Because of the persistent drought, the largest man-made lake in the USA, Lake Mead, has shrunk significantly. The lake on the border between the US states of Nevada and Arizona is now only 28 percent of its actual depth. This reveals gold – and some hidden secrets.
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According to the Washington Post, about 350,000 households are supplied with electricity and about 25 million people with drinking water through Lake Mead. The increasing disappearance of the lake has dramatic consequences. And yet, for many Americans, the focus seems to be elsewhere. Countless people make a pilgrimage every day along the dried-up lake floor in the hope of finding something valuable.
The Washington Post reports on handguns, baby strollers, tool boxes, Prada sunglasses, human jawbones and dozens of sunken boats. But it gets more scandalous. A barrel was discovered in May. Inside: A corpse, presumably the victim of a mafia murder in the 1970s or 1980s.
The body’s Kmart shoes gave police clues that she may have been dead since the ’80s. She was killed by a shot to the head, “execution-style,” according to the Washington Post. There is a suspicion that it could be a mafia murder.
Searching with metal detectors or magnets is illegal. Many still dare to approach the lake. “Where there’s corpses, there’s treasure,” the Post quoted a teacher on a local treasure hunt as saying.
The local authorities are concerned. The little water in the lake could mean devastating consequences for local agriculture. California and Arizona produce about a quarter of the country’s fruits and vegetables and rely on the lake’s water.
