Posted on 07/02/2022 4:22:07 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A previously sunken World War II-era landing craft that once was 185 feet below the surface of Lake Mead, is being exposed as waters keep shrinking.
The Higgins landing craft is nearly two-thirds exposed. It is beached less than a mile from Lake Mead Marina and Hemenway Harbor.
The boat was used to survey the Colorado River decades ago, then was sold to a marina and eventually used as an anchor for a breakwater in the sediment, according to D.J. Jenner of Las Vegas Scuba, which conducts various tour dives on the lake, previously including the sunken boat.
National Park Service staffers began diving on the site in 2006, according to the Lake Mead National Recreation Area public affairs office. The plywood craft had its engine removed and also had modifications to open up the space between the two machine gun positions toward the stern.
“The surplus nature of the craft highlights an earlier era of the Lake when Las Vegas and Lake Mead were much more remote and removed from much of the United States, where relatively inexpensive WWII surplus could be pressed into duty for new peaceful purposes in the park,” NPS officials said in an email Friday. “The craft is still wrapped in a thin armor plate about 1/2 inch thick.”
Lake Mead’s water levels have declined over the past two decades as a persistent drought has strained the Colorado River, a vital water supply for roughly 40 million people. As of Friday afternoon, the water level at Lake Mead was at 1,043.05 feet above sea level. That is down 4.5 feet from a month ago, more than 25 feet from a year ago and 54 feet from two years ago.
And that is bringing long-sunken objects to the surface, including the Higgins landing craft and, earlier,
(Excerpt) Read more at reviewjournal.com ...
Lots of government agencies used surplus landing craft. I bid on one back in the 1980’s that had been used at a wildlife refuge. Cool boats indeed.
Was Mr Higgins found in the boat?...
he was unavailable for comment...
Pretty much killed the town of Robert Lee that relied on Spence water since their city lake silted up.
The brine water destroyed their pumps and water lines.
Oh yes West Texas water is nasty and there is not very much of it. Toilet to tap is a virtually certainty in most of West Texas eventually. Singapore does it on a mass scale they even have a beer called NEWbrew that is 100% made with recycled water.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/toilet-to-tap-wastewater-recycling-begins-in-wichita-falls-texas/
Seriously... You literally now can rent beer. Something we all joke about is a reality.
The high fluoride concentrations was good for teeth though.
“ And some of the water that exits Lake Mead is promised by treaty to Mexico.”
Since so many Mexicans are now here in the US, can’t we consider the treaty obligations fulfilled?
There’s a thought!
California gets 4.4 million acre feet of Colorado River water per year. 80% of that is used for irrigation of crops in an actual desert. The other 20% ends up in urban use. California’s urban use is split nearly 50/50 industrial&commercial vs residential. Assuming half of Californian people are illegals from Mexico they are not but let’s blue sky it. That means half of 10% and half again so 5% of 4.4 million acre feet is used by illegals. That’s 220,000 acre feet per year goes to illegals assuming half of southern California’s population is illegals. The treaty says Mexico gets 1.5 million acre feet we would still owe them water. The truth is big agriculture needs to be told to use drastically less water in California. A single almond takes 2 gallons to grow, an avocado takes nearly 100 and A single pound of beef takes over 2000 gallons over the life of the sheer. Little mom and pop farms are not the issue . Huge ADM and Monsanto farms are the problem.
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