I'm sorry, but your video has many errors in it. For starters, Shasta Lake was filled in 1948, so how was the original highway submerged a hundred years ago? And also, at that time it was U.S. 99, not California Route 99. 'Old Shasta' and 'Shasta Lake City' are two different places, Old Shasta was never in danger of being submerged below any lake. The Central Pacific Railroad and the continental railroad had nothing to do with the railroad built along the Sacramento River to connect Portland, Oregon. That railroad wasn't even BEGUN until 1883. And you show a photo of a concrete arch bridge across the Shasta River. That bridge and river is nowhere near Shasta Lake.
When I was a boy I lived in Dunsmuir, Mt. Shasta city then Klamath Falls, OR. My father is still living in Redding so like you, I’m shaking my head at what this guy said in his video. I wonder how he did his research, lol.
A large component of water usage in California isn't simply the population centers, but rather the agriculture industry. In the 18XXs the central valley was dominated by wheat, but as the wheat price declined due to international competition, farmers looked at all the water they had and decided to move towards water intensive crops such as cotton, walnuts, and citrus. The "disappearing towns" are found elsewhere, including my local Folsom Lake. In severe droughts you can be walking for quite some time from the "shore" to the water, and there's remains of infrastructure down there. Notably there's the settlement of Mormon Island which has some stone walls remaining, but a careful eye can spot roads and culverts elsewhere as well. I suspect I may have walked on a bit of trackbed from a rail line that was originally going to be part of the transcontinental railroad, but that's unclear as it would have been abandoned in the 1880s or so.
Enormous corporations, industry, the wealthy-elite, and agriculture will always take water priority over commoners and small municipalities. Might makes right, it always has, it always will.
There's also way more water being used by the tech industry in California than anyone realizes, because of a lack of regulations, tech centers using hydrocooling, are using evaporating systems, and not recirculating systems.
Yep. You nailed it. New melones reservoir has old concrete buildings and a broken bridge that shows when the water gets super low, and I believe that reservoir was filled in the 1980's. But tulloch, and new melones are there for the central valley's agriculture, and hetch hetchy is San Francisco's water supply. I used to work at melones/berryessa dept of reclamation.
Reminds me of the Ladybower Reservoir "UK" was at a summer low "very low" this past summer and exposed Derwent Village and Derwent Hall plus many other items like old roads, church's farms and so on. Great watch Ryan.......
Yes, I saw all of that back in 76. the thing that particularly sticks in my mind was a little stone bridge crossing the remaining stream. This would normally be tens of feet below the surface under normal conditions. Another channel covered these dams, ladybower and derwent, and their exposed remains last year. Martin zero iirc
Definitely some errors, but I was surprised that there was no mention of Trinity Lake since it is so close by. Trinity was a town that was flooded as well, though about 20 years after Shasta I think. At Trinity I've found roads, the old airport, foundations, root cellars, toys, and other artifacts. It would be cool to see a video on Trinity or similar lakes in the area, especially if you reach out to/interview some locals from the comment section. First hand accounts and stories would be a nice addition.
Ryan, I am a Southern Oregon native who has been to Lake Shasta a number of times and has driven on I5 through the area more times than I can count. Thanks for the great video.
I remember visiting Lake Shasta as a child. It was in the early 1950"s (i was born in 1948) & my parents, uncle, older sister & my twin brother were there. We went there to look for camp grounds. During our search, I recall see a portion of highway bridge coming out of the water. At the time, we were all living on the SF peninsula.
“Many bridges can still be found and visited, reminding us how far engineering has come.” Buddy, those bridges are just modern bridges, it wasn’t the 17th century. 🤣
The original plans were to build Shasta Dam feet higher than it was completed. The base of the dam is built sized to support a taller dam. WW2 intervened so manpower and supplies were limited. Electricity was needed immediately so completing the dam at a lower height was done as soon as was possible.
Old Shasta depicted by a Google snapshot at 5:46 is a present day photo. It is located west of Redding on Hwy 299 and is located closer to Whiskeytown Lake than Shasta Lake as you enlarge the photo. The decline in population of Old Shasta had more to with the populous moving closer to the rail line and establishing the City of Redding. I hope the feedback was helpful. Overall I enjoyed your narrative.
Back in the 1978 drought, the Pollack bridge was completely out of the water, and at that time, the river ran under it, and the hwy99 from there to Salt Creek was intact. As your picture of it from the most recent drought shows, the bridge is completely silted in, and the river has cut a channel through the old roadway making passage impossible--and other parts of the road have washed out too. At that time I drove my 1930 Model A ford from Pollock to Salt Creek. I have about 4 pictures of the trip--I should have taken more!
You said that one of the dams from the mid 1800’s was built in the 18th Century. The 1800’s is actually the 19th Century because the 1st Century is years 0 through 99.
