St Thomas the Underwater Town

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The photos are from www.gizmodo.com
As the waters of Lake Mead slowly evaporate, the ghost town of St. Thomas has been rising up.  When the Hoover Dam was constructed in the 1930s, this once thriving Mormon establishment became abandoned and eventually submerged underwater.  St. Thomas was instituted in 1865 by Mormon pioneers and their leader, Thomas Smith.  At its most prosperous, the town topped at around 500 residents.  After the dam was built, the water levels were increasing and forcing the inhabitants to vacate their homes.  The last hold-out left in June of 1938.

Nowadays the ruins of St. Thomas are visible because of the drought and the ever decreasing water levels of Lake Mead.  A town which was once under 60 feet of water is now a place where visitors can walk around the skeletal remains that are left of the settlement.  St. Thomas is located in the northern part of the park of the Muddy River which flows to Lake Mead.

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