In 1977, Steve Buckalew was participating in a water skiing competition at Lake Mead when his boat wrecked at 70 miles per hour, sending it to the bottom of the Nevada Lake, never to be seen again.
Until now, that is.
As Lake Mead's water level has continued to drop, it's been revealing all sorts of trash and treasures that were previously hidden under the depths.
Among the items that turned up is Buckalew's 19-foot Hornet Super Sprint speedboat -- and no one was more surprised over the discovery than Buckalew himself.
"I was 37 years old," Buckalew told KLAS. "I'm 82 now, almost 83, and of course, I long forgot. It's one of those things that happened in your life. I didn’t expect this; I was surprised."
Buckalew's wife, Virginia, says she's been waiting for the boat to resurface for years.
"Every time something shows up on the bottom of Lake Mead, we tell our friends, 'Oh maybe someday they’ll find our boat,'" she told KLAS. "Well, they found our boat."
The station estimated that the boat was once more than 170 feet under the surface of Lake Mead until the water level dropped low enough last summer to reveal its resting place.
As of July 2022, water levels at Lake Mead stand at 27% of capacity -- its lowest level since being filled in the 1930s following the construction of the Hoover Dam. The lake's water levels have fallen an estimated 175 feet since 2000.
Related
Related