I grew up in that area, I can assure you that Summit City is still high and dry! In recent years it has been incorporated into Shast Lake City, along with several other towns that I spent my childhood in, but you also mention Old Shasta, this historic town is 15 or 20 miles from Shasa Lake, in fact it is closer to Whiskeytown Lake, and was never encroached by flood waters! The rest of your video I found to be entertaining, and mostly accurate!❤
Just an fyi, the pictures you have of tunnel 6 are actually pictures from donner pass tunnel #6. To thia day you can walk through tunnel 6 as it is at over 7000 feet at donner summit. Mt shasta lake is not on the transcontinental line, it is the north south route from sacramento to oregon.
Actually that tunnel is under Shasta lake all those pics are real there from under the lake near the town of Lake head. I've been to them in person when we were in the drought couple years ago
@@wsnell67 notice under the picture of the construction of the tunnel it says summit tunnel. That is Donner pass tunnel #6. Shasta lake is not on the transcontinental railroad route. I'm not saying the tunnel 6 in Shasta lake doesn't exist but both pictures (including the one where the entire floor of the tunnel is covered in ice) is the tunnel on Donner pass
@@wsnell67 I've never been to the tunnel in Shasta lake but I've traversed the entirety of the abandoned track 1 on Donner pass from Norden to Eder where track 1 joins back up with track #2 that goes through the big hole (tunnel 41).
Not transcontinental railroad northwest Pacific railroad also outta all the towns under Shasta he named just two that are under water. Kennett and Baird there are more upstream on the pit arm that are under water. Shasta which is where I live isn't even close to Shasta lake probably 15 miles the town of Keswick is still there just above where Mt coppers smelter was
I've walked thru it some homeless were camping in it it's just up stream from number 5 tunnel with railroad bridge also when water is really low you can launch kayaks off the old hwy 99 bridge
the same existing in Adelaide Australia - Kangaroo Creek reservoir flooded former Gorge rd section including 3 concrete bridges from 1920s. One of them is right under the dam, so can be visible only when water completely drained which happens only twice since the dam was built.
Great video, this reminds me of my nearby Lake Koocanusa. When the water level is at its lowest old Highway 37 is visible as the pavement is still in the bottom of the reservoir.
Oh geez like this is unique only to Lake Shasta, there's another lake a little over 100 miles to the sse called lake Oroville it contains the 3 branches of the Feather River (north fork, middle fork and south fork) many tunnels and bridges are now under water since it was completed in 1964.
I'm from Redding, spent a lot of time on Shasta lake, and there are some really cool things that were exposed when the lake dropped..was really cool exploring..There are definitely some timeline errors with this video, but most of it is spot on. Redding was a huge boomtown when the gold rush hit. Old Shasta is really cool if you ever get a chance to swing through there..
@@kardy12 and yeah it’s a history channel so I think the name is kind of important. It’s already just another white guy telling his version of Native American history. Least he could do is get the name correct.
Highway 99 also underwater in SO CAL, used to be a spring at the bottom of the gorge used to fill radiators but good water, road down to the lake is now a boat ramp
Similar situation in Lake McClure above Merced. While, not as many bridges, the railbed for the Yosemite Railway is visible during low water times with some of the tunnels running right underneath lakeshore campgrounds. High up where the lake starts to turn into the Merced river, you can see the runs of the town of Bagby in Flyaway gulch. State Route 49 crosses Lake McClure/the Merced river right here in a stunning canyon (and a great place to collect the rare mineral Mariposite.) I can only imagine what sort of a trip it would have been to get on the train in Merced and ride the rails into Yosemite. Must have been something else.
how far we've come? With technology sure, but in terms of quality and aesthetics we've regressed. I see a 100-year-old bridge that still looks perfect and was built with form being as much of a priority as function. Now adays all people care about is function.
Great video and channel. I always enjoy watching your videos. Keep up the great work. One place that would be cool for you to make a video about is Fontana dam it’s just outside of Bryson city, North Carolina and the lake was put there in the 1940s and towns were flooded it would be a really cool video about another flooded reservoir. I used to live right by Fontana lake, and when they would let it down, you would see train Trussell‘s and house foundations
Intro: Not with old dams. Look up Candlewood Lake, that one's pretty interesting. As well as an awesome place to visit today, sounds like these dams were built around the same time period in the 30s. You can even dive in the lake and check out the old abandoned houses and stuff.
I just watch these videos because I miss my birthplace. We used to drive North from Napa to vist family. In Anderson and on to Oregon and Washington. I miss the mountains 😢
The reference to the Transcontinental Railroad is not valid. The original route ran through Reno to Sacramento. It is nowhere near Lake Shasta. What was there was a branch line added years later.
Grand coulee dam is 12 million cu yd of concrete started in 1933 and open in 1942. Shasta is 6.5 million and Hoover is 3.25 million cu yd of concrete. So I would say yes Hoover is taller, but Grand coulee is almost twice the mas.
have a few roads around Alberta that were built in places where water was removed including a 300 foot deep estivation site that became a reservoir for mountain run off and a marsh that drains into a large dug out nearing 30 feet deep over a large aria. were busy in the 1800's to early 1900's and have been sitting on most of it doing nothing for the rest of time. as the hole fills in about 15 feet up a soft shore line every 10 years about 3 foot depth. from sedimentary transfer of ground water movement. roads only 5 foot above the line and the grass is marginally above level, tractor would get stuck and cattle would make it a mud hole...
