Low water levels at Folsom Lake reveal artifacts from Mormon Island

Curiosity set in when we saw around 100 cars parked on Sophia Parkway in Folsom and equal amounts of people walking up the hill on the walking trail to the lake. Since we have a seasonal "Poppy Pass" to enter the lake we figured we would bite, and headed in to Browns Ravine and took a look to see what was up. Luckily there were only ten cars waiting to pay $12.00 to enter the lake (as we left there were about 30 cars waiting to pay).

Here is what we found: The town of Mormon Island was buried by water in 1955 to create the Folsom Dam.  Due to the recent drought and low water levels, some rock wall structures and other artifacts from Mormon Island have been discovered.

This is a small representation of the crowds that came to look at the rock walls and artifacts.

 

People are bringing mineral detectors to find some of the artifacts pictured below. It is a federal crime to remove items found on state property. You will find piles of items found at the lake on legacy tree stumps.

 

 I couldn't resist making art with some of the nails left behind.

 

 

I was surprised how intact the skeletal remains were of this crawdad left on a rock.



 

 

I took this picture looking of the boat house (where you would launch your boat and buy gas) standing in the lake bed, which usually has about 200 feet of water.

 

 

A fellow photographer found what appeared to be a clay sewer pipe. She had the idea to take this picture for us.