Sunday, March 29, 2015

Dam pictures.

“Twenty fathoms under in a milky green light the spectral cabins, the skeleton cottonwoods, the ghostly gas pumps of Hite, Utah glow dimly through the underwater mist, outlines and edges softened by the cumulative blur of settling silt.  Hite has been submerged by Lake Powell for many years now, but Smith will not grant recognition to alien powers.”  - Edward Abbey, “The Monkey Wrench Gang”.

I first read this book when I was in high school, it has become somewhat of a family icon since then.  The license plate on my Jeep reads “BEYOND2”, my brother’s 4-wheel drive vehicles follow suit in honor of Seldom Seen Smith’s river running business “Back of Beyond Expeditions”.  I credit that quote for my fascination with ghost towns and abandoned buildings.  It probably has something to do with why I bought my tiny 100 year old home instead of a brand new one in a subdivision where I could have got a much bigger house.

Last night we were looking through my older brother’s new house and found some pictures in the garage.  The original owners haven’t completely moved out, so all I could take were pictures of the pictures.  Here are the three pictures they had of the Glen Canyon Dam being built.  The dam that created Lake Powell, that covered Hite, Utah in water.  The dam that G.W. Hayduke, Seldom Seen Smith, Doc Sarvis and Bonnie Abzug longed to blow up.

4 comments:

Lisa Shafer said...

Oh wow. Those are really interesting!

Lisa Shafer said...

Hey, did you notice this?
http://www.sltrib.com/news/2336694-155/former-federal-water-manager-proposes-tearing

Alexia said...

Fantastic - they look so good I can't believe they're pictures of pictures! Really interesting.

Max Sartin said...

Lisa - yeah, I saw that. Not sure how I feel about it. The old ecosystem under there is already ruined,and a new one has evolved around the lake. But at the same time, what might evolve out of the drained lake could be spectacular.