Was intrigued about the old photo of Jones Valley. (Not sure if it is) but I remember going off trail and found what I suppose is an old shasta stone shelter on I believe wildcat ridgeline adjacent to Bear Mountain peak. It was so cool but extremely strenous to get to.
@@michaelcrossley4716 - So edit your comment. Hover over the message, and look at the three dots on the right end. Click that to edit. Then save the correction.
The whole intro of "When dams are built the area being flooded is stripped baren" must be a US thing. The world over, when levels drop in man-made lakes, you can see old roads, fences, bridges and buildings. Often the first thing usually seen is the town or village church spire. (at least in Western Eu) I can see why it would be more of a thing in the US (wooden buildings vs stone / brick) but why would they spend money to remove an old road? or bridge? or close a tuennel? This video is v odd in some of it's statements, though it's always interesting to get a glimps of what lies just beyond reach, below the water. Whats more interesting is that they flooded such a historically significant site that also held so much expensive infrastructure such as bridges and tunnels. Homes are cheap, infrastructure is not.
In California, water supply takes priority over almost everything else. There are only so many locations where. topographically speaking, you can locate a reservoir. Infrastructure can always be rebuilt somewhere else.
Wow, this was a surprise to me. And I call myself a historian. I should be ashamed. My only excuse is having never been to California for more than a day or two. Thank you for your work and fresh material regarding our past.
Either last summer or the one before, the water level dropped so low, it revealed a sunken WW-2 landing craft!!! I believe it was recovered, as there aren't a whole lot of those that still exist.
@@crabby7668 Nope, it was Shasta: when the level hit the lowest it had been in ages, a local journalist did a series of videos, and posted them on YT. During one of his videos, he discovered it.
@@Britcarjunkie interesting, because I would claim the same provenance for my statement. There is a possibility that they could have taken a trip to shasta I suppose, but the ones I am thinking of definately blogged mostly from mead and powell.
@@crabby7668 I posted a link to the story about it, but it was yanked...guess somebody didn't like it. But, if you search for "WW-2 landing craft found in Shasta Lake, you'll find plenty of stories (and video) about it.
Thank you for the interesting video. Many communities were flooded with the building of Kentucky Dam on the Tennessee river. I’d love to see you do a video about this.
Our narrator, at 4:34, seems to be bothered by all this evil new infrastructure replacing old infrastructure but that is how things are with this generation. They seem to think our civilization can thrive on magical thinking and fairy dust to provide for the things we need. California now, with it's current political climate , is finding out that it just doesn't work that way no matter how many laws they pass demanding nature provide for them what the won't build for themselves. Anyway, on with the show,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
I'm picturing some wore out trucker driving over that double decker bridge alone in the middle of the night, a train on the lower deck....and the train engineer below him hits the air horn, scares the trucker half to death and wakes him up! 😂
Thanks for this! A comment on style. I don't know who invented the idea of moving graphics behind (around) the video content (photos etc.). I've seen this on other videos. It is really annoying and distracting. Please consider the harm this does to your otherwise wonderful videos. The railroads here were not a part of the original transcontinental railroad route. And the tracks here did not "allow the passage of trains through the rugged Sierra Nevada Mountains" (SIC). This area is in the Cascade Range.
I always puzzle as to why we are so in awe of long tunnels through hard rock when we have thousands of miles of tunnels in mines. I once went down a silver mine in Mexico that was 5 miles long and about 1 mile deep and probably had hundreds of miles of tunnels spurring off and that's no big deal.
My grandfathers were hard rock miners and worked in numerous hard rock mines in Northern California. You're correct, they tunneled all over underground following the veins of quartz and gold. But there's no way you could ever get a full-sized modern train through those old mining tunnels so maybe it's back to "size does matter". I railroaded and I find it all interesting.
The Rail line that is under Shasta Lake is a Abandoned Southern Pacific line and Not a Central Pacific line And I support Hydroelectric Power aka Dams Because it's a Great Way for Make Electricity for Towns And Cities in the United States including California Southern Pacific had to Charge it's Rail line Though Redding California When the Shasta Dam was Bulit and it Created Shasta Lake and the old SP line was Flooded under Shasta Lake
For more on California water, there is the controversial Hetch Hetchy reservoir and the catastrophic destruction of the largest lake west of the Mississippi, Lake Tulare. The latter was destroyed by California agricultural interests. Agriculture uses 4 times as much water as urban areas and pays many times less for water. The Central Valley uses much more. Water hungry crops are alfalfa, almonds, and rice. In 2016, alfalfa farmers paid $70 per acre-foot while LA paid $1,000 per acre-foot. So, those farmers are heavily subsidized.
@@nedludd7622 I don't understand your answer, it seems irrelevant. Your food will presumable be sourced one way or another from farmers so you benefit from their water usage. The quantity they use may need adjusting if there is a shortage but in that case so should urban usage. I lived in the LA area for 3 years and there is a massive wastage of irrigation water for decorative lawns, road central reservations etc. You often saw water runoff running down the road because the grass was over watered. It is fascinating seeing townies complaining about water use for their food, whilst they just pour water down the drains for no net positive effect. Of course california could stop growing water intensive almonds for the vegans, or even rice which is even more water intensive, and frankly misplaced in a near desert climate. However I would argue that citrus is a warm dry climate crop so is suited to the socal climate. In times of drought you all need to tighten the belt.
