Harold Stetson Loc: Marquam 97038

I flew counter narcotics missions on the boarder and discovered the Salton Sea. I took my wife there when we were visiting Palm Springs. Little did I know of what a disaster it had become. The first time we were there we had only been there about 30 minutes when she said, "Get me out here, this is where zombies live. Cal Parks and Recreation has a somewhat different view of how the Salton Sea came to be but it tracks back to 1900 when the brought canals from the Colorado to irrigate the Imperial Valley farms. In 1906 the canals silted up and the dykes leaked and it flooded. That really put the Salton Sea on the map so to speak. By the fifties is had been developed, a marina built and it was billed as the Riviera of the US. All the big stars went there, Sonny and Cher, Old Blues Eyes, The Beach Boys. The land was partitioned off and sold by developers. There was great fishing as they planted fish and they were huge. Boating was big and they had a marina, hotels, bars, stores. Life was wonderful until 1976 when a freak storm hit and flooded the place as well and blue and tore down the marina. A year or 2 later it happened again and it was over. The sea began to dry up and get more salty, too salty for the fish and they die. About every three years they have a huge fish die off that smells. The fish have botulism and it kills the birds if they are not rescued. Sonny wrote some legislation to help them. The cost is astronomical. One woman said, "We needed help and along came Sonny Bono and then he went skiing.

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Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

Absolutely striking set. I remember when Salton City was flooded as Salton Sea Continued to rise. Then the State limited the inflow from agricultural runoff and the Sea began to recede and millions of dollars were lost. It is now becoming California's Dead Sea as evaporation increases the salinity of the Sea to a point when nothing but brine shrimp can survive

Harold Stetson Loc: Marquam 97038

There is a fish that continues to live in it but they die off about every 3 years and are contaminated. The botulism is a problem for anything that eats the dead fish and the smell is really bad. The water is warm and they have an algae bloom that also kills fish and creates a mess. The run off from the farms had chemicals and fertilizer in it. You really have to feel for the people who are trapped there.

Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

I remember sitting in a restaurant across from the entrance to Salton City, it must have been in the mid 70's. There were two old men sitting in the booth behind me, one said to the other, "I wish I could sleep under blankets one more time in my life." That my friend is the definition of being trapped.

Harold Stetson Loc: Marquam 97038

It was wiped out in 1976 the first time. Was this while it was on top of the world or just after?

Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

Maybe late 70s or even early 80s, my memory is not what it used to be. I was a birder and had gone there looking for Gull-billed Terns. As I drove down to the lake shore the Marina and many houses were flooded. The area looked like a disaster area. Abandoned houses, some people hanging on, probably because they had committed their retirement savings retiring there, like the two in the restaurant.

The last time I was there, probably 2010 or so the Sea had retreated, the Marina was far inland from the Sea shore. There were a few people hanging on in Salton City, but it was enough to make a grown man cry.

Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

Thank you for the history (which I did not know), and the wonderful environmental/documentary photographs.

Harold Stetson Loc: Marquam 97038

The sea continues to recede. The cost of housing is low enough to attract a few very low income people. The bar and restaurant are still open but no looking at all healthy. The restaurant is the Ski Inn. Lots of documentaries on the place.

Retired CPO Loc: Travel full time in an RV

Yep, been there a few times, wayback when. And more recently a few years ago. Definitely a scar on the earth these days! And quite a few oddball characters hanging around. The beaches are made up of about 30% sand and 70% fish bones and yes, it stinks!!!

Harold Stetson Loc: Marquam 97038

The problem is the cost to fix it that is if they had water to fix it. If they don't and it dries up the dust and sand left behind become toxic to LA basin. Last time I saw an accounting the Imperial valley gets about 2/3 of the Colorado. The rest is used by everyone else leaving nothing to fix the Salton Sea.

DWU2 Loc: Phoenix Arizona area

Another lowlight of the State of California.

Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

Yep, I agree, another California place destroyed by human intervention, kind of like Los Angles and San Francisco.

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

Thats what happens when man messes with Mother Nature!!

Paul Best. Loc: California desert

Recently they have discovered that the water of the Salton Sea is a gold mine of lithium. Apparently it is the largest area of lithium in the United States if not the world. Once they get set up to extract the lithium it will become a bustling area again. It will never be the playground of the rich and famous again but it will help the local economy.

sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

It was not the first sea to become a desert and it more than likely will not be the last.