day Dam and creation of Lake Umatilla on the Columbia River (1958-1968).

West Virginia: the towns of Yates, Sandy, and Stone House, inundated by Tygart Lake; the town of Morrison by Summersville Dam.
 
Last edited:
At Beneath the Sea last year there was a presentation on a flooded mine. That looked really interesting to dive too. Also, a flooded ancient town near the Great Wall in China
 
Rattlesnake lake, WA is not worth diving. Most of the houses were removed (relocated to North Bend) or burned. There are a few old foundations which you can see at low water without diving. If you're coming all the way over here from MT there's far better diving to be had in Puget Sound or Lake Washington if you really want history and have the skills to not silt up the wrecks (the bottom is extremely silty). :)
 
In Texas, the town of Pickwick was inundated when the Brazos River was dammed to form Lake Possum Kingdom (no, I'm not making up that name), about 70 miles west of Fort Worth.

Vis is measured in inches at that part of the lake because it's near the upper end (where the river dumps its silt load), so I don't suggest diving it.
 
The town/resort of Monte Ne is underneath Beaver Lake in Arkansas. .Monte Ne Resort 1
We dive an old house foundation about three miles from the dam. (Reynolds Foundation)
The visability is best there. It's on a hill. One side is a 150 foot wall while the other side leads
down a road to the valley floor.
 
Beware apparently intact wooden structures.
Nails don't fair so well in those environments.

Perfect buoyancy, not kicking dust around is your friend.
 
There are also some very interesting dive sites (relatively intact locks from the old canal system, foundations, old Hwy 2 etc) from the "lost villages" inundated when the St. Lawrence Seaway was created.
 
New Jersey - Round Valley Resevoir on the deep side Is said to once be a town. I believe as with the others most has been removed or what not. I have yet to be over or down that deep to see anything. But have heard from some people as seen pics of pieces of old building supposedly there is a Part of a church still there and some other things but like I said have not been there or seen it myself to confirm
 
Rattlesnake lake, WA is not worth diving. Most of the houses were removed (relocated to North Bend) or burned. There are a few old foundations which you can see at low water without diving. If you're coming all the way over here from MT there's far better diving to be had in Puget Sound or Lake Washington if you really want history and have the skills to not silt up the wrecks (the bottom is extremely silty). :)
thanks for the heads up, I looked online and heard the same thing. I am actually staying in North Bend for an internship this summer in Seattle, so I will have to do some diving around! I am used to the very silty conditions, we have the same here, and I am working on bettering my frog kick and some other kicks to help in those conditions
 
Nothing is more magical than seeing archeology under water. I got to visit a paleolithic cave dwelling off the coast of Florida. Seeing the fire pit and shards all over was simply amazing. I have dove a city in an abandoned mine (Bonne Terre in Missouri) but I have not dove a real town with grave yards and such. I will.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

Back
Top Bottom