Actually, the final nail in Tulare Lake's coffin, was the largest land owner selling the remaining surface water to L.A. Funny thing though, as of this past spring, the lake is back - and with a vengance! I was down there a few weeks ago, and took a look: it's HUGE!
As someone who was born and raised in the area, I explored the lake with my dad (forest service employee) in 1976 & 77. This guy has no freaking clue what he is talking about.
You cannot have change without altering what presently exists. Inevitably that results in a shift of the beneficiary of the change and ultimately the change is justified by::: the needs of the Many outweigh the needs of the Few (Star Trek).
Back in the 18th Century? So the Spaniards were building dams in the 1700s? Or do you not understand that the mid 1800s when they built the Mother Ditch was actually the 19th Century? 3:04 and 3:14 --
This isn't that surprising to me. My local lake that I go to almost three or four times a week. Lake nockamixon in PA. Was made in 71 or 72. And they flooded a town that was there and didn't take anything out. The entire town is there and I have videos up on my Instagram and on here old Bethlehem Pike the road that literally goes right into the lake. So for me it's more surprising that they remove stuff then them not removing it.
The Grand Coulee Dam blows the Shasta and Boulder/Hoover dam away. Was the largest concrete structure on Earth for many decades....... BY FAR.......GRAND COULEE DAM Grant co Washington State USA, its f*cking awesome
Yep, I live in Southern Oregon and everytime I travel to town I get to drive on US route 99 that runs through the Rogue Valley. We refer to it as old hwy 99 around here.🙂
I'm sorry, but your video has many errors in it. For starters, Shasta Lake was filled in 1948, so how was the original highway submerged a hundred years ago? And also, at that time it was U.S. 99, not California Route 99. 'Old Shasta' and 'Shasta Lake City' are two different places, Old Shasta was never in danger of being submerged below any lake. The Central Pacific Railroad and the continental railroad had nothing to do with the railroad built along the Sacramento River to connect Portland, Oregon. That railroad wasn't even BEGUN until 1883. And you show a photo of a concrete arch bridge across the Shasta River. That bridge and river is nowhere near Shasta Lake.
This is pretty typical for youtube.
yeah usually the mistakes aren't this overt
When I was a boy I lived in Dunsmuir, Mt. Shasta city then Klamath Falls, OR. My father is still living in Redding so like you, I’m shaking my head at what this guy said in his video. I wonder how he did his research, lol.
Thank you for this info
The two pictures you use at the 5 minute 31-second mark are from summit city Michigan. It even says it on the second picture
A large component of water usage in California isn't simply the population centers, but rather the agriculture industry. In the 18XXs the central valley was dominated by wheat, but as the wheat price declined due to international competition, farmers looked at all the water they had and decided to move towards water intensive crops such as cotton, walnuts, and citrus.
The "disappearing towns" are found elsewhere, including my local Folsom Lake. In severe droughts you can be walking for quite some time from the "shore" to the water, and there's remains of infrastructure down there. Notably there's the settlement of Mormon Island which has some stone walls remaining, but a careful eye can spot roads and culverts elsewhere as well. I suspect I may have walked on a bit of trackbed from a rail line that was originally going to be part of the transcontinental railroad, but that's unclear as it would have been abandoned in the 1880s or so.
Example is Tulare Lake, drained to become cotton fields for a failed plantation owner from Mississippi.
@@Zekumas evidently not failed, or he wouldn't have the money to drain the lake.
Enormous corporations, industry, the wealthy-elite, and agriculture will always take water priority over commoners and small municipalities. Might makes right, it always has, it always will.
There's also way more water being used by the tech industry in California than anyone realizes, because of a lack of regulations, tech centers using hydrocooling, are using evaporating systems, and not recirculating systems.
Yep. You nailed it. New melones reservoir has old concrete buildings and a broken bridge that shows when the water gets super low, and I believe that reservoir was filled in the 1980's. But tulloch, and new melones are there for the central valley's agriculture, and hetch hetchy is San Francisco's water supply. I used to work at melones/berryessa dept of reclamation.
Reminds me of the Ladybower Reservoir "UK" was at a summer low "very low" this past summer and exposed Derwent Village and Derwent Hall plus many other items like old roads, church's farms and so on. Great watch Ryan.......
Yes, I saw all of that back in 76. the thing that particularly sticks in my mind was a little stone bridge crossing the remaining stream. This would normally be tens of feet below the surface under normal conditions. Another channel covered these dams, ladybower and derwent, and their exposed remains last year. Martin zero iirc
Martin Zero, Ant, Ollie and Darren all great for Manchester local and regional history.@@crabby7668
Definitely some errors, but I was surprised that there was no mention of Trinity Lake since it is so close by. Trinity was a town that was flooded as well, though about 20 years after Shasta I think. At Trinity I've found roads, the old airport, foundations, root cellars, toys, and other artifacts. It would be cool to see a video on Trinity or similar lakes in the area, especially if you reach out to/interview some locals from the comment section. First hand accounts and stories would be a nice addition.
