West Coast drought reveals surprises beneath Lake Mead

drought emergency in the West stretches beyond California for what a level this morning in Nevada's Lake meat is the record low of about 37% Blackstone shows us how the nation's largest man-made reservoir is now bursting with surprises like reservoirs throughout the drought-stricken West Lake Mead is far below capacity down more than 60% the white rain shows where water used to reach but even as the drought deepens tourists are flowing in Lake Mead gets more visitors than either Yosemite or the Grand Canyon and some are coming to see the surprising sights that are revealed as the lake shrinks we'd be inside the ice cream parlor now yes this is the doorway you can see the ruins of the Old West town of st. Thomas were hidden for decades under the water but Lake Mead has receded so far that tourists can now hike a mile across the desert to examine what's left with no water in sight if we were standing here in the 1990s we'd be under how much water we would probably have a good hundred feet of water above our heads right now hundred feet of 100 feet of water yes it's a lot of water that's quite a bit of water yes st. Thomas was founded in 1865 by Mormon pioneers the largest foundation is the st. Thomas schoolhouse it was a thriving and at times lawless town and things got a little wild out here there were some horse thieves there were some cattle rustlers when the US government bought the land in the 1930s to make room for Lake Mead it's been said a few of the residents refused to leave believing the valley would never flood there are smaller but striking indications that this was once at the bottom of a lake look down and the desert floor is covered in shells another long lost piece of history remains underwater a b-29 Superfortress but it's now at a depth of only about a hundred five feet shallow enough for sunlight to filter down the other advantage of it being shallower is now more divers can actually access it Joel silverstein of tech diving unlimited leads about a hundred dives a year to the military relic the b-29s was very important during World War two they carried all the different bombs and a lot of people flew in them and they were the most popular and most used plane during World War two back in 1948 this b-29 was on a secret mission when it crashed into the lake the crew of five survived the plane remained undisturbed for nearly 70 years well there are certainly less water in Lake Mead it is still the major attraction for most of the tourists who come here family's been running this marina for how long yes since 1957 so for 58 years Bruce Nelson grew up at Lake Mead he says the lower water level has created some new hazards but also some new scenery you have new beaches new coves new things you can explore this is spectacularly beautiful here what that is absolutely this is the Paint Pots right behind us Lake Mead has always been at odds with its surroundings a mammoth body of water in one of the hottest driest places in the West while the long drought peels away some of its past the prediction of heavy El Nino rains this winter may help ensure the lakes future and reclaim its historic treasures for CBS this morning John Blackstone Lake Mead Nevada you had a place incredible during

Channel: CBS Mornings

Views: 6,349,320

Keywords: lake mead, nevada, drought, water level, video, cbs, news

Id: OTuw-70wFho

Length: 3min 31sec (211 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 29 2015