Recent images demonstrate how Lake Mead’s waters have receded to their lowest elevations in recorded history, exposing items that have been submerged for years.
A World War II era landing craft, the same type that dropped American troops on the Normandy beaches on D-Day in 1944, is one of the most recent discoveries made possible by the receding waters.
Previously resting around 185 feet below the lake’s surface, the boat—a Higgins landing craft—now stands partly out of the water.
The Hoover Dam River creates Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the US, which is located about 24 miles from Las Vegas.
The lake’s water levels have dropped to its lowest point since 1971.
Since a few years ago, levels have been dropping as a result of the prolonged megadrought in the Southwest US and rising water demand.
The skeletal remains of multiple corpses, some of which some believe to be victims of Las Vegas’ infamous mob past, have also been discovered along the lakes new shorelines, in addition to the Higgins craft and a number of other shipwrecks.
A short distance from Hemingway Harbor and Lake Mead Marina, the landing craft was discovered. In order to transport American troops during World War II, Higgins produced thousands of vehicles between 1942 and 1945.
Although it is unknown if the Higgins discovered in Lake Mead served overseas, the Las Vegas Review Journal claims that it was used for surveying the Colorado River after the war.
According to a spokesman from Las Vegas Scuba, which used to offer dive tours of the wreck, the boat was later sold to one of the lake’s marinas and later sank and utilized as a barrier below the surface.
The National Park Service issued a statement in which it stated, “As water levels continue to fluctuate and decline, we know that this boat may come to the attention of park visitors, both new and returning.
Lake Mead hopes everyone has the opportunity to learn more about its history and asks that visitors enjoy the site while leaving it as they found it in order to prevent damaging the boat.
The lake’s water level was 1,043.5 feet above sea level as on Friday. This is almost 25 feet lower than it was at this time last year, 4.5 feet lower than it was a month ago, and at least 54 feet lower than it was two years ago.
According to experts, the record low water levels are a result of the greatest drought in centuries, which has been made 72% worse by human-caused climate change.
The reservoir may never be fully filled again since experts predict that weather patterns will get worse.
How far the water levels have dropped is starkly demonstrated by the rocks that make up the reservoir’s harsh edges.
Where the water was at its highest point following a flood in 1983 can be seen by looking at the white band of mineral deposits that stains the mountain sides like the ring on a bathtub.
Along the retreating shoreline, a skeleton body was discovered in a metal barrel in May.
According to Las Vegas police, the body belonged to a male who had passed away from a headshot wound consistent with an execution between the middle of the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s.
Although the notion has not been confirmed by authorities, many people have theorized that it had all the hallmarks of a gangland hit that would not have been unheard of in the mob-run Las Vegas where the victim was assassinated.
It has been suggested that the remains of a second victim discovered in Callville Bay belonged to a mobster from 1950s Las Vegas, albeit one who died in an accident rather than with malicious intent.
Todd Kolod speculates that the body could be that of his father Daniel Kolod, also known as Ruby in the Vegas mob, who drowned in the lake in 1958 at the age of 22 and whose body was never recovered.
During a fishing trip with a friend 64 years ago, he fell from a motorboat that turned over after being hit by a wake.
Todd claimed that the image of the body that was discovered—specifically, the image of a skull with missing teeth—heightened his suspicions because his father wore a denture as a result of a vehicle accident that had destroyed his front teeth.
Todd was three years old at the time. He claims that when he was younger, his family told him that his father had “gone away,” and that he only found out the sobering truth later in life.
Todd claimed in an interview with KLAS that his eyes “bulged wide open” when he learned that remains had been discovered in the Callville Bay region of Lake Mead.