Trinity would have definitely been worth mentioning on this video.
Ryan, I am a Southern Oregon native who has been to Lake Shasta a number of times and has driven on I5 through the area more times than I can count. Thanks for the great video.
I remember visiting Lake Shasta as a child. It was in the early 1950"s (i was born in 1948) & my parents, uncle, older sister & my twin brother were there. We went there to look for camp grounds. During our search, I recall see a portion of highway bridge coming out of the water. At the time, we were all living on the SF peninsula.
9:00 "reminds us of a time when transportation was still primative" with a picture of a more advanced form of transportation than we have today
“Many bridges can still be found and visited, reminding us how far engineering has come.” Buddy, those bridges are just modern bridges, it wasn’t the 17th century. 🤣
The original plans were to build Shasta Dam feet higher than it was completed. The base of the dam is built sized to support a taller dam. WW2 intervened so manpower and supplies were limited. Electricity was needed immediately so completing the dam at a lower height was done as soon as was possible.
Old Shasta depicted by a Google snapshot at 5:46 is a present day photo. It is located west of Redding on Hwy 299 and is located closer to Whiskeytown Lake than Shasta Lake as you enlarge the photo. The decline in population of Old Shasta had more to with the populous moving closer to the rail line and establishing the City of Redding. I hope the feedback was helpful. Overall I enjoyed your narrative.
Back in the 1978 drought, the Pollack bridge was completely out of the water, and at that time, the river ran under it, and the hwy99 from there to Salt Creek was intact. As your picture of it from the most recent drought shows, the bridge is completely silted in, and the river has cut a channel through the old roadway making passage impossible--and other parts of the road have washed out too. At that time I drove my 1930 Model A ford from Pollock to Salt Creek. I have about 4 pictures of the trip--I should have taken more!
You said that one of the dams from the mid 1800’s was built in the 18th Century. The 1800’s is actually the 19th Century because the 1st Century is years 0 through 99.
Except there was no year “zero”. The entire concept of “zero” didn’t reach Europe for another millennium…
I grew up in that area, I can assure you that Summit City is still high and dry! In recent years it has been incorporated into Shast Lake City, along with several other towns that I spent my childhood in, but you also mention Old Shasta, this historic town is 15 or 20 miles from Shasa Lake, in fact it is closer to Whiskeytown Lake, and was never encroached by flood waters!
The rest of your video I found to be entertaining, and mostly accurate!❤
Just an fyi, the pictures you have of tunnel 6 are actually pictures from donner pass tunnel #6. To thia day you can walk through tunnel 6 as it is at over 7000 feet at donner summit. Mt shasta lake is not on the transcontinental line, it is the north south route from sacramento to oregon.
Actually that tunnel is under Shasta lake all those pics are real there from under the lake near the town of Lake head. I've been to them in person when we were in the drought couple years ago
@@wsnell67 notice under the picture of the construction of the tunnel it says summit tunnel. That is Donner pass tunnel #6. Shasta lake is not on the transcontinental railroad route. I'm not saying the tunnel 6 in Shasta lake doesn't exist but both pictures (including the one where the entire floor of the tunnel is covered in ice) is the tunnel on Donner pass
@@wsnell67 I've never been to the tunnel in Shasta lake but I've traversed the entirety of the abandoned track 1 on Donner pass from Norden to Eder where track 1 joins back up with track #2 that goes through the big hole (tunnel 41).
Not transcontinental railroad northwest Pacific railroad also outta all the towns under Shasta he named just two that are under water. Kennett and Baird there are more upstream on the pit arm that are under water. Shasta which is where I live isn't even close to Shasta lake probably 15 miles the town of Keswick is still there just above where Mt coppers smelter was
I've walked thru it some homeless were camping in it it's just up stream from number 5 tunnel with railroad bridge also when water is really low you can launch kayaks off the old hwy 99 bridge
the same existing in Adelaide Australia - Kangaroo Creek reservoir flooded former Gorge rd section including 3 concrete bridges from 1920s. One of them is right under the dam, so can be visible only when water completely drained which happens only twice since the dam was built.
Post10 has a video of this area.. Goes down into the tunnel and checks out the bridge. Pretty neat
Great video, this reminds me of my nearby Lake Koocanusa. When the water level is at its lowest old Highway 37 is visible as the pavement is still in the bottom of the reservoir.
Oh geez like this is unique only to Lake Shasta, there's another lake a little over 100 miles to the sse called lake Oroville it contains the 3 branches of the Feather River (north fork, middle fork and south fork) many tunnels and bridges are now under water since it was completed in 1964.
I'm from Redding, spent a lot of time on Shasta lake, and there are some really cool things that were exposed when the lake dropped..was really cool exploring..There are definitely some timeline errors with this video, but most of it is spot on. Redding was a huge boomtown when the gold rush hit. Old Shasta is really cool if you ever get a chance to swing through there..
