As it turns out, the man-made creation of the Hoover Dam and Lake Mead in the 1930s led to the intentional flooding of St. Thomas, a small Nevada town.
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Within the park boundaries lies a ghost town that was inundated when Lake Mead first filled up in the 1930's. Once a Mormon settlement, St. Thomas thrived as a stopping point between Los Angeles and Salt Lake City along the Arrowhead Trail.
In July 1983, Lake Mead was nearing full capacity. As a result, in a rare move, the Hoover Dam opened its spillways, creating a show that visitors will never forget.
While the dam is expected to last for centuries, engineers predict the structure could last for more than 10,000 years, surpassing most remnants of human civilization if humans were to disappear from the earth. However, they also predict the dam's turbines without human intervention would shut down within two years.
What happens if Lake Mead dries up forever? If Lake Mead were to run out of water, the Hoover Dam would no longer be able to generate power or provide water to surrounding cities and farms. The Colorado River would essentially stop flowing, and the Southwest would be in a major water crisis.
According to the website of the National Park Service (NPS), St. Thomas, the dam created Lake Mead, which flooded areas along the Muddy and Virgin rivers. During the early 1930s, Lake Mead began to form, and St. Thomas gradually disappeared under the rising waters.
Downriver towns and major cities would see the most damage, in the event of the dam's physical collapse. Water flows would engulf many towns and growing cities around Mohave county, including Laughlin, Nevada; Needles, California; Lake Havasu, Arizona; and even as far south as Yuma, Arizona, and San Luis Rey, Colorado.
But experts say the Dam would not pass today's environmental guidelines. The Hoover Dam harnessed the power of the Colorado River to generate reliable electricity for southern California, Las Vegas, and many of the factories that helped win World War II. It also created much-needed jobs during the Great Depression.
The construction and design of the Hoover Dam is so strong that it is expected to last 10,000 years. The bowlike shape of the massive dam channels the wind, hitting the dam straight up and causing the water to spill “up” instead of “down.”
Electricity would not just be the only thing lost. Without Lake Mead, Las Vegas would lose access to 90 percent of its water sources. If Lake Mead were to reach dead pool, it would technically still be able to supply drinking water to Las Vegas. But there will not be enough water for agricultural activities.
Key Points. Lake Mead has dropped by 70% due to droughts in the West and it will take many years to refill again, naturally. The reservoir is vitally important to millions of people as a source of water, electricity, and recreation.
The oldest operational dam in the world, the Lake Homs Dam in Syria, was built around 1300. The masonry gravity dam is over one mile long, 23 feet high, and creates Lake Homs, which still supplies water to the people of Homs today.