Are there submerged towns under lakes created by dam building?

[Kalhoun]

@NicePete

Several little towns were lost by the impoundment of Lake Barkley, and later, Kentucky Lake. One of them, Golden Pond, was pretty well known as a bootlegging center where local illicit distillers made corn liquor which was transported to Chicago (up Highway 41) by gangsters.

Incidentally, if you like outdoorsy/lake type stuff, the Western Kentucky lake area (Ky Lake, Lake Barkley, Land Between the Lakes) is a great place to visit. Huge lakes, huge federally maintained recreation area, pretty much unspoiled. Also, another fascinating area, Reelfoot Lake, is about 90 minutes away.

Kentucky Lake is beautiful. That’s where I got my eye fish-hooked.

My ex told me about the flooded towns. I wonder if people go under and scope it out…

[Jake]

@Yllaria

All this talk about uncovering drowned cities for dam maintenance is giving me an urge to re-read Sharyn McCrumb’s, Zombies of the Gene Pool. It’s one of two murder mysteries that she set within SF fandom, the other being Bimbos of the Death Sun. Fandom may have marched on since they were written, but they’re still fun.

I can add the town of Monticello to the list of towns submerged by dams. Monticello, a former farm and ranch community in northern California, was flooded to form Lake Berryessa.

Which we fishermen quickly changed to Lake Buryass. For no reason.

[Johanna]

The song “Perfect World” by the Indigo Girls is about going for a swim in a reservoir that has a cemetery submerged under it.

[justice]

Don’t forget all the ancient villages of the Anasazi, Fremont, Paiute, Navajo, Ute, Havasupai, all the Pueblo people, etc. buried under the San Juan, Rio Grande, Colorado and soon to be Animas river water projects. Under any reclamation project in the Southwest one can find ruins. But before you grab your scuba gear and go treasure hunting, remember that it is a federal offense to take any of those artifacts that haven’t already been destroyed by said federal water projects. Unless off course your gear includes a Phd and a funny hat.

[Papical]

The tiles you mention in Old Eddyville near Lake Z Barkley did not belong to a Walgreens. They be,ongedvto the town bank. There was no Walgreens in or near Eddyville.

@Ellen_Cherry

There were several Kentucky towns that were moved when lakes were created, notably Burnside, which was relocated upon the creation of Lake Cumberland, and Eddyville, (hi, EddyTeddyFreddy ) located on Lake Barkley. Though in separate parts of the state, both lakes were created when the Cumberland River was impounded.

Eddyville is the site of Kentucky State Penitentiary, a maximum security prison frequently referred to as simply “Eddyville.” It was built on a bluff above the river, but when the lake was created, it rose right to the edge of the prison, a massive stone thing sometimes called “the Castle on the Cumberland.” Photo. This picture shows how close it is to the lake.

I’ve been down there and you can see things like steps to nowhere. I also saw some tiles which once formed the entryway to Walgreens. It’s kind of disconcerting to see such things out of context.

[Papical]

Actually, Kentucky Lake was impounded twenty years before Lake Barkley in Western Kentucky.

@NicePete

Several little towns were lost by the impoundment of Lake Barkley, and later, Kentucky Lake. One of them, Golden Pond, was pretty well known as a bootlegging center where local illicit distillers made corn liquor which was transported to Chicago (up Highway 41) by gangsters.

Incidentally, if you like outdoorsy/lake type stuff, the Western Kentucky lake area (Ky Lake, Lake Barkley, Land Between the Lakes) is a great place to visit. Huge lakes, huge federally maintained recreation area, pretty much unspoiled. Also, another fascinating area, Reelfoot Lake, is about 90 minutes away.

[Civil_Guy]

From How the States Got Their Shapes by Mark Stein: In 1866, the north boundary of Arizona extended west, running directly into the California border. In 1867, it was cut short at the Colorado River, partly to give the young state of Nevada (admitted as a state in 1864) access to the town of Callville on the river. (Arizona was still a territory at the time, becoming a state in 1912).

At the time, the Colorado River could be navigated between the Gulf of California and Callville.

That lasted until Hoover Dam was constructed in 1936. Callville is now underneath Lake Mead.

[Civil_Guy]

I should check Wikipedia first, it seems. It turns out that by 1869, it was realized that steamboats could not in fact make it all the way to Callville, and the town was abandoned by June of that year.