Friday, February 22, 2013

Vintage Vegas Pics: The Days When Lake Mead Had No Bathtub Ring


I was searching through my family pictures this evening, and in between the tintypes and Texas farm houses, I found a handful of these shots taken in 1983, when Lake Mead’s spillways were put to use for one of only two times (the first being when Hoover Dam was built).


Some unknown person from my family captured these shots of the water not long after it first started cresting the sides. Later on, misty waterfalls were created by the water rushing over the spillways. 


The intake towers look like they're floating on top of the water, and you’ll notice there’s not a trace of bathtub ring around Lake Mead,



Today, we’ve got rock outcroppings in front of the spillways. Both the old family photo above and the 2012 shot below are of the Nevada Intake Towers. Quite a transformation, isn’t it?


Recent photo of Hoover Dam, Nevada Side Spillway, courtesy of Gnaphron at Flickr. 

Scroll to the bottom of this page from Missouri University, and you'll see photos of the spillways in full waterfall. 

Were you here in 1983? Did you see the spillways turn into waterfalls?

3 comments:

h said...

Thanks for sharing these! Certainly surreal to see the high water level. I moved here in 2000.

TH Meeks said...

It was kind of shocking to find them, knowing what it looks like now!

Unknown said...

I remember when this happened. I wish I had taken photos also. I moved to Las Vegas in the mid 70's. Who knew that would be a one-time deal!