Loading…
15
Found a town on an 1872 map that my GPS says is underwater
I was digitizing a county atlas from 1872 and spotted a spot labeled 'Cedar Falls' right where the reservoir sits today near my home in Austin. Checked old newspaper archives and it turns out the town was drowned in 1938 to build the dam, but locals still argue about where the cemetery ended up. Has anyone else had a map lead them to a sunken town or disputed spot like this?
1 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In1 Comment
wilson.jana2mo ago
There was a piece on NPR a while back about how many towns got flooded for federal dam projects in the 30s and 40s, and the cemeteries were the biggest sticking point. People moved graves by barge in some places, but not always, and that's where the rumors start. My uncle used to tell me about a similar spot in Missouri where divers swear they've seen old headstones sticking out of the mud on clear days. The fact that your map still labels it Cedar Falls is wild, those old atlases hold details that modern software just erases. Honestly, the cemetery question alone would keep me up at night, because nobody wants to think about grandpa floating around in a fish habitat.
1