Lake Powell - Photos from the Early Years

[Bill Sampson]

Would love to have been there and experienced the excitement!

Well said Bart

 

[SkibumUT]

Taken just up stream of the mouth of Bullfrog Creek, from near the current Halls Crossing Buoy field. Date I have says 1963, but it looks like the Lake is filling here, so maybe later. The big sandstone mounds in the Stanton area can be seen in the background.



Bullfrog bay filling - looking south at the original slips. Maybe late 60's?

Another view looking north. Unsure of the date, but same structures and layout as the previous 2.

 

[SkibumUT]

Spring runoff through the diversion tunnels at the coffer dam during construction. 1960

Neat shot of dam construction at night - 1960.

Looking downstream at the dam construction.


Site work prepping to build the coffer dam.

 

[SkibumUT]

Filling at Halls Crossing main ramp. I feel bad I don't have a lot of the dates on these.


Looking south at the Lake filling at Halls.


Looking south at things filling at Halls. Near the current marina.


Near same shot before filling, for reference.

 

[SkibumUT]

Another couple at Halls. Frank Wright’s ferry at Halls 1963


Similar area to previous Halls photos. Looking north toward Bullfrog.

 

[SkibumUT]

Similar photos to some of @JFRCalifornia Looking downstream through Gregory filling up under. 1964.

Date unknown, but looking upstream as it fills.

Looking down on Gregory as it fills. Date unknown.

1966 - slowly disappearing.

 

[CRF450R]

Wahweap main ramp - 1964.

Stateline swim beach. Unsure of the date

There was one of the lodge buildings finished in 69 and so with the second building up, and with the 3rd set of slips, this would have been the season of 71 and I would have been in the boat repair shop at the top of the ramp when this was taken ! We loved parking on the ramp. The short set of slips to the right of the store is the tour boat dock for the Rainbow Trail and the Ethel G, the flagships of the Greene fleet right before Del Webb bought it all from the Greene's

 

[Bill Sampson]

Thanks to all for sharing these pictures. I first went to the lake in 1979, so these pictures are very interesting to me. Thanks again

 

[Marina Bum]

I thought I’d start a thread that focuses on photos from the earliest years of Lake Powell, mostly before the spring of 1968, when the lake was clearly on the rise, but generally still below 3530, except in 1966, when the lake managed to reach about 3545 before slipping back.

These old photos can provide some perspective to compare with our modern glimpse of low water, but are mostly just fun to look at.

I’ll start with a few.

Here’s a tour group at the mouth of Dungeon Canyon in late summer 1963, when the lake was at about 3430-3450. A very different experience than today…

View attachment 26173

The next one is the early version of Wahweap Marina, roughly 1964-65, the lake still below 3500.

View attachment 26174

This one is Gregory Natural Bridge in the spring of 1964, lake level maybe 3410 or so, before the lake reached this far.

View attachment 26175

The next one is the Escalante River, looking up the mouth of Clear Creek in May 1964, with the lake at about 3400 and rising fast. Within 3 months, it would rise 90 feet (!), hitting 3491 in August, just high enough to begin generating power through the dam, and transforming this scene from the appearance of a river to a lake...

View attachment 26176

The last one in this group is also the Escalante from May 1964, between Clear Creek and Davis Gulch. That’s the Black Trail headed up the sloping ridgeline, and that massive sand dune is what eventually became the huge beach that became popular in low water from 2020-22.

View attachment 26177Your first

Thanks for posting those, fun to see. The first photo of the tour boat is especially of interest to me. As I'm told by an eyewitness to those times that it is Art Greenes Boat nick named The Nani and the guy at the helm is named Earl Johnson. The Nani was air powered by a WWII era huge Pratt and Whitney radial Aircraft engine and it first ran tourists to see Rainbow Bridge out of Lees Ferry prior to the dam. I also heard that passengers had to wear ear protection and pass written notes because it was impossible to hear each other while underway.

After dam construction started I think they ran out of Wahweap for a time. All those guys from those days sound like larger than life characters, pioneers. I understand that The NANI still exists and is in private hands. Someday I hope to see it on the lake again just for history's sake. I wonder what that sounds like, I want to ride in it.

