Dunaruna
Admiral
- Joined
- May 2, 2003
- Messages
- 6,027
[colour=blue]In 1951, Utah Construction were commissioned to built a dam wall & hydro-electric facility 200 kilometres (120 miles) north of Melbourne, Australia. This wall established an irrigation lake, Lake Eildon.
Because this is an irrigation lake, the level falls and rises depending on demand. It is a very big lake, even when it is down to 5% capacity - it is still boatable. In fact, I have a houseboat moored on the lake and I use it every weekend. At the moment, the level is around 10%.
Every time the lake level falls, the police and numerous insurance companies show a lot of interest because boats and bodies are discovered in the muddy bottom of the lake. Most of the boats are intentional sinkings, some are not. Most of the bodies are accidental drownings, some are not.
One such boat was discovered a few weeks ago. (Sorry, you were probably hoping for a dead body story!). The insurance companies had no record of a claim, the police had no record of a theft and nobody came to claim this boat - a mystery was born.
Many rumors went about the local towns, but one rumor grew and grew, Lorna Ann.
An old local hermit came forward last week and began to tell a story. He remembered the days of Utah Construction and the building of the dam wall, he remembered the workboats in use at the time. He remembered seeing this exact boat at this exact location being scuttled by the workcrew of Utah Construction.
Utah Construction was one of the companies involved in the construction of Hoover dam (Boulder dam), when they got the Eildon job, they brought workboats with them but decided not to take them back when the job was finished - not economically viable. So they scuttled them.
Last weekend, I watched as a group of children played on that old boat, the boat from Hoover dam - Lorna Ann.
Because this is an irrigation lake, the level falls and rises depending on demand. It is a very big lake, even when it is down to 5% capacity - it is still boatable. In fact, I have a houseboat moored on the lake and I use it every weekend. At the moment, the level is around 10%.
Every time the lake level falls, the police and numerous insurance companies show a lot of interest because boats and bodies are discovered in the muddy bottom of the lake. Most of the boats are intentional sinkings, some are not. Most of the bodies are accidental drownings, some are not.
One such boat was discovered a few weeks ago. (Sorry, you were probably hoping for a dead body story!). The insurance companies had no record of a claim, the police had no record of a theft and nobody came to claim this boat - a mystery was born.
Many rumors went about the local towns, but one rumor grew and grew, Lorna Ann.
An old local hermit came forward last week and began to tell a story. He remembered the days of Utah Construction and the building of the dam wall, he remembered the workboats in use at the time. He remembered seeing this exact boat at this exact location being scuttled by the workcrew of Utah Construction.
Utah Construction was one of the companies involved in the construction of Hoover dam (Boulder dam), when they got the Eildon job, they brought workboats with them but decided not to take them back when the job was finished - not economically viable. So they scuttled them.
Last weekend, I watched as a group of children played on that old boat, the boat from Hoover dam - Lorna Ann.