If you go here and go to Sashta Lake CA you can see the Rail Road tracks that went along the river if you go the 1943 Aerials map, very cool.
Thoroughly enjoyed your presentation. Thank you.
Grew up in SoCal, always heard it called Lake Shasta, never knowing the official name is Shasta Lake. 🤷♀️
At this point, after so many videos, I think he just likes pronouncing things incorrectly on purpose.
Is it particularly important whether it’s “Lake Shasta” or “Shasta Lake”, or is it just that you enjoy a bit of pedantry?
@@kardy12 and yeah it’s a history channel so I think the name is kind of important.
It’s already just another white guy telling his version of Native American history. Least he could do is get the name correct.
@@MidnightWatches
Lol, some people just love being pedants to feed their sense of self importance.
@@kardy12 thanks for the wisdom troll
Great video, Ryan! That is truly the world's best boat ramp.
Highway 99 also underwater in SO CAL, used to be a spring at the bottom of the gorge used to fill radiators but good water, road down to the lake is now a boat ramp
Similar situation in Lake McClure above Merced. While, not as many bridges, the railbed for the Yosemite Railway is visible during low water times with some of the tunnels running right underneath lakeshore campgrounds. High up where the lake starts to turn into the Merced river, you can see the runs of the town of Bagby in Flyaway gulch. State Route 49 crosses Lake McClure/the Merced river right here in a stunning canyon (and a great place to collect the rare mineral Mariposite.)
I can only imagine what sort of a trip it would have been to get on the train in Merced and ride the rails into Yosemite. Must have been something else.
In South Carolina there’s a lot of similar things! Lake Jocassee and Lake Murray
I love your channel ❤❤
Before bed something chill to watch to settle down
Thanks for uncovering this hidden history.
how far we've come? With technology sure, but in terms of quality and aesthetics we've regressed. I see a 100-year-old bridge that still looks perfect and was built with form being as much of a priority as function. Now adays all people care about is function.
Everyone's always in a hurry.
Great video and channel. I always enjoy watching your videos. Keep up the great work. One place that would be cool for you to make a video about is Fontana dam it’s just outside of Bryson city, North Carolina and the lake was put there in the 1940s and towns were flooded it would be a really cool video about another flooded reservoir. I used to live right by Fontana lake, and when they would let it down, you would see train Trussell‘s and house foundations
Great idea!
Grand Coulee was substantially larger than(and commissioned slightly before) Shasta, unless you meant tallest dams not largest.
I love your channel, greetings from Mexico City ✌🏻
Hey, thanks!
I have been through these tunnels many times in my boat. Way cool.
@5:39 photo is Summit City, Michigan, NOT California!
Close enough! He's doing the best he can. Look at his hair for crying out loud.
"Close enough"??? LMAO . . . off by a couple of thousand miles.
I love how I am not the only one enraptured by disappearing roads and railroads.
What a great history unfold from this highway.
Intro: Not with old dams. Look up Candlewood Lake, that one's pretty interesting. As well as an awesome place to visit today, sounds like these dams were built around the same time period in the 30s. You can even dive in the lake and check out the old abandoned houses and stuff.
I just watch these videos because I miss my birthplace. We used to drive North from Napa to vist family. In Anderson and on to Oregon and Washington. I miss the mountains 😢
amazing never knew there were towns and mines and stuff under the lake very fascinating
The reference to the Transcontinental Railroad is not valid. The original route ran through Reno to Sacramento. It is nowhere near Lake Shasta. What was there was a branch line added years later.
Last time I was this early in the comments the road was still being used.
Loved this video Ryan! I always wonder about DAM towns. These are fascinating! Keep up the good job brother!
Is that where David Lynch got the title Lost Highway?
Grand coulee dam is 12 million cu yd of concrete started in 1933 and open in 1942. Shasta is 6.5 million and Hoover is 3.25 million cu yd of concrete. So I would say yes Hoover is taller, but Grand coulee is almost twice the mas.
have a few roads around Alberta that were built in places where water was removed including a 300 foot deep estivation site that became a reservoir for mountain run off and a marsh that drains into a large dug out nearing 30 feet deep over a large aria. were busy in the 1800's to early 1900's and have been sitting on most of it doing nothing for the rest of time. as the hole fills in about 15 feet up a soft shore line every 10 years about 3 foot depth. from sedimentary transfer of ground water movement. roads only 5 foot above the line and the grass is marginally above level, tractor would get stuck and cattle would make it a mud hole...
Ryan, are you a fan of the movie, "Eraserhead"?
Why do you care what his hair looks like?
Was intrigued about the old photo of Jones Valley. (Not sure if it is) but I remember going off trail and found what I suppose is an old shasta stone shelter on I believe wildcat ridgeline adjacent to Bear Mountain peak. It was so cool but extremely strenous to get to.
Errors, errors, errors. For one, the CPRR never came close to this region, it went basically due east from Sacramento, not north.
Correct, the railroad was built by the Southern Pacific.
Post 10 has some video of the lake at low level from what I remember
I grew up a few miles from the damn. Cool seeing a video on UA-cam about it.