 

[SkibumUT]

Tad Nichols on a Jeep trip in October 1963. This photo is taken after taking the primitive Bullfrog Ferry. He’s just north and above the mouth of Halls Creek, which is in the immediate background. The bend in the river that is just downstream of Lost Eden is in the far background. I’ve always wondered how traffic approached/left the old ferry, and wondered if they went up and over.


Tad on the same trip. Traveling down river on the West Bank of the river on the road from North Wash.

 

[SkibumUT]

These are a contrast to the early days in terms of water level. I’m assuming they are both in ‘83 based on the extreme high level and proxomity to infrastructure, the bullfrog one I’m sure of.


Looking north over Halls Crossing and Bullfrog. This is the only photo I’ve ever seen that shows water so close to the road between the ramp and the dry storage.


Wahweap back side of the lodges. Crazy.


I think this has been shared several times - old Marina store at Bullfrog. Now a good mile or so from the waters edge.

 

[BartsPlace]

I think this has been shared several times - old Marina store at Bullfrog. Now a good mile or so from the waters edge.
View attachment 26318

I have a memory from my high school years of walking "downstairs" from the boat dock to the Bullfrog marina store. People think I'm crazy when I tell them that. There may be other valid reasons...

 

[Todd]

These are a contrast to the early days in terms of water level. I’m assuming they are both in ‘83 based on the extreme high level and proxomity to infrastructure, the bullfrog one I’m sure of.


Looking north over Halls Crossing and Bullfrog. This is the only photo I’ve ever seen that shows water so close to the road between the ramp and the dry storage.
View attachment 26316

Wahweap back side of the lodges. Crazy.
View attachment 26317

I think this has been shared several times - old Marina store at Bullfrog. Now a good mile or so from the waters edge.
View attachment 26318

Yep I was there during these times many years ago.

 

[Canyon Gypsy]

Been there. Had to stop and check the message board to find out where people were camped or notices to phone home.
You could even get fresh produce. I bet the Del Webb staffers appreciated that.

 

[4LOJO]

Great old pics keep them coming.

 

[JFRCalifornia]

Here’s three photos from when the lake was full. The first two aerial shots of the dam and Rainbow Bridge were taken in the summer of 1980 when the lake first filled to 3700. These appeared in the December 1980 issue of National Geographic.



This last image is taken on the San Juan arm near Clay Hills Crossing in April 1982, when the lake was at 3665… Today the lake ends about 25-30 miles before this point…

 

[4LOJO]

Be nice to see these lake levels again.

 

[JFRCalifornia]

Here’s an old oblique aerial of Gunsight Butte from 1967, lake level likely 3530 or so. On its face, there’s nothing too unusual until you look closely. Wrapping around the end of the butte is the remnant of the old Kane Creek Road, apparently still passable in 1967 until it hits the lake on the Padre side of Gunsight. Looks like it still could have been used as a possible launch site then.

The opening scenes of the original Planet of the Apes were filmed at Lake Powell in 1967, most of which were shot in Padre Bay near this area. I’m speculating, but it’s possible that the film crews launched from the end of this road at this point, which would have been a very convenient way to get on and off the lake for a small boat…

Recent aerials (2022-23) that have exposed this area once again show no remaining trace of that road, although maybe hiking the route on foot might reveal something…

 

[Marina Bum]

Art Greene's tour boat at his Cliff Dwellers Lodge. He ran tours in it from Lees Ferry to Rainbow Bridge before the dam, it was Air Powered by a Pratt and Whitney Wasp Radial engine, maybe 600hp.
(or more) That is likely a Bureau helicopter in the shot out scouting and mapping to build the dam. That's an airstrip just to left too. The name of the boat is in Navajo "Tesh Na-ni-ah-go Atin" (The trail to the rock that goes over) Employees just called it the Na ni for short. Circa 1957.

All these folks especially Art Green and company continue to inspire me. What and amazing period in Arizona and Utah history. Who would build something like this boat? Seems now that they were all larger than life characters.

 

[Dougie]

Wonder how much silt buildup has obscured the traces of that Kane Creek road. Think Moqui fort near Hite or even inside Cathedral in the Desert.