Lake Powell - Photos from the Early Years

Here’s a fascinating aerial (satellite image?) of Lake Powell taken on October 29, 1963. This is one of the earliest glimpses we have into the lake quickly rising, from just below the dam all the way up to what is still the future Good Hope Bay. Look closely, and you can see the lake has only just about reached past Moqui Canyon, maybe to Hansen Creek, but no farther. On that date, the lake reached 3399. For reference, 3370 is dead pool, impounding about 1.7 maf in “dead storage”. The only places with any kind of width to the lake are around Padre and Last Chance. By the end of 1963, the lake would rise only another 10 feet, so this gives you a pretty good idea of the extent of Lake Powell in its first year…

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Here’s the old Rainbow Bridge Marina, removed and replaced by Dangling Rope Marina in the early 1980s. Photo taken in summer 1966, and appeared in the July 1967 issue of National Geographic.

The attached aerial show where the old marina was located within the canyon on the way to Rainbow Bridge. You can imagine the traffic issues that arose as visitation to the lake ramped up in the late 1970s…

Lake Powell - 60 - RB Marina.jpegRB Marina location .jpeg
 
Thanks for the memories.
As I posted a long time ago, . . . No fueling was allowed when the tanker boat was transferring gas to marina tanks. That was about a two hour process. On an Independence Day weekend we rounded the corner with fuel gauge below a quarter, came off plane, and the red flag came up. UGH! We spent most of the two hours in the water on the shady side of the 19 Mark Twain. As you can imagine, dozens of boats stacked up and when green flag was raised the shxt show began. Angry words, jockeying to get to pumps. About a 4 hour ordeal. The good ol’ days.
 
…and speaking of defunct marinas, here’s the San Juan Marina. This first photo was originally posted by @PowellBride …

San Juan Marina - PowellBride.jpeg

The next shot shows the location of the marina as depicted on the Lake Powell Boating Charts by Steve and Gail Brown (1990). Although they only show the lake at 3600 and 3700 they are still my “go to” maps when planning a trip, beautifully drawn and a big step up from the Stan Jones map in detail… unfortunately long out of print… if you can find a copy, it’s worth picking up…

By the way, to give you some idea how much silt has been deposited in the San Juan in the past 30 years, take a look at the map below. The dark blue area is the lake at 3600, at least what it would have been in 1990--basically just downstream of the marina, and upstream of Mikes Canyon. In a 2018 aerial taken when the lake was at 3601, the lake ended in the middle of the Great Bend, about 20 miles downstream from this location... wow... a lot of silt...

SJ Marina - Boating Charts.jpeg

The next shot is a nice detailed drawing of the marina from another out of print mapbook, called the Lake Powell Boater’s Guide (1989). On this page, they actually put a sticker on the page to say the marina was shutdown, which must have happened after the guidebook went to print. Note that it says the marina is intended to be moved to a "permanent" location at Copper Canyon, which of course never happened...

SJ Marina 1989.jpeg

This last page is the cover from that publication, if anyone is interested in finding historic guidebook documents. As a reference, it’s pretty basic, and the maps are not as nice as the Browns’ “Lake Powell Boating Charts”, but as a snapshot into 1990 map options, it’s a good piece of history.

Boaters Guide cover 1989.jpeg
 
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Here’s three images of Gregory Bridge from 1964-65. The first two were both taken on 8-6-64, near the end of a summer that saw the lake rise over 90 feet. In May 1964, there was no sign of the lake anywhere in Fifty-Mile Canyon (then called Soda Gulch). By early August when these photos were taken, Powell reached 3487. These are the earliest days it would have been possible to boat to the bridge.

1964 - Aug 6 - Gregory Bridge.jpeg1964 - Aug 6 - Gregory Bridge - B&W.jpeg

This last image was taken on 6-6-65. It shows Gregory Bridge from the air at lake level 3491, nearly identical to the level 10-months earlier. This would be the minimum lake level needed to generate power through the dam.

