Underwater ghost town now dry as can be! *Update*

kiyote

Wow, I live near this, too!

Underwater Ghost town appears for the first time since the 50s


UPDATE:

I'm done moving in to the new house, so thought I'd take the chance to drop by and take a look at this place, since it's only about 15 miles away.

Ok, "Dry as can be" wasn't quite accurate... Most of the water has receded, but I ended up in a LOT of mud. At one point it was up halfway to my knee and my shoe got sucked off. The mud was a black, soupy mixture of swampy stuff that smelled AWFUL. I headed to a few of the sites that had foundations still showing and swung my coil. I found crushed beer can after crushed beer can but nothing at all exciting. I spent about two hours there with no luck and gave up. I wonder how many older coins from the towns' heyday in the 20s are now under 9ft of silt.

tesorocazador

I hunted a place similar to this close to Sacramento during the late 1980's. The state was having a severe drought (4 years in a row) and the water reservoirs dropped several feet uncovering an old town that was flooded during the building or the reservoir. I only found a few old coins but the coolest find was a large amethyst cuff link. The site was really neat as you could see where buildings, fences and such could be seen.
El Tesoro Cazador

dcamp78

Although detecting along the shore might be possible, getting to the stuff under more than a couple feet of water would be quite difficult.
An alternative to this would be a heavy duty magnet mounted to a sturdy cable and a boat.
Obviously, you'll only find ferrous based items, but that might not be a bad thing...

Big Dave

ricko

Now that would be cool to detect. Kiyote, will you go for it?? Take your camera if you do... Cheers, RickO

Johnp

I would love to see some pictures also if you go hunt it

micmt

Ok first post on this side of the forums.......and just wanted to say that I would love to see some more picts also if you go.

demodigger

some friends of mine detected there back in 2001, when they drained it then. as expected, it was loaded with beer cans and lead sinkers. i would imagine anything super old could be under several feet of silt. could be great for finding some vintage fishing lures.

i detected another such place about 20 years ago. the dam is called calero, where another town once existed. detecting was horrible. an unimaginable amount of cans,lead and pull tabs.

i might go by lexington this weekend. see ya there.

speer34

Like some of the others, I also detected a place like this two years ago in Oklahoma. The town was once known as Lugert and it's normally buried in Quartz Mountain Lake. Oklahoma was having a severe drought and the lake is also used as irrigation to boot. The foundations were readily accessible and it was wide open. I also tended to find junk--cans, pull tabs, sinkers, and lots of LARGE ferrous items. I didn't have any worthwhile finds other than being able to take my kids out to see something that isn't normally available for everyone to view. It was priceless to be able to talk to the kids about the town of long ago and share those things with them. I'd done a little bit of research on the area prior to going out there and had some knowledge of the town once known as Lugert. My only regret about the trips out there--I didn't take my camera with me to record our time spent on the lakebed at the old lost town.

Best of luck if you do decide to head out there. Please take your camera--you'll later regret it if you don't. Trust me, I know firsthand!!!

direwolf1972

A good read but all the newspaper could come up with for a photo is of some guy fishing on the shore? You'd think they could post some cool photos of the structures that are now showing.

kiyote

I'm actually in the middle of a move to a house (my first one!) right in this area! I can prolly get my detector on the ground in the next week.

kiyote

bump....

ROCKETMAN

What's the update?

kiyote

Whoops, I put it at the top.. here ya go.

UPDATE:

I'm done moving in to the new house, so thought I'd take the chance to drop by and take a look at this place, since it's only about 15 miles away.

Ok, "Dry as can be" wasn't quite accurate... Most of the water has receded, but I ended up in a LOT of mud. At one point it was up halfway to my knee and my shoe got sucked off. The mud was a black, soupy mixture of swampy stuff that smelled AWFUL. I headed to a few of the sites that had foundations still showing and swung my coil. I found crushed beer can after crushed beer can but nothing at all exciting. I spent about two hours there with no luck and gave up. I wonder how many older coins from the towns' heyday in the 20s are now under 9ft of silt.

lathmach

The mud was a black, soupy mixture of swampy stuff that smelled AWFUL.


This, Lonesome Coyote, is your DRINKING WATER supply.
Glad I live in Michigan. Our water is clean and sweet here by Lake Michigan.

Ray

lathmach

The mud was a black, soupy mixture of swampy stuff that smelled AWFUL.


Hey ya know............
This is the exact description for SEWAGE.
Try not to think of this when you turn on the faucet in your sink. That would be gross.

Ray

GoldenEyeNumismatics

<< <i>The mud was a black, soupy mixture of swampy stuff that smelled AWFUL.


Hey ya know............
This is the exact description for SEWAGE.
Try not to think of this when you turn on the faucet in your sink. That would be gross.

Ray >>



As someone who has spent a LOT of time trudging around in swamps, I can tell you that it probably isn't sewage, just heavily decomposed organic materials. The stinky smell is just methane, produced by the bacteria that are eating the muck.