默里湖底消失的城鎮(zhèn)

默里湖底消失的城鎮(zhèn)

The Lake Murray reservoir in South Carolina is popular for boating, fishing and general waterside merriment. But there's an untold story that lies beneath the lake's surface: there were once towns where the reservoir now stands. In fact, remnants of towns abandoned during the reservoir's construction still stand in the depths of Lake Murray, including a bridge, a graveyard and a stone house.

南卡羅來納州的默里湖水庫以劃船、釣魚和一般的水邊娛樂而聞名。但是在湖的表面下有一個不為人知的故事:現(xiàn)在水庫的位置曾經(jīng)有一些城鎮(zhèn)。事實上，在水庫建設(shè)過程中被遺棄的城鎮(zhèn)的遺跡仍然矗立在默里湖的深處，包括一座橋、一座墓地和一座石屋。

Lake Murray looks like any other lake from the surface, but it's what lies underneath that's interesting. (Photo: Isis4563 [public domain]/Wikimedia Commons)

A whale of a dam

巨大的水壩

Stretching for about 50,000 acres with 500 miles of shoreline, the Lake Murray dam was constructed between 1927 and 1930 to create a source of electricity for the city of Columbia and the ever-growing number of mills that required power. Upon its completion, it was considered the largest earthen dam in the world. To build it, the power company bought more than 1,000 tracts of land — much of it forest land — from more than 5,000 people. These people, descendants of German, Dutch and Swiss immigrants who settled the area in the mid-1700s, were all relocated to make way for the dam. During their time there, the settlers had created nine small communities.

默里湖大壩占地約5萬英畝，有500英里長的海岸線，建于1927年至1930年間，為哥倫比亞市提供電力，同時也為越來越多的工廠提供電力。建成后，它被認為是世界上最大的土壩。為了修建大壩，這家電力公司從5000多人手中購買了1000多塊土地，其中大部分是林地。這些人都是18世紀(jì)中期在該地區(qū)定居的德國、荷蘭和瑞士移民的后裔，他們都被重新安置，以便為大壩讓路。在此期間，定居者建立了九個小社區(qū)。

Crews laid down railroad tracks to move the earth around and likely razed buildings, but plenty of markers from the lost towns remain in Lake Murray (which looks like it might not work working, but it is.) Even the railroad tracks remain.

工作人員鋪設(shè)了鐵路來移動周圍的泥土，可能是被夷為平地的建筑物，但默里湖仍然保留著大量來自失落城鎮(zhèn)的標(biāo)記(看起來可能無法工作，但確實如此)。甚至鐵軌也保留了下來。

What was left behind

留下了什么

A rock house built circa 1800 on the Saluda River now lies under the waters of Lake Murray South Carolina. (Photo: [public domain] Wikimedia Commons)

In their free time John Baker, a scuba shop owner, and Steve Franklin, a commercial pilot, have spent hours exploring the depths of Lake Murray. Speaking to local CBS affiliate WLTX 19, the two shared their recollections of dives.

業(yè)余時間，水肺店老板約翰·貝克和商業(yè)飛行員史蒂夫·富蘭克林花了好幾個小時探索默里湖的深處。在接受當(dāng)?shù)馗鐐惐葋啅V播公司W(wǎng)LTX 19頻道采訪時，兩人分享了他們對潛水的回憶。

"There are a lot of towns throughout the lake. Churches, schools, cemeteries," Franklin said.

“整個湖上有很多城鎮(zhèn)。教堂、學(xué)校、墓地，”富蘭克林說。

The cemeteries were left behind as a result of the the relocated townspeople not wanting the power company to dig up and move the remains of their loved ones. More 2,300 graves sit at the bottom of Lake Murray.

這些墓地被留下來的原因是搬遷的居民不希望電力公司挖掘和移動他們親人的遺體。超過2300個墳?zāi)棺湓谀吕缀住?/p>

"Most of the cemeteries are from the 1800s," Franklin said. "There's three different kinds of cemeteries: old slave cemeteries — because of slavery in that time; smaller family plots, 4 or 5 family members buried there with small headstones and markers; then you have the large multi-family plots."

“大多數(shù)墓地都是19世紀(jì)的，”富蘭克林說。“有三種不同的墓地:舊奴隸墓地——因為當(dāng)時的奴隸制度;較小的家庭墓地，4或5名家庭成員葬在那里，有小墓碑和標(biāo)記;然后就有了大型的多地塊墓地。”

One remnant of the towns is a stone house constructed in the 1800s that you can see above. Even though most of the structure is still standing, the murky waters of Lake Murray make it difficult to find, even for experienced divers like Baker and Franklin.

這些城鎮(zhèn)的遺跡之一是一座建于19世紀(jì)的石屋，如上圖所示。盡管大部分建筑仍然屹立不倒，但默里湖渾濁的湖水很難找到，即使是像貝克和富蘭克林這樣有經(jīng)驗的潛水員也很難找到。

"When we found it, we swam through the front door and hit our heads on the back walls. but that was neat to find that and see how it's still kind of preserved," Baker said. "You've got four walls and the roof still there."

“當(dāng)我們找到它時，我們游過前門，頭撞在后面的墻上。但能找到它，看看它是如何保存下來的，真是太棒了。”貝克說。“有四面墻，還有屋頂。”

This is what Wyse's Ferry Bridge looked like in 1919. It's now under 160 feet of water in Lake Murray. (Photo: Greygh0st [public domain]/Wikimedia Commons)