I’ve written about how the citizens of American Falls moved their town to keep it out of the rising waters of the American Falls Reservoir. That took place between 1925 and 1927. I didn’t know that there were two smaller towns inundated by the reservoir, Fort Hall Bottoms and Yuma.
I only know it now thanks to “The Atlas of Drowned Towns,” a project spearheaded by BSU professor of history Bob Reinhardt.
Hundreds of communities in the West were inundated when reservoirs backed up the waters of the rivers alongside which they were built. In Idaho, that included Center, and Van Wyck, both of which went under in 1957 with the construction of the Cascade Dam. Van Wyck had all but merged with the city of Cascade by that time, but much of it went underwater. The name is retained locally in the Van Wyck campground, a part of Lake Cascade State Park.
The C.J. Strike Reservoir, named for Clifford J. Strike, general manager of Idaho Power in the 30s and 40s, drowned the little town of Comet and a place sometimes called Garnet and sometimes called Halls Ferry. That was in 1952.
The town of pine went under in 1950 when Anderson Ranch Reservoir filled.
The most recent submerging of towns was in 1966. The Dworshak Dam took Dent and Big Island off the maps. Dent is now the name of a campground on the lake in Dworshak State Park.
All these drowned towns made way for hydroelectric and irrigation progress. They bring to mind at least two other towns that disappeared. Roosevelt was inundated because of an accidental dam. Most of the site of Morristown lies beneath Alexander Reservoir near Soda Springs, but the town ceased to exist years earlier.
Do you know of other drowned towns? Professor Reinhardt would like to know about them for the Atlas of Drowned Towns.
I only know it now thanks to “The Atlas of Drowned Towns,” a project spearheaded by BSU professor of history Bob Reinhardt.
Hundreds of communities in the West were inundated when reservoirs backed up the waters of the rivers alongside which they were built. In Idaho, that included Center, and Van Wyck, both of which went under in 1957 with the construction of the Cascade Dam. Van Wyck had all but merged with the city of Cascade by that time, but much of it went underwater. The name is retained locally in the Van Wyck campground, a part of Lake Cascade State Park.
The C.J. Strike Reservoir, named for Clifford J. Strike, general manager of Idaho Power in the 30s and 40s, drowned the little town of Comet and a place sometimes called Garnet and sometimes called Halls Ferry. That was in 1952.
The town of pine went under in 1950 when Anderson Ranch Reservoir filled.
The most recent submerging of towns was in 1966. The Dworshak Dam took Dent and Big Island off the maps. Dent is now the name of a campground on the lake in Dworshak State Park.
All these drowned towns made way for hydroelectric and irrigation progress. They bring to mind at least two other towns that disappeared. Roosevelt was inundated because of an accidental dam. Most of the site of Morristown lies beneath Alexander Reservoir near Soda Springs, but the town ceased to exist years earlier.
Do you know of other drowned towns? Professor Reinhardt would like to know about them for the Atlas of Drowned Towns.
The photo, courtesy of the Idaho State Historical Society digital archive, is of a two-story cement block building being moved to higher ground in 1925.
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