Decades-Long Megadrought Reveals Lost Town Beneath America’s Largest Lake

After nearly 90 years submerged under water, the Nevada ghost town of St. Thomas has resurfaced. A prolonged, severe megadrought has drained Lake Mead to unprecedented depths, uncovering the town’s abandoned roads, foundations, and building structures now exposed to the arid desert environment once again.

The tale of St. Thomas reflects the broader narrative of the Colorado River, a vital watercourse that has transported mountain snowmelt more than 1,450 miles from the Rocky Mountains to the Gulf of California for millions of years, long before human intervention began.

Efforts to control the river started in 1909 with the construction of its first dam and intensified considerably with the development of infrastructure near the Nevada-Arizona border. Today, fifteen dams regulate the main Colorado River, with Hoover Dam standing as the most prominent both physically and symbolically.

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The Disappearance of St. Thomas

Founded in 1865, St. Thomas originated as a Mormon settlement established by pioneers who, according to the Water Environment Federation, mistakenly thought they were settling in Utah or Arizona rather than Nevada. Before their arrival, the location had been inhabited by Pueblo and Basketmaker peoples and had experienced natural flooding cycles tied to the Colorado River for centuries.

The town’s ultimate fate was sealed in 1928 when President Calvin Coolidge approved the Boulder Canyon Project Act, paving the way for Hoover Dam’s construction. The dam aimed to store the river’s flow in a reservoir that would soon flood St. Thomas’s location.

Flooding began to encroach on the town in 1935, and by July 11, 1938, the final resident, Hugh Lord, had departed by rowboat, leaving St. Thomas to be swallowed by the reservoir indefinitely.

A Gradual Return Over Two Decades

The unveiling of St. Thomas has been slow and steady. The ongoing megadrought since around 2000 has relentlessly lowered Lake Mead’s water level. The first visible sign appeared in 2002 when the roof of the old Hannig Ice Cream Parlor emerged above the waterline. Since then, more structures including a school, a hotel, and a post office have become accessible for visitors to explore.

Christie Vanover, a public affairs official with the National Park Service, explained the town’s origin and its submersion in a 2015 Water Environment Federation interview. She highlighted that its settlers chose this site due to a unique water source and remarked:

“In the end, it was water that forced residents to flee.”

Vanover also noted the ruins become visible once water levels drop below about 1,165 feet above sea level, a milestone breached several years ago in the area.

The Historic Decline That Unearthed a Forgotten Settlement

The severity of the drought is evident by the numbers. Lake Mead’s surface currently rests at approximately 1,039 feet, the lowest level recorded since its creation in the 1930s and well below the 1,165-foot threshold at which the town emerges.

This sustained drop transforms St. Thomas into an inadvertent indicator of drought severity, akin to the “hunger stones” recently exposed in Central European rivers—historic drought markers once used to record water scarcity events.

However, St. Thomas is only the most visible sign of a broader challenge. The entire Colorado River basin faces critically low water levels that are straining dam operations and affecting communities region-wide. The basin remains arid for now, leaving the ghost town’s relics exposed to the dry air for the first time in many generations.

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