Inside the abandoned buildings under Lake Mead 

96 men died working on the dam. They need to be remembered. Can imagine the unsafe working conditions they were in. Respect & Rest in Peace!

I got certified as a diver at Lake Mead in the early 70's when the water was full pool. Kind of ugly until you got below 100 feet deep and then the water cleared up. I dove from Mexico to the puget sound and I really loved it. I'm to worn out anymore, but fond memories.

My Father told a story about the family car breaking down in a town in the 1920s that is now under water. He was a little boy. My grandfather hitched a ride to Las Vegas to get parts. His mother Camped by the car for 2 days with the kids. They had plenty of food.

Wish all local news was this interesting! Great story...deserves its own hour or two.

Abandoned? I would be shocked if they were occupied.

The old photos are brilliant, they don't even look like they're taken under water.

Lake Mead swallowed up St. Thomas, a small Mormon community. I first heard of this city while attending a relatives funeral who was born in St. Thomas. I thought of the island of tourism. I was quickly corrected and told part of the story. Some years ago the lake was low enough that I was able to walk the old streets and view foundations. I spent some time looking for anything to take home. I found 3 buttons all matching. I showed a relative and was shown a handmade coat that was missing three of the 5 buttons. They were a direct match.I explained where I found them and showed pictures. The spot was between a church building and the home of my relatives.

The way things are going they will be able to hike down there soon!

**"Everyone knows Mirelurks dwell under Lake Mead."**

I grew up in Vegas spent my high school years at lake mead jumping off cliffs .. so sad to see the water level so low. My family can no longer dock their boat - bc the water level is so low. It’s unrecognizable. sad times!

My grandmother and grandfather lived in that town underneath the lake called St Thomas. It was so heartbreaking I heard when they had to leave forced to leave. Many many people did not want to leave that town there's more to say but the lake is almost dead and I've been around it for the last 35 years of my life. We've got to do something about water because without water we can't survive

My great grandpaents grew up in St Thomas. My grandmother was born in St Thomas she had nine siblings. The last name Burgess. Several families are related to us amazing to realize. They had to give up the house the cattle and everything and leave for this beautiful lake to be created. They moved to Overton logandale or Moapa valley to relocate. There were so many people that lost their lives creating and making this beautiful lake that we're losing day by day we were never forget everyone who came from the towns who helped make lake Mead and Hoover dam to what it was. Hard labor sweat blood pain and even death made those two beautiful sights known all over the world thank you and God bless

The people that worked in 120 degree heat building that dam did it for the money. They didn't give two shits about Hoover, Lake Mead, agriculture, or anything else. They worked they're ass off for themselves, just like we all do. If doctors all of a sudden made only $10 an hour, they would drop their patients and look for a better job.

In a few months they should be able to film that underwater structure without getting wet. That's an incredible structure. The U. S. would never build anything like that again. They'd hire some outside contractor.

That tunnel made me claustrophobic just watching the video!

Abandoned?I don’t know… Some paint, throw pillows… A few flowers…

Did you really have to specify "abandoned" if it's underwater?

My husband and I stayed at the Hoover dam lodge nearby and they had a lot of photos and objects from when they built the dam it was interesting to see

Back in 1988 I was in Thousand Oaks California and there was a drought on the, and there was a water restriction on, and it meant that no one aloud to water their lawn I’m not sure if the street grass was still being watered. I was also told that Southern California takes it water from Northern California, and that Southern California was built on desert land and that it wouldn’t be able to exist with out the water from Northern California. One thing I really remember was how much space there was in Thousand Oaks I could walk up the hills in the morning and as far as the eye could see it was all empty land with no buildings or houses for miles around, it was beautiful to see. You were lucky to see the odd light bulb shaped street with just 8 or so houses in the middle of no where and it was a rare sight. But now if I look on Google earth all the empty spaces I saw are now full up with houses estates, and some how it doesn’t look so good now, the Southern California I once new with all of it’s very spacious land with business and houses around the time of the first Desert War with Bush Senior is just a memory now. Great times with great people made an awesome visit to Southern California…😎

It's 5 years later now, the lake continues to drop.. It should be a pretty shallow dive now.

My grandfather was a Scottish immigrant, he was a stone mason and he worked on this dam.

To quote Beavis and Butt-Head. "Is this like a god damn?"

What's more amazing and of interest is the drop in water level.

Interesting how there's so little concern for the dramatic evaporation of Lake Mead, the ONLY water source that provides power and water to many desert cities including Las Vegas.

We found this can, no telling how long it’s been down here………umm, since last summer when bubba threw his empty beer can over the side of his boat

Omg that's amazing this is something I didn't know I'm glad people like you still put history out there

Amazing how the rocks are still rounded and smooth under water!!! WOW!!!

Soon be able to live there again by the way the lake levels are going!

That's pretty DAM cool.

When you dive, even with a group, you feel so alone.

I love how they keep repeating that Phoenix couldn't exist without the lake, while they show repeated shots of the lake with bath bathtub rings indicating it's probably 200 ft low!

So, this was back in 2015, where they had to dive to see the site. fast forward to now, June 2022, and the way things are going, give it another 6 months, and you'll just be able to walk around the buildings wearing nothing but shorts, a t-shirt and sandals!

I didn't see any buildings in this video

The dam is made of concrete, not cement, cement is the binding agent in concrete, it’s amazing nobody can get this right.