DAMN
@@raymondstemmer887 haha good catch.
@@michaelcrossley4716 - So edit your comment. Hover over the message, and look at the three dots on the right end. Click that to edit. Then save the correction.
from the damn WHAT??
The whole intro of "When dams are built the area being flooded is stripped baren" must be a US thing.
The world over, when levels drop in man-made lakes, you can see old roads, fences, bridges and buildings.
Often the first thing usually seen is the town or village church spire. (at least in Western Eu)
I can see why it would be more of a thing in the US (wooden buildings vs stone / brick) but why would they spend money to remove an old road? or bridge? or close a tuennel?
This video is v odd in some of it's statements, though it's always interesting to get a glimps of what lies just beyond reach, below the water.
Whats more interesting is that they flooded such a historically significant site that also held so much expensive infrastructure such as bridges and tunnels.
Homes are cheap, infrastructure is not.
In California, water supply takes priority over almost everything else. There are only so many locations where. topographically speaking, you can locate a reservoir. Infrastructure can always be rebuilt somewhere else.
Great channel great job thanks
This is fantastic!
When are you going to do on on nabrask
4:15 that sign on the bottom right is unnerving
I passed through that Lake going to Oregon its a beautiful Lake
Right in my backyard we're my grandma and my 2 uncles live at
Near Shasta lake & near Shasta mountain itself already
Shalom dove 🕊️ of peace ✌️
Wow, this was a surprise to me. And I call myself a historian. I should be ashamed. My only excuse is having never been to California for more than a day or two. Thank you for your work and fresh material regarding our past.
beware the dems have messed up calif.
The music in this video reminds me of “Survival of the Fittest”sample.
GTA5 has an area you can play called mt. shasta and the tunnels are spooky.
Either last summer or the one before, the water level dropped so low, it revealed a sunken WW-2 landing craft!!!
I believe it was recovered, as there aren't a whole lot of those that still exist.
Iirc that was lake mead. I also followed some of the coverage from there, fascinating stuff.
@@crabby7668 Nope, it was Shasta: when the level hit the lowest it had been in ages, a local journalist did a series of videos, and posted them on YT. During one of his videos, he discovered it.
@@Britcarjunkie interesting, because I would claim the same provenance for my statement. There is a possibility that they could have taken a trip to shasta I suppose, but the ones I am thinking of definately blogged mostly from mead and powell.
@@crabby7668 I posted a link to the story about it, but it was yanked...guess somebody didn't like it.
But, if you search for "WW-2 landing craft found in Shasta Lake, you'll find plenty of stories (and video) about it.
if you hurry- you might be able to get your hands on the one in lake mead. these things are WORTHLESS after being submerged for years- salt or fresh.
Thank you for the interesting video. Many communities were flooded with the building of Kentucky Dam on the Tennessee river. I’d love to see you do a video about this.
There is a whole documentary about it
Deliverance
that kennett map isn't perfect you can throw it on google earth as an overlay and most of the roads line up but some are pretty far off.
Our narrator, at 4:34, seems to be bothered by all this evil new infrastructure replacing old infrastructure but that is how things are with this generation. They seem to think our civilization can thrive on magical thinking and fairy dust to provide for the things we need.
California now, with it's current political climate , is finding out that it just doesn't work that way no matter how many laws they pass demanding nature provide for them what the won't build for themselves. Anyway, on with the show,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
I'm picturing some wore out trucker driving over that double decker bridge alone in the middle of the night, a train on the lower deck....and the train engineer below him hits the air horn, scares the trucker half to death and wakes him up! 😂
why would that happen? who were they signalling- the fish??
One of my favorite songs of all time.
Thanks for this! A comment on style. I don't know who invented the idea of moving graphics behind (around) the video content (photos etc.). I've seen this on other videos. It is really annoying and distracting. Please consider the harm this does to your otherwise wonderful videos. The railroads here were not a part of the original transcontinental railroad route. And the tracks here did not "allow the passage of trains through the rugged Sierra Nevada Mountains" (SIC). This area is in the Cascade Range.
Not a problem for me, and it's done to bring some action to otherwise static photos, but every single one, not necessary.
I always puzzle as to why we are so in awe of long tunnels through hard rock when we have thousands of miles of tunnels in mines.
I once went down a silver mine in Mexico that was 5 miles long and about 1 mile deep and probably had hundreds of miles of tunnels spurring off and that's no big deal.
My grandfathers were hard rock miners and worked in numerous hard rock mines in Northern California. You're correct, they tunneled all over underground following the veins of quartz and gold. But there's no way you could ever get a full-sized modern train through those old mining tunnels so maybe it's back to "size does matter". I railroaded and I find it all interesting.
You must have read Mark Arax's excellent book, "The Dreamt Land", the history of water usage in California. If you haven't, you should.