1965 - Jun 6 - Gregory Bridge.jpeg
 
Here are a couple photos that show what 3696' looked like in 1998. This is looking out from West Canyon toward (I believe) Camel Rock/Gregory Butte which was surrounded by water, and no bathtub ring! The second shot was taken on the same trip from way above Rock Creek looking back at the main lake. Will we ever see the lake full again?23 Brandon 150.jpg44 Kelly 150.jpg
 
JFRCalifornia said:
…and speaking of defunct marinas, here’s the San Juan Marina. This first photo was originally posted by @PowellBride …

View attachment 26664

The next shot shows the location of the marina as depicted on the Lake Powell Boating Charts by Steve and Gail Brown (1990). Although they only show the lake at 3600 and 3700 they are still my “go to” maps when planning a trip, beautifully drawn and a big step up from the Stan Jones map in detail… unfortunately long out of print… if you can find a copy, it’s worth picking up…

By the way, to give you some idea how much silt has been deposited in the San Juan in the past 30 years, take a look at the map below. The dark blue area is the lake at 3600, at least what it would have been in 1990--basically just downstream of the marina, and upstream of Mikes Canyon. In a 2018 aerial taken when the lake was at 3601, the lake ended in the middle of the Great Bend, about 20 miles downstream from this location... wow... a lot of silt...

View attachment 26665

The next shot is a nice detailed drawing of the marina from another out of print mapbook, called the Lake Powell Boater’s Guide (1989). On this page, they actually put a sticker on the page to say the marina was shutdown, which must have happened after the guidebook went to print. Note that it says the marina is intended to be moved to a "permanent" location at Copper Canyon, which of course never happened...

View attachment 26666

This last page is the cover from that publication, if anyone is interested in finding historic guidebook documents. As a reference, it’s pretty basic, and the maps are not as nice as the Browns’ “Lake Powell Boating Charts”, but as a snapshot into 1990 map options, it’s a good piece of history.

View attachment 26667
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Man, that San Juan Marina was way up there! I think we were pretty naive to believe the lake would always be full. Wouldn't that have been nice?
 
Here are 3 pics from the location of the San Juan Marina when my wife and I visited in November 2019. The first shows my FJ at the top of the launch ramp. The second shows the ramp (circled in black) from around the eastern point. I believe it is the same point shown in JFR's post that connects to the dock. The last is the bottom of the launch ramp. There was very little to nothing left of the ramp, marina, or living area. It was amazing how much had been cleaned up and hauled away. It was rather difficult to picture where everything had been. Nevertheless, we had a great time walking around and looking for artifacts. Plan carefully but the trip is worth the drive.
Eric
 

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Here are some pictures from “about” 1979 or 1980 think it was March. Which lines up with the clothing we were wearing, it was cold that trip. Fishing near the Colorado bridge above Hite.
Some sleuthing on The high water mark and match lake elevation for March might help confirm date. This would have been before the higher than full pool of 1983 so high water mark would be 3700.
Not sure who that good looking young man is ! Doesn’t resemble the guy I see in the mirror now! 🤗
 

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Mildog said:
Here are some pictures from “about” 1979 or 1980 think it was March. Which lines up with the clothing we were wearing, it was cold that trip. Fishing near the Colorado bridge above Hite.
Some sleuthing on The high water mark and match lake elevation for March might help confirm date. This would have been before the higher than full pool of 1983 so high water mark would be 3700.
Not sure who that good looking young man is ! Doesn’t resemble the guy I see in the mirror now! 🤗
Click to expand...
Well, in March 1979 the water was at more or less 3635. In March 1980 much higher at 3675. By the looks of the bathtub ring in the third picture, I'm guessing this was 1979, since the lake had once reached 3675 in 1975. In March 1980, there would have been no ring, since the lake had never been any higher than that to that point.

Plus those glasses just scream 1979.
 
JFRCalifornia said:
Well, in March 1979 the water was at more or less 3635. In March 1980 much higher at 3675. By the looks of the bathtub ring in the third picture, I'm guessing this was 1979, since the lake had once reached 3675 in 1975. In March 1980, there would have been no ring, since the lake had never been any higher than that to that point.

Plus those glasses just scream 1979.
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I had a feeling You would chime in !!
I think you nailed it !
Miss those early days at Hite!!
Gem Morris said:
And the turtleneck, of which I owned more than my fair share 😂
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Lucky turtleneck!! Always wore that one on cool days hunting and fishing!! Won’t elaborate! Good memories for sure we killed the fish that trip! Very few other boats around!!
 
This Art Chaffin, Zeke Johnson, and Utah Govenor Pectol at the Ceremony, about 1946, at the Hite Ferry upon completion of the road extension from Natural Bridges National Monument to Hanksville. Zeke Johnson, the first custodian of the Natural Bridges National Monument, along with Art Chaffin were instrumental in getting this road constructed. This road (aka Bicentennial Highway), is one of, if not the most majestic, and beautiful drives in the country.

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