Weird fact: 112 people died building the Hoover Dam. The first guy to die in the project was the father of the last guy to die. His death happened exactly 13 years to the day after the Fathers death!

My Grandma enjoyed watching Jacque Cousteau. Not her head under the water, though. She saved her littlest sister's life. And that sister is alive today. My aunt became a nurse!

They got lucky that they didn't run into any mirelurks

* Inside the abandoned buildings under Lake Mead * Implying some are still occupied?

Arizona is about to loose a 3rd of its water supply from the Colorado river because of the drought.

So fascinating when you're so fascinating to find this information out when you're down there isn't it so cool I love it

I can't help but look at the shore line and how low the water level is as revealed by the white stripe on the landscape

What buildings? Railroad track, rocks, and a tunnel = buildings?

That's an iconic photo of the back of the 'as yet, unused' dam wall, trouble is, if things keep going the way they're going (and I've a feeling they might!) then in a few years time, a VERY similar view of the 'by then, useless, ornamental' dam, will be visible to photograph again!!!

When Lake Ouachita was being formed after Blakely Dam was built in AR, our family was told to demolish houses, barns, and the school house. My father did this in the 1940s for our small community.

I figured they would find a big pile of beer cans.

Soon, people will be able to just walk to there

Seems like, pretty soon, I can explore this place without SCUBA gear.

Great job. Exploration and discovery. Lot of fun. Stay safe.

Troy thank you ,; Great story from the past.

I love that he briefly mentions the water being down over 100ft....?!!??!!

Pretty soon. It will be a nice walk to it.

Looks like we will be seeing these buildings soon with the drought.

Fascinating!

My godfather was the electrical engineer on the Hoover Dam and 30+ more around the world. He was ‘loaned’ to Iron Curtain countries and other countries to build their dam-structures.

Watching this 5 years later and there is still a drought and the lake is not yet empty, thank God.

There used to be railroad tracks off Boulder Beach as well and not in very deep water. I first saw them when I took up scuba diving 46 years ago. We were doing a checkout dive off of Boulder Beach in maybe 20 feet of water when i saw the tracks. There was a long wooden box along the tracks that i really wanted to check out, but the instructor had everyone surface before I had to a chance to look. Did not go looking again until years later and never found them again.

the workers who built the Hoover Dam are real heroes.

A couple more years and the cement plant can be reused !

Those women who built that damn dam deserve our respect.

“Rocks still standing as if they were left by the workers from years ago”…Really,do you actually listen to yourself?

And it would never get built today. It would have 30 years of red tape to even try.

Amazing!! thank you for that. i never knew that was there under lake mead. brings a tear to my eye

This was so interesting, thanks for showing!!!

Wow! Thankyou!

You guys are amazing. That's a dangerous job. Good luck.

Great story. Well done

WOW. History uncovered.

Some great history. Glad you shared adventure

Lol at 3:07 you can hear a Facebook messenger notification noise

You'll be able to see them IRL in December when the lake is dry. What are we gonna do?

Great report and fascinating👍

This is awesome great story I loved in Phoenix it's a bowl without the dam it wouldn't exist

Great job on the Hoover Dam!!!

In the early 1930s, Boulder City, Nevada, was constructed to house 5,000 dam project workers. Before the city was built, many jobless men and their families who’d converged on the dam site, hoping to find employment in the midst of the Great Depression, had lived in squatters’ settlements.

BAM! Solved the land problem. Drain them lakes. More room to build.

Wow... thats amazing

Soon to be the aboveground visible from the road ruins, of the dam built 80 years ago.

Thanks for this great report, who knew that that even exist, there's nothing about history I learned a lot thanks 😊

Learned to water ski there 1970, some very cold areas on that lake/ river ..many memories.

There I was 18 dropped in a jungle in South Vietnam 🇻🇳 1968 rifle in my hand, I still remember what I went through the next 3 years, this video reminded me because we found many unoccupied structures~

I love lake Meade! It’s so beautiful and peaceful there.

That was so cool. I love to check out abandoned structures but rarely get to. What a rush !

That’s pretty dang amazing. Wow!

Fascinating

Great story! Fascinating to see the remnants on the bottom of Lake Mead.

we have a few flooded mining towns here in Ontario. very cool to explore even if not very safe from hilbillies

Fascinating.

With the water levels going down we should be able to see all of this in no time

Good seeing Joel after all these years. It's been a LONG time since I met him and dove in NY/NJ/LI.

If it wasn't for the dam I wouldn't be able to live in Phoenix. I'd be living somewhere else...with water.

I saw a submerged mine stope ….. could you imagine diving into that ? Good lord.

Now I need to go while the water is down

All the states that benefit from the water at the dam, needs to all be conserving! We are still in a serious drought!

it took a lot of hard dam work to build that and some people lost their lives it took a lot of dam concrete. and I'm sure a lot of those days where dam hot. anyways that was a dam good story thanks for sharing

Historic footage of the lake now

Excellent story.

Lake Mead is almost to the point where Arizona and Nevada will stop getting water it will go to California agriculture they'll be cutoff.

*Great video. Thanks for sharing. The information is very helpful. Thanks a lot.*

My grandpa helped build the Hoover Dam.

I wonder if the structures are visible now that the water levels have dropped due to the drought.