The Rail line that is under Shasta Lake is a Abandoned Southern Pacific line and Not a Central Pacific line And I support Hydroelectric Power aka Dams Because it's a Great Way for Make Electricity for Towns And Cities in the United States including California
Southern Pacific had to Charge it's Rail line Though Redding California When the Shasta Dam was Bulit and it Created Shasta Lake and the old SP line was Flooded under Shasta Lake
Why is the dire music required????
this makes Judy's story so believable in Cyberpunk, that's crazy
I have some land up there never knew any of that!
For more on California water, there is the controversial Hetch Hetchy reservoir and the catastrophic destruction of the largest lake west of the Mississippi, Lake Tulare. The latter was destroyed by California agricultural interests. Agriculture uses 4 times as much water as urban areas and pays many times less for water. The Central Valley uses much more. Water hungry crops are alfalfa, almonds, and rice. In 2016, alfalfa farmers paid $70 per acre-foot while LA paid $1,000 per acre-foot. So, those farmers are heavily subsidized.
Where do you get your food from?
@@crabby7668 Imagine that, I was told that the US was not a socialist country.
@@nedludd7622 I don't understand your answer, it seems irrelevant. Your food will presumable be sourced one way or another from farmers so you benefit from their water usage. The quantity they use may need adjusting if there is a shortage but in that case so should urban usage. I lived in the LA area for 3 years and there is a massive wastage of irrigation water for decorative lawns, road central reservations etc. You often saw water runoff running down the road because the grass was over watered.
It is fascinating seeing townies complaining about water use for their food, whilst they just pour water down the drains for no net positive effect. Of course california could stop growing water intensive almonds for the vegans, or even rice which is even more water intensive, and frankly misplaced in a near desert climate. However I would argue that citrus is a warm dry climate crop so is suited to the socal climate. In times of drought you all need to tighten the belt.
Actually, the final nail in Tulare Lake's coffin, was the largest land owner selling the remaining surface water to L.A.
Funny thing though, as of this past spring, the lake is back - and with a vengance! I was down there a few weeks ago, and took a look: it's HUGE!
LA steals water rights from so many small communities and they constantly waste it.
Your video has some serious errors. Yes the town of Kennet was submerged, but Keswick and Old Shasta was not.
As someone who was born and raised in the area, I explored the lake with my dad (forest service employee) in 1976 & 77. This guy has no freaking clue what he is talking about.
You cannot have change without altering what presently exists. Inevitably that results in a shift of the beneficiary of the change and ultimately the change is justified by::: the needs of the Many outweigh the needs of the Few (Star Trek).
Sorry but Grand Coulee Dam in Washington is the largest concrete structure in the US and 3rd largest in the world.
As a Shasta county local myself, all the errors are honestly annoying and insulting. Do your research.
i'm jealous- you hang out at the dispensary lounge in weed?
Back in the 18th Century? So the Spaniards were building dams in the 1700s? Or do you not understand that the mid 1800s when they built the Mother Ditch was actually the 19th Century? 3:04 and 3:14 --
This isn't that surprising to me. My local lake that I go to almost three or four times a week. Lake nockamixon in PA. Was made in 71 or 72. And they flooded a town that was there and didn't take anything out. The entire town is there and I have videos up on my Instagram and on here old Bethlehem Pike the road that literally goes right into the lake. So for me it's more surprising that they remove stuff then them not removing it.
Shasta Lake is the city. Lake Shasta is the lake. Please make a note of this.
The Grand Coulee Dam blows the Shasta and Boulder/Hoover dam away. Was the largest concrete structure on Earth for many decades....... BY FAR.......GRAND COULEE DAM Grant co Washington State USA, its f*cking awesome
you forgot three gorges dam on the yangtze river in china- its the biggest- period.
Wait! Did the fisherman find a dead body? Don’t leave me hanging here!
No wonder why Shasta soda taste like metal 😁
Is this the lost highway that Hank Williams sang about?
Things I never knew
CORRECTION: It wasn’t California (State) Route 99 it was US Route 99 - THE major North/South route of the West Coast of the US.
Yep, I live in Southern Oregon and everytime I travel to town I get to drive on US route 99 that runs through the Rogue Valley. We refer to it as old hwy 99 around here.🙂
Crazy how much stuff is underwudder
Born and raised in Shasta Lake
You're a mermaid/man😂
Do you have webbed toes and breath through gills or did you evolve a pair of those new-fangled lungs?
the word is 'merman' and the plural is 'mermen' @@hoboonwheels9289
Imagine our government trying to build something like this today. There’s no way. Unless some multinational corporation would want it built.
Look at brokeville. I n its lakr as old towns in it including graves
kappy despises graffiti, bees and buzzards.😂
Incredible how the brigdes nowadays are mostly functional but ugly. Then were functional but pleasant for the eye
This channel very much needs better researchers and fact checkers
youre hired
It must be true, it the history Channel. 😂
Shasta is nowhere the CP RR are you thinking of Folsom? CP American River not Sacramento SP is Sacramento, over Siskiyous
DAMN
You mentioned that somebody snagged 2 pounds of muscle . Don't be surprised if that was a bear or mountain lion.
Lake shasta was buit one thousand years ago by chik fil a
Snoop dog has a home in lakehead. 😂
Native American laborers more like slaves they weren’t paid nor did they want